Customer Reviews

Flesh and Blood: A Novel of Crime (Frank Elder Mysteries)

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Fans of John Harvey's Charlie Resnick mystery novels rejoice: Harvey's new mystery novel, featuring retired police inspector Frank Elder, is as gripping and as chilling as the Charlie Resnick books. Dare one hope that this will be the beginning of a brand new series? I devoutly hope so.

When his marriage fell apart, Detective Inspector Frank Elder handed in his notice and retired to the Cornish coast. There, haunted by nightmares and his unresolved feelings about his failed marriage, Elder maintains a day to day existence, reading novels, until an ex-colleague informs him of the early release of rapist-murderer, Shane Donald. Almost 15 years ago, Elder had been instrumental in the capture and conviction of Alan McKeirnan & Shane Donald for the murder and rape of a young sixteen year old girl. The case had been especially disturbing in its brutality and violence; but what really haunted Elder was that he had been unable to get either McKeirnan or Donald to admit to having had anything to do with the disappearance of another young sixteen, Susan Blacklock. Now, with the early release of Donald, Elder finds in himself a renewed interest in trying to find Susan. Had McKeirnan and Donald been involved in Susan's disappearance? Elder had always believed that the two had met and murdered the unfortunate girl. But if so, why had they always denied any connection to her? Had the police (after all) made a fatal mistake in trying to tie Susan's disappearance to the duo? And had they missed an important piece of evidence in their rush to connect the cases? As Elder struggles to answer these questions and go over again the old clues, Donald breaks parole and leaves his halfway house, while another sixteen year old disappears. Is history is about to repeat itself?

Gritty, gripping and magnificently rendered, "Flesh and Blood" was truly unputdownable. The novel unfolds smoothly and swiftly, with authour successfully mounting tension upon tension, and plot twist upon plot twist with each succeeding chapter. Also brilliantly done was the authour's ability to relate in stark and realistic terms the depressing, painful and hopeless lives that some of the characters led and continue to lead. Obviously what carries "Flesh and Blood" through though, is Harvey's sympathetic chief character, Frank Elder -- a sensitive, decent and caring man, who hasn't quite figured out how his life has ended up the way it has. Elder may belong to the often used British police detective type, but he was totally engaging and easy to relate to and root for, and I for one, am hoping that there will be more Frank Elder books. Haunting, chilling and absolutely riveting, "Flesh and Blood" is a mystery novel especially recommended for readers who appreciate stark police procedurals, and good writing.

On the Cornish coast in Great Britain, retired DI Frank Elder is faced with several problems. On a personal level his marriage has fallen apart and he is trying to foster his relationship with his sixteen year old daughter. On a professional level Shane Donald has just been released from prison and escaped from a half way house. Fourteen years ago, Shane Donald and Alan McKiernan were arrested for the brutal rape and slaying of a young girl. Now another young girl has disappeared and all fingers appear to be pointing to Shane. Elder was responsible for the original arrests and is now hired as a consultant in the case given that he knows Shane. However, as Elder investigates, things get way too close to home.
John Harvey has written a superb character rich crime novel in the same vein as Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson or Reginald Hill. Specifically I am referring to the leisurely paced novel that truly centers on the police officer almost to the subjugation of the plot. When done right there are few works that compare in terms of richness of language, character and the locale itself. This is a very impressive work and it is the subtle tension of the missing women and the subsequent murders that truly keep the pages turning. My one gripe is the truly disappointing ending which any reader of the genre would have picked out near the beginning of the book. I felt it was both a cheap and a manipulative device. However, this is one of the best books of the year,overall and a worthy winner of the CWA Silver dagger.

