BOOK
Sure And Certain Death by Barbara Nadel
Headline, £19.99
1/5
IN A NUTSHELL
An East London already subject to the Luftwaffe's attentions fears that the Ripper is at work once more.
REVIEW
East London is rife with rumour - there's a new Ripper at work, using the cover and indifference created by the Blitz, a more effective and grislier killer, to pursue a bloody quest to do away with women of an uncertain age but with an uncertain connection.
A reluctant investigator fills in where the second rate police fail. His name is Francis Hancock and he is well placed to go a-hunting as a funeral director, although he is dogged with flashbacks of the trenches of the Great War and seen as an outsider because of his Asian background.
From this promising beginning and with an impeccably realised setting, author Barbara Nadel frustrates the reader, not by the usual means of red herrings, blind alleys and the steady accumulation of evasive clues, but by doing nothing much for 200-or-so pages before wrapping the piece up neatly with a loosely-tied melodramatic bow.
Pity that such a great background is wasted with vague plotting and indistinct characterisation.
Francis Hancock is a case in point - a theoretically interesting construct - his supposed psychological flaws are no more than irritations. He resorts to reminding us he's bonkers in case we should be unconvinced by his timely bouts of anguish.
