Customer Reviews

The Dead Hour

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fans of Ian Rankin's marvelous Inspector Rebus series are quite depressed at the prospect of the mandatory retirement of John Rebus after 20 books (we have only 2 to go). Fortunately, Edinburgh has produced another incredible crime fiction talent: Denise Mina.

Mina, a former attorney, has just penned the second book in a series that features Paddy Meehan, now crime reporter. In the first book Paddy was a lowly copy boy. Now she has worked her way up to late night crime beat coverage. She follows the police on calls. Her driver waits in the car while Paddy looks for the scoop.

The Dead Hour opens with a late night call to a mansion. A man has bloodied a woman but he bribes the police (and Paddy) to go away. Later, that same woman is found dead. Next stop, a suicide, a man has thrown himself in the river. Paddy is there and she wonders; what's the connection here?

A beautiful woman, her looks ravaged by drugs, drives a car with a trunkfull of cocaine, the baddies are on her tail. Where does she fit in? Paddy wants to know.

While she is sleuthing she finds time for a tryst with a married police officer (in his car). She becomes the laughingstock of the newsroom. Reporter does cop.

Mina does a lovely job of creating her tough but vulnerable cub reporter. The solving of crimes is less interesting that the development of the lovely Paddy. She is overweight, the sole support for her family, young and frivolous, part of a Catholic minority and she has desires for justice, sex and sweets. So human. So lovely. So fragile. So tough. A marvelous read!

"She looked up from her desk. Three copyboys were perched on their desks, scanning the room for the faintest signal. The newsroom was packed with men going about their business, but everyone seemed altered. The energy of the room seemed to move around her and the scoop she was writing up. No one came near her desk. This was t he respect of her peers."

Paddy Meehan thought she would be an investigative journalist, but here she was still on the night shift, chasing stories. And, by golly, one came her way. She followed the police to a home where a domestic dispute had unfolded. The woman, a young blonde lawyer refused to file charges, and the good looking young man who appeared to have caused her injury was walking free. Plus he gave Paddy a 50 pound note to keep this quiet. A bribe, well, sort of. Paddy needed the money, she was the sole support for her family and they needed the money. She took it. The next morning she discovered this woman was dead, was she partly responsible for not writing about this incident? Maybe, but who would know? Paddy would, and she could not live with it. She begins an investigation into what really happened.

All this while she is a decent young woman trying to make her way in a lfie full of bitter, nasty men, and her wish to get out of the dead-end world she grew up in without cutting herself off from her roots. The graveyard shift, hence the name "The Dead Hour' where things can get loose in the wee small hours. Even though Paddy has the ability for detection, she does not exhibit an aptitude as a journalist. She is self conscious particularly about her weight and is not as curious as one might expect. But she grows on you. She is likable.

As Paddy delves into the mystery of this murder, she becomes a little more sure of herself. She and one policeman believe that they are onto a murder and though they may be the only ones, they persue the clues and find surprising links. As Paddy pursues the clues her life may be in jeopardy.

Paddy Meehan, the Scottish lass, the unlikeliest of heroes meets her match, and it is hoped she will thrive. This is the second of a series, and it is well enough liked that Paddy Meehan will be seen again. Denise Mina, the author, has developed a real character, a woman that grows on ya. Highly Recommended.
prisrob 7-31-06

From time to time a story and narrator seem perfectly matched - such is the case with Heather O'Neill and her narration of The Dead Hour. O'Neill's Scottish burr precisely suits; it's both distinctive and distinct. Her reading is firm, thoughtful, apt voice for this story of a bold young reporter, Paddy Meehan.

Paddy works for the Scottish Daily News where she's subject to verba; jabs from males on the staff. Granted, Paddy is a bit over weight, still there's no need to call her "wee hen" or "fat cow," is there? However, Paddy has much more on her mind than eternal dieting and the insultings comments levied at her - she's working the night shift when she goes to what has been called a domestic dispute in a well-to-do suburb. Once there she sees what appears to be a beautiful blonde woman - it's somewhat difficult to tell as the woman is bleeding from a head wound and rejecting offers of help, first from the police and now from Paddy.

