Devil's Home on Leave [Mass Market Paperback]

Raymond Derek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 1988

A man’s corpse is discovered in a London warehouse, bundled into five shopping bags. Our nameless narrator from the Unexplained Deaths division of the Met is put on the case. As he probes a world of horror in South London, a terrible secret from his own past emerges, and he uncovers much more than the murderer.

Derek Raymond is the father of British noir and much admired by a new generation of crime writers. He died in 1994.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'A bizarre mixture of Chandleresque elegance... and naked brutality' Dally Telegraph 'Hellishly bleak and moving' New Statesman 'He writes beautifully, and his sincerity cannot be faulted' Evening Standard 'Raymond writes with a stomach-churning exactness about murder, madness and mutilation' The Times 'Superb... an English Chandler... only better' Dally Mall 'A mixture of thin-lipped Chandleresque backchat and of idioms more icily subversive' Observer 'Raw-edged, strong and disturbing stuff' The Scotsman" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Raymond was born Robin Cook in 1931. He dropped out of Eton aged sixteen and spent much of his early career among criminals. The Factory series followed his early novels, The Crust on Its Uppers and A State of Denmark. His literary memoir The Hidden Files was published in 1992. He died in London in 1994.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (December 13, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345356845
• ISBN-13: 978-0345356840
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #545,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark crime of the highest order, a British James Ellroy., April 20, 1999

By 

Chris Yule ([e-mail]) (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Devil's Home on Leave (Mass Market Paperback)

The Devil's Home on Leave is the first of Derek Raymond's Factory novels. The series is a grim view of London's criminal underground and a policeman who understands it completely. The sergeant works for a small division of the force that deals with whatever the Serious Crime Unit deems to be too low-profile: vagrants, prostitutes - the forlorn and the forgotten. The sergeant investigates the revolting murder of a man with only his memoirs as a guide, the killer having reduced the corpse to unidentifiable fragments.

This is a common theme in the Factory novels, a victim who is ignored by the system but who is brought to life by either a diary, recorded thoughts or the memories of close friends. The sergeant is never named but his depth of feeling for the victim is almost painful to read. The novels are never really whodunnits, more the gradual gathering of evidence and uncovering of the chain of events. These books gripped me, they have a savage beauty. Their tone is depressing but there are some lighter moments when the sergeant takes time to deconstruct the masks that many of his witnesses wear or give his thoughts on the nature of policework. Buy it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best, August 4, 2007

By 

Edward W. Hayes (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Home on Leave (Factory 2) (Paperback)

Fantastic noir writer, a madman himself, his works are wonderful stories of depravity, violence and a nameless detective who is a tough, brilliant man who sins often and devotes himself to the destruction of evil.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Details in the Devil, November 16, 2008

By 

Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Devil's Home on Leave (Factory 2) (Paperback)

This second entry in the "Factory" series is very different from the first. The perspective of the 'unnamed' Sergeant, seems to come from a different place than it did in the first. Maybe it's the tortured side of his private life that wasn't mentioned in the first (or did it happen after the first) that seems to change his perspective. Raymond (or Robin Cook) does a great job of breaking down the walls between the 'classes' probably because he grew up on one side but lived most of his life on the other. He especially seems to have a great handle as to what it was to grow up in Northern Ireland during the worst of "The Troubles".

Once you get past the gory details of the first murder and into the mystery itself, the story is very compelling. Like the best thrillers, things just lead one into the other and the complications all make sense. Especially the Cambridge connection with the Russian trade mission.

The unnamed Sergeant is all Raymond, you can hear the snide laughter in the background every time he takes on "Authority". The interview that he is forced to go to with the promotion board is hilarious as he tries to get out of it and then purposely cocks-it-up. The men on the Board are so thick headed that none of them get the idea that he doesn't want a promotion and just think he's being 'cheeky'. It's past funny when he goes to interview a high level minister for breaking the "Official Secret's Act" who complains to him:

"Shouldn't I be interviewed by some one at a higher level than Sergeant?"
"Well, you'll just have to get used to dealing with me"
"I'm used to being addressed as Sir"
"Well I don't have time for that now"

And then the Minister threatens to call the Sergeant's higher ups even though the guy knows they both know he's guilty. Doesn't matter, one has to keep up appearances and expect the lower classes to know their place. It's almost like, 'you know who we are and even if we are traitors we expect to be treated respectfully and with kid gloves'. It's all very English and "Bob's your Uncle" type stuff. Great Read.

Zeb Kantrowitz