Customer Reviews

Rough Treatment

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The sequel to Lonely Hearts holds true to the curse of the "sophomore slump." After the crispness of the first book, something isn't quite as fresh here. Part of it may be that the criminals being pursued by the hero, Charlie Resnick, are burglars and mid-range drug dealers, instead of the serial killer of the previous book. What still holds one's attention, however, are the side stories in which the off-duty lives of the various police officers are given some play. Most interesting is the unflappable Super's paternal woes. Don't worry, the series picks up after this one.

This is a "police procedural", somewhat reminiscent of McBain's 87th Precinct books with a British flavor (or should I say flavour?). Unusually for a crime novel, there is no murder. The crimes are burglary and drug dealing. One of the burglars is a strikingly unusual crook who enjoys bird watching, seduces (maybe even falls for) one of his female victims, and saves the life of another of his victims who suffers a heart attack when he discovers the burglars in his home.

There is no real "mystery" here, since the activities of the criminals are described side-by-side along with the attempts of the police to find and arrest them. There are the usual side issues involving the personal lives of the police officers on the squad, and Harvey does a good job with that.

The one thing I found annoying about this novel is Harvey's penchant for giving us a conversation in which the participants speak indirectly and the reader can't figure out what they're talking about. Harvey isn't the only writer who does this, of course, but I have always found the practice to be smug and aggravating. There is an undertone of "If you were really paying attention, pal, you'd know exactly what they're talking about." I can do without the attitude, Mr. Harvey.

Otherwise the book is a completely professionally produced crime novel: pleasant for those who enjoy the genre, but unmemorable.

From Back Cover:

Things have started to get seriously out of hand for kind-hearted burglar Jerry Grabianski. His violent, opportunistic partner-in-crime, Trevor Grice, is uncontrollable. And now Jerry has fallen hard for married, love-starved and willing Maria Roy - whom he and Trevor met while ransacking her house.

Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick is certain that the criminals responsible for the break-in at the Roy household are the same two who left a corpse behind during their previous caper. But there are some things neigher Maria nor her television director husband Harold are reveaing to the melancholy investigator. And when love, lies and larceny mix, the result can be murder.

Every bit as tightly woven as any in this marvelous series; it is more of a character study than the others. Master thief Jerry Grabianski is as finely wrought as his protagonist, DI Charlie Resnick. Less blood, more subtlety.

John Harvey is an award-winning writer who lives north of London. He received the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger award for sustained excellence in the field of writing for his ten published mysteries in 2007.

Giving us the underbelly of Hollywood in Pulp Fiction fashion, Harvey's tale intersects the lives of a broken down TV director, Harold Roy and his unhappy wife and two small-time crooks who have created a sure-fire deal to rob wealthy mansions. Grice and Grabianski are polar opposite thieves with a common purpose. They break into Harold and Maria Roy's mansion dressed up like insurance salesmen. The shocked Maria offers them a drink, and then finds that she is sexually attracted to Jerzy Grabianski. They helped themselves to artwork; furs; and the contents of the safe, which includes a kilo of cocaine waiting to redistribution. Detective Inspector Resnick is immediately suspicious of Maria Roy's story of the two intruders, and the hunt is on. Harold Roy is absolutely no help, as his universe is crashing in on him both at home and at work:

"Harold Roy clenched his fists and stared at his knuckles until they were quite white. If ever there'd been any chance of salvaging his future with this particular company, the last half-hour had blown it. Once the rumors made their rounds, the usual vindictiveness, more than usual exaggeration - couldn't finish the series, couldn't keep to schedule, boozed up on the set, taking swings at the producer - he'd be lucky to get a job directing sixty-second promos for satellite TV."

Harvey's character-driven plot twists and turns and sucks in the reader from almost the first page. There is real drama here, and every character is feeling it in his or her own way. Yet all are tied together with just one burglary that keeps expanding like lava from a volcano. Harvey is a master at setting the mood and getting the dialogue just right. The reader feels like they are in the room with whatever action is taking place. He is a puppeteer with tone, and his imperfect and totally human characters skitter on his stick as they make one bad decision after another. ROUGH TREATMENT is just that...no one escapes from John Harvey's expertise as a writer; make it an entertaining and no doubt popular read with his fans.

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

I have a theory that a nation's character can be expressed through its detective stories. American thriller usually have lots of blood; Swedish procedurals revolve around bizarre sex and British police dramas often feature unhappy, middle-aged detectives operating in gray, drab cities. That's certainly the case with this book, second in a series. I didn't catch the first and having read this one had no particular desire to continue with the series.
Inspector Resnik is middle-aged, depressed at having been deserted by his wife, poorly dressed but also very bright and observant and scrupulously honorable. I can anticipate the way this series will develop. In this book, Resnik has the opportunity to sleep with a gorgeous young realtor who throws herself at him for some unknown reason. Of course, he's unwilling to respond. I guess each volume of the series will feature another mystery solved while Resnik himself grows ever more lonely and tormented.
One problem with this book is that nothing very major seems to be at stake. There's some drug smuggling and some burglary but so what? No murders, no blood, no crazed fanatics trying to destroy the world .. so why bother? We see a bunch of honest, British coppers plodding their way through the drab streets of a Midlands city solving a bunch of burglaries? If you don't fall in love with the characters, and I didn't, seems like too much effort to be worth it.