The next morning Paddy is shocked to seee on the TV news that the woman she saw last evening has been found murdered. Remembering that she accepted a 50 pound note to go away, Paddy determines to find the woman's killer although that will, as she soon discovers, put her own life in jeopardy.

With this, the second in a five book Paddy Meehan series, Denise Mina establishes herself as a writer of note, sketching the city of Glasgow with authenticity and its people with color while spinning a first-rate crime novel.

- Gail Cooke

I picked this novel up as a page turner but quickly became caught up in the life and times of Paddy Meehan as she tried to make sense of a late night disturbance complaint. The disturbance quickly turns into a case of murder, and Paddy is one of the last to have seen the victim alive.

This novel combines with fast action and investigative skills with social commentary (if you are interested). The novel is well written, and the end of the novel has me waiting for the next installment, as surely Paddy's story must continue.

In the meantime, I need to seek out the first novel.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Paddy Meehan, the engaging young would be journalist from "Field of Blood" is back in a brand new mystery novel. And is it worth touting as a must read? Goodness, yes!

It's been three years since Paddy Meehan broke the big story as to who was really responsible for the murder of a young child. But since then, even though she is now a full fledged reporter, Paddy hasn't really moved onto bigger and better things, and seems to be stuck covering the crime beat of the night shift. Three years of covering domestic violence, drunken brawls and knife fights has taken its toll on our stalwart heroine, and when, one night she gets a call to investigate a domestic dispute in a well to-do suburb, Paddy thinks that it's merely a case of a well-heeled husband giving his spoilt wife a thumping. Certainly the police officers at the scene are treating it as such and are keen to dismiss things and move on. Paddy, however, is curious enough to try and talk to the couple, and catches a glimpse of an elegant, blonde woman suffering from a head wound. She tries to ask the woman if she wants any help, but the woman gestures that she's all right, while her handsome companion shoves a fifty pound note into Paddy's hand to ensure that the incident does not end up in the newspapers. Paddy isn't sure what to do about the bribe -- she's poor enough for the money to make a difference, and yet there is the ethics of the thing. And when the following morning arrives with the news that the elegant blonde was a human rights lawyer, Vhari Burnett, that she had been viciously murdered in her own home, and that she was unmarried, Paddy quickly realises that she had been bribed by Vhari's murderer to go away. And even worse, that she had allowed for her prejudices and assumptions to rule her head. But what is she to do now? Go to the police and admit everything? Even the bride? Her name would become mud in the newsroom, and no one would trust her ever again. And then she learns that a friend of Vhari's has committed suicide, after leaving a note, apologising for letting Vhari down. The police quickly jump to the conclusion that Vhari's friend was responsible for her murder and that he had committed suicide out of guilt. Paddy, however, is not so certain. And with the unexpected help and support of the policeman in charge of the case, Gordon Sullivan, sets out to discover who murdered Vhari and why...

Mystery lovers used to more streamlined novels may find Denise Mina's "The Dead Hour" to be a bit of a disconcerting read -- and truth to tell it is a book that is all over the place at times. The book not only follows Paddy Meehan's slightly lackadaisical investigation into Vhari Burnett's murder, but also Paddy's problems at home, work worries, her obsession with trying to write a book about the safecracker Paddy Meehan, as well as her strange relationship with a married policeman. If Denise Mina's idea is to show that life is messy and that one has to deal with a myriad of issues all at the same time, then she has succeeded admirably. And it is a testament to her storytelling skills that I found myself becoming keenly absorbed by each and every one of Paddy's probelms/concerns. The storyline of "The Dead Hour" is a really good and intriguing one, and Mina's brilliant layering of the socioeconomic realties and politics of a 1980s England into the plot just added to the richness of the book. The main problem that readers not used to this writing style may face, however, is that it does take a while for the book to kick into high gear. For most of the first quarter of the book, nothing much really happens as Paddy tries to deal with her guilt of having left Vhari to her murderers and having accepted the bribe. But once Paddy realises that something sinister is going on and that the police (save Gordon Sullivan) are only too willing to sweep everything under the rug and tie things up as neatly as possible, the pacing and sense of urgency does pick up quite a bit and the book settles into becoming the compelling and riveting read that it promised to be. On the whole, I really enjoyed "The Dead Hour" immensely, and the promise that these Paddy Meehan mystery novels were going to become books that mystery readers will come to treasure as the years go by, is being met in spades. Definitely worth recommending as a must read. (A good choice for a collectible too).

