Customer Reviews

The Price of Darkness (DI Joe Faraday)

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After looking forward to another Joe Faraday storyThe Price of Darkness, I was rather disappointed by this latest offering from Graham Hurley. The characters as usual, are well drawn and speak with voices true to their setting. Faraday is also true to form -- concerned, sensitive and sensible, empathetic with the victims, but also vaguely vulnerable and naive at times. The police's, and Pompey's, nemesis Bazza McKenzie is firing on all cylinders, but still manages to draw the reader into a love-hate relationship.

A couple of issues though. How is it that the police, with all their resources, and through so many stories, have failed to nail McKenzie after all these years? And what of the subplot involving Faraday's deaf son J-J and his over-the-top real estate purchase: why was it included?

This storyline was almost a bit too clever in its construction. The various "subplots" were too distracting -- but at the same time not adequately fleshed out. Things moved along at a fairly brisk pace, but then some relatively inconsequential bits and pieces subtly broke its pacing. I found myself sometimes reading a chapter and then saying, "oh yeah, I'd forgotten about him,or that, or whatever", which shouldn't really happen in a good, evenly-paced storyline.

Even the jet-ski tournament sort of fizzled out as an idea (in the author's plan of things) without a particularly concrete solution. And Paul winter: good-guy or good-guy turned bad? It was left hanging at the end. And when Winter admitted to Bazza that his new marketing agent was an undercover cop, surely Bazza would've had her killed. Or, alternatively, Winter wouldn't have given her game away. Didn't really gel at all.

So... basically just an okay read, but I'm thinking I won't be looking for any more Graham Hurley/Joe Faraday books in the near future. 6/10