Harvey's last novel (In A True Light, his first after the ten-book Charlie Resnick series), left Nottingham for London and New York. This very good new book returns to familiar environs, with the majority of the action taking place in the Midlands, including Nottingham (Charlie Resnick even has a cameo walkon) and the Cornish coast. The protagonist is a familiar type for Harvey, Frank Elder is a retired Detective Inspector who left the police force to lead a hermit's life on the coast following the end of his marriage (the details of this are laid out in a short story called "Due North" which has appeared in several anthologies, including Crime in the City). He lives in a small cottage and is haunted by gruesome nightmares, as well as the knowledge of his wife's adultery and his lackluster performance as a father to their teenage daughter.

Also haunting Elder is an old case from 1988, a brutal rape and murder committed by a pair of sadistic men who may have killed another teenage girl who disappeared at the same time. The parole of one of the men spurs him to leave his hermitage and start poking around the cold case of the missing Susan Blacklock. Much of the book alternates between Elder's investigation and the parolee's fractured attempt to make it on the outside. The parolee disappears at the same time another teenage girl is murdered, and Elder is brought into the investigation as a consultant. Most of the book proceeds in the typically tight and angst-ridden prose that characterized Harvey's Resnick series. The procedural angles are all covered very well, and Harvey does an excellent job of peeling away the layers to get to Elder's inner fears and disappointments. His awkward relationship with daughter is handled very well (the father/daughter relationship drives the plot of In A True Light), as his is uncertain romance with a middle-aged woman.

There are two flaws in the book, neither major, but enough to keep the book out of the superb category. One is Harvey's succumbing to the unfortunately tendency of crime novelists to make their plots and villains intersect with the hero's friends and family. It gives nothing away to say that's what happens here, and the result cheapens the story. The other flaw is the unnecessarily pay-off of Elder's nightmares, which are revealed as being exactly prescient. This introduces an odd quasi-mystical element to an otherwise entirely gritty and realistic story, and serves no good purpose. These are minor bumps, though, and Harvey's fans and newcomers will find plenty to like about this fine crime novel. Elder returns in Harvey's next novel, Ash and Bone.

NOTE: The American dust jacket of this and In A True Light are terrible--they are garish and completely fail to convey the tone of the novels. It's a mystery as to why they don't just go ahead and use the art from the UK editions, which is much better.

John Harvey wrote a famous series with Det. Charlie Resnick, who makes a cameo appearance in this book.After the series ended many a reader was sorely dissappointed.
Luckily, he gave us Frank Elder, retired Det. Inspector, still fighting his demons. Mr. Harvey's poetic writing and deft hand with the construction of the plot is still present.
His characters are alive and really flesh and blood as the title states. I am thrilled that there are two more books in the series, and I am hoping for more. This is the best of crime writing, as usual coming from the Brits.

It's funny that the problems that some of the reviewers have, with the dialogue, and the "boring Englishness" of the story, is what endeared it to me. I couldn't put this down -- I read it in one day. Frank Elder is the answer to my mourning over the end of the Charlie Resnick series. Gritty, yes, but compelling.

John Harvey has written an atmospheric mystery with a new character; Frank Elder, a retired police officer. Elder is sad, sad and has moved to the Cornish coast and is attempting to retire from life. A cheating wife, a distant relationship with his teenage daughter are what he left behind but he is also haunted by a teenage girl who disappeared over fifteen years earlier. Two young men who were responsible for the rape and murder of another teenager at the time of her disappearance are the likely suspects but the missing teenager's body is never found. The action starts when one of the culprits is released from jail. And Elder meets the teenager's mother and starts his search for the truth.

Harvey's writing is superb, as usual, but the story somehow lacks the depth and life of the Resnick series. Perhaps it is that the denouement is quite contrived and ultimately disappointing. Or perhaps it is the pervasive gloom and sadness permeating the story.

Hopefully, this is a series that will improve. Still much better than many a mystery out there; Harvey is a talented writer.

Harvey is clearly an experienced writer in this genre, and the plot flows from page to page with seemingly no effort. It's easy to keep reading, but not so compelling that you stay up all night to finish it.