Read "The Field of Blood" first. "The Dead Hour" is a continuation of a great character. Denise Mina is a first rate writer. I love this series and can't wait for her to write the next Paddy Meehan story. Denise Mina is as good as it gets.

My wish came true! As I turned the last page of Denise Mina's, "Field of Blood", I sat hoping that I'd meet Paddy Meehan in another Mina novel very soon. Her character, flawed as she is, was just too compelling to stop there. So I was eager to continue her saga in Mina's latest work, "The Dead Hour", and I was not disappointed. Again we walk along side Paddy; smart, cynical, self-loathing, responsible, frustrating and courageous. The story is again set in the mid 1980s in Scotland, which is a perfect time to depict the feeble beginnings of consciousness raising for both Paddy and society in general. Many things that happen to Paddy just wouldn't happen now (thankfully).

The plot is interesting and well constructed, though it is for Paddy and the wonderful and quirky cast of secondary characters that I loved this book. That has been true in all of Mina's work, and as great as the "Garnethill" trilogy was, this Meehan series is even better.

I don't have to wish and hope for more; the novel ends on a particularly provocative cliffhanger promising more Paddy Meehan to come. I'll be in line!

What a richly textured novel this proved to be. By setting this thriller in 1984, Mina has shown through the working ethic of a young Glasgow woman what it meant to live in Britain during the Thatcher era. Facing possible layoffs after her entire family is dependent on her paycheck, Paddy Mechan does what she can to keep her job, solve a crime, and effect payback for a wrong she perceives herself responsible for. The scenes with her Catholic, lower class Glassgow household are so naturalistic, they call to mind the early BBC work of Mike Leigh or Ken Loach. A gripping, thoughtful mature tour-de-force.

Included is the harrowing story of a person hopelessly addicted to cocaine and the fallout therefrom.

I cannot wait to read her other books.

Paddy is on the night-beat, trying to get a headline or two by following police calls. At a domestic disturbance complaint, a well dressed man appears at the door; his clothes are blood-spattered; he has a few words with the police and they quickly leave the scene. And then Paddy tries to speak with him. Suddenly, she realizes that a 50-quid note, "damp and pink with blood," has been pressed into her hand as the man quickly closes the door in her face. Paddy is excited about the money and leaves the scene with some reluctance; she'd caught a glimpse of a severely beaten woman in the room beyond the door. Later she'd learn that the woman had been tortured and murdered.

The 50-pound note makes Paddy think. WHY did the police walk away? Did she, Paddy, really accept a bribe to "go away" too, thereby abandoning a woman to a horrific death? And who knows about her bribe? And what should she do with the 50-quid note?

This is an intriguing set-up that starts one of the best Paddy stories.

I enjoy these stories set in Scotland, complete with its colloquialisms: "Aye," they add a "wee" bit of extra interest to the stories. And smart-talking Paddy is at her best in this one.

Plot twists plus dangerous and truly scary villains are here, and the danger is communicated to the reader. Edge-of-your-seat stuff.

Get this one and be ready to be chilled and thrilled!

Admittedly, I'm late to the Denise Mina party. I lapped up the GARNET HILL trilogy, but FIELD OF BLOOD (the first book in this series) was a true feast. THE DEAD HOUR opens three years later. Mina's magnificent creation Paddy Meehan has moved off the copyboy bench and is supporting her entire family (a couple of brothers, a pair of sisters and her parents) working the night shift as a cub reporter. The plot is a somewhat murky tale about cocaine and police corruption that, at times, threatens to fall apart. The real pleasure of this book is Paddy herself, her blossoming as a professional and as a woman. I love this character and cannot wait to read the rest of the books.