The story begins with the murder of Alistair Waring, a solicitor and keen golfer. Straight away McCoy shows us his humorous side, with the quip "had his degree been in psychology and not law he might not have died.."
You might not think that humour and thrillers go hand in hand, but I did ... Read review
Advantages: A most engrossing story and a great introduction to this author Disadvantages: Another author to add to my list of favourites!
The story begins with the murder of Alistair Waring, a solicitor and keen golfer. Straight away McCoy shows us his humorous side, with the quip "had his degree been in psychology and not law he might not have died.."
You might not think that humour and thrillers go hand in hand, but I did enjoy this aspect of his writing style; it serves only to enhance and never detracts from the tale.
Although we know the ... ...fellow golfer, is suspected of the killing. Not only was he unfortunate enough to have been found at the site of the murder (having just arrived and found the body) , he also has a possible motive.
Sam ("Mad") Carew is called in by Jim's wife Tracey to help get Jim off the charge. When he reaches Tracey's house he finds two teenagers causing trouble for her. To get rid of the kids Sam gets into his "Mad Carew" role, ... more
The story begins with the murder of Alistair Waring, a solicitor and keen golfer. Straight away McCoy shows us his humorous side, with the quip "had his degree been in psychology and not law he might not have died.."
You might not think that humour and thrillers go hand in hand, but I did enjoy this aspect of his writing style; it serves only to enhance and never detracts from the tale.
Although we know the true identity of the murderer, Jim Ormerod, who is a fellow golfer, is suspected of the killing. Not only was he unfortunate enough to have been found at the site of the murder (having just arrived and found the body) , he also has a possible motive.
Sam ("Mad") Carew is called in by Jim's wife Tracey to help get Jim off the charge. When he reaches Tracey's house he finds two teenagers causing trouble for her. To get rid of the kids Sam gets into his "Mad Carew" role, scaring them as he knows people can't deal with madness. This certainly does the trick and Sam is a good actor, although it causes problems for him later on.
Sam starts investigating the killing, and is bemused to find that of the bag full of golf clubs at the crime scene, one is very clean. He feels that this must be significant somehow but can't quite see how. The suspected murder weapon is the missing 3 iron which was found covered in blood in a bin near Alistair's home. Sam also starts to interview the other golfers that Alistair used to play with.
Meanwhile Sam is hired to help with a security contract escorting a famous Rembrandt painting from Amsterdam to Unsworth. All Sam has to do is accompany the painting for the entire duration of its trip. This seems at first to be an easy job, but it turns out not to be as straightforward as it should have been…*** The Characters ***
Sam Carew - Sam is intelligent and quick witted. He is also a very big "risk" for his girlfriend Sally, due to his habit of getting involved with trouble and getting injured. His hospital records could fill a filing cabinet. This is a pity because he genuinely loves Sally, although at times he drives her utterly crazy.
He is a caring person, who feels he has to do the "right" thing and feels guilty for what he sees as his shortcomings. It is impossible not to get involved with him, and to care about what happens to him.
Other Characters - All the characters are drawn so well. Even the criminals are portrayed superbly; we are given insight into their backgrounds, and though we may not sympathise with them we can at least understand some of what has brought them to this stage.
We meet the golfing "buddies" of Alistair, and learn a lot about what makes each one of them tick. Along with Sam, we discover their personalities and circumstances. Each of the characters has a whole lifetime behind them and they are very much well thought out, three dimensional people.
*** My Opinion ***
When I first picked this up in the library I noticed on the flyleaf that this was "one of the Sam "Mad" Carew series". Normally this would put me off straight away as I tend to find that some of these kind of series tend to be quite formulaic. I am very glad that I chose to give this one a try, as I shall certainly be reading more by McCoy.
I really liked the writing style in this novel, it was easy to read and very engrossing. The occasional humorous comment really went well with the rest of the story; particularly with Sam's quite self-deprecating attitude. It is not a style I would have expected, nor would I have thought it so apt and "in tune" with the thriller genre.
There is certainly plenty of action, and we are kept guessing throughout the book. This is another one that I really couldn't put down. I would put McCoy in a league with James Patterson, THAT is how good I thought the book was. And from me that's some compliment!
I definitely recommend this to thriller fans, you will not be disappointed. And I will be looking for more books by this author.
You can get this from Amazon for £13.99, which is £6.00 less than the marked price. It is also available from their Marketplace from £11.30. It is quite a new book (April 2008) so you may well be limited with other sources, but you can probably get it from your local library like I did.
Incidentally, I've already got another of McCoy's books out from my local libary. I look forward to reading it!