Frank Elder has retired as a police officer in the Nottinghamshire police force, and he now leads a quiet and lonely life in Cornwall (being introspective no doubt). His interest in the outside world is engaged when a teen he sent to prison is set to be released--at almost that same time, crimes this boy committed prior to incarceration begin to surface again. Elder, because he has a vested and personal interest in the boy he sent to prison and the crimes this boy committed, becomes peripherally involved with the police as he and they investigate a new stint of kidnappings and murderings involving 16-year-old girls.

Elder is just a shade different from the usual detective. He is not morose or depressed (at least not too much), he doesn't have an alcohol problem, and he doesn't brood about all the horrible things he saw as a detective. He is honest and honorable, and he's likeable without being perfect.

The mystery is fairly engaging, and the conclusion is realistic and not too melancholy. Also, something I really liked in this book was a proper conclusion--something that has fallen out of style in this era of crime fiction! Frank follows all the loose ends of the case and ties them up for us, long after the perpetrators are in custody. En fin, it's a well plotted English suspense/crime novel written by a veteran who still has a masterhold on his craft.

The other frank Elder novels refer to a seminal event in Elder's family that haunts them all profoundly; Flesh & Blood puts that question to rest. The course of events that forever traumatizes sixteen-year-old Katherine Elder is begun simply enough, one more case that Elder can't resist when his expertise is solicited. When his marriage to Joanna fell apart and her infidelity came to light, Frank moved as far away from his memories as possible, to the remote and wild Cornwall coast. Now he lives a spartan existence, solitary and healing, the emotional wreckage of a failed marriage gradually losing its power. Always a detective at heart, although loathe to leave his new home, Frank cannot resist the siren call of one more request, this time related to one missing girl and another brutally tortured and slain.

Acting on the request of another detective, Maureen Prior, Elder returns to Nottinghamshire. It seems that one of the perpetrators of a kidnap-murder has been released on parole and Prior thinks Shane Donald may lead them to the missing girl who has never been found. Although Shane hasn't admitted knowledge of the disappearance of Susan Blacklock, he may know something that will enable them to renew their investigation. But when Donald, whose former crime was heinous, is threatened, he disappears from the assigned group home into the countryside. The police are diligently searching for Donald when another young woman is abducted, violated and murdered; the quest grows more frantic, everyone working against time.

Between visits with his daughter and interviews with Susan Blacklock's friends and family, Elder participates in solving the latest crime. Meanwhile Harvey sweetens the plot with more than one resolution, another set of remorseless criminals, Frank's horrific dreams, too much publicity and Elder's daughter, Katherine, caught up in a nightmare beyond imagining. Harvey's dour protagonist is a driven man, no doubt, but one with a compassionate heart and a realistic take on the checks and balances of the world. Katherine's desperate situation draws Elder into the crux of his moral dilemma, his role as a father, an ex-husband and a man. Psychologically shredded by his own failings and inability to save his daughter from the underbelly of the criminal element he knows so well, Frank Elder faces the most important test of his life. Luan Gaines/2006.

John Harvey won the first-ever Sherlock Award for the best detective created by a British author, and deservedly so. I was sorry when Harvey retired his Charlie Resnick series, although Charlie makes a very brief appearance here, but Harvey certainly didn't retire his writing skills. He knows how to draw you into the story and keep you there to the very end. Well-developed characters, good dialogue, tension, a very literate style; these are all hallmarks of Harvey's writing.

For me, this book's highlight was the local color. Characters used the word "innit," as in "I were in the kitchen, innit?" I kept practicing until I could pronounce it without adding a 'd.'
Then one of the characters pronounced it "idnit." --DOH!
Another reviewer has said that "the denouement is quite contrived and ultimately disappointing." Judge for yourself: The killer sends some postcards to his buddy in prison with pictures of the town he's in. But the cops can't find him until he calls the local police station and tells them where he is. Then he's amazed when they show up and bust him!
Mr Harvey, yer head is up yer arse, innit?