The Blurb:
Against a background of brutal attacks on people and property by a rag-tag group of homeless men whom the media quickly dub Berserkers, DI Will Harlan is juggling with a head-in-a-bucket patricide, a lethal wife-swapping session, a sex-tape scandal involving the Royal Scottish National Orchestra – and perhaps most discomfiting of all – a spate of late night phone calls from his favourite serial killer, Howie Danks.
As the wife-swapping investigation spirals into a glut of cold-blooded slayings carried out by a mysterious pair of killers known as the Wasp Queen and the Priest, Harlan has to look into the past where a cold case may contain uncomfortable answers. But it’s in the present where the real danger lies as he follows a twisted path of mind control and madness leading to a cruel land some call the Wasp Latitudes.
You can buy Wasp Latitudes from Amazon UK and US.
My Review:
I'm so glad to see DI Will Harlan again, who we first met in Heart Swarm (see my review here). This is a follow up to that book, but there is easily enough background included here for it to be dead as a standalone. But you might want to read Heart Swarm anyway, because it's great.
The prologue is hard hitting and sad. A desperate man doing a desperate thing. It's hard to see where it might fit into the story, but it does. For Will, the investigation really begins with a dead man with his head in a bucket, and that's not even the weirdest thing about the body. But we, the readers, have had a glimpse into a wife swapping evening which goes awfully wrong, and which again ties into the story.
I love Will. He's stubborn, not always very subtle but determined to get at the truth, even when it's not in the obvious places. And who else has a favourite serial killer? It was great to see him sparring with Cara again, although she worries me - she seems so brittle. One of the best things about Will is that he lives in a hotel run by an ex con, Lenny. They have such a great dynamic together - so fun. New recruit Trixie is a delight, and if there is more to come from DI Harlan, I hope Trixie will feature too. But my favourite character in this book only plays a small part, and provides a little bit of light relief, in a slightly sad way - Sara Buchanan.
There is a lot going on in here, with lots of characters and action which kept my attention and concentration. There are several seemingly unrelated storylines running through the book. I'd love to look inside Allan Watson's head and see where he gets his ideas from, because they are really dark! The murders carried out by the Priest and the Wasp Queen are specific, gruesome, and certainly original. I love that it's set in Glasgow and East Dunbartonshire, and features places I know.
This is original, intelligent, complex, dark, violent and gruesome in places. I loved it.
The Author:
Allan Watson is a writer whose work leans towards the dark end of the fiction spectrum. He is the author of seven novels – Dreaming in the Snakepark, Carapace, The Garden of Remembrance, 1-2-3-4, Monochrome, Heart Swarm and Wasp Latitudes.
In between the books, Allan wrote extensively for BBC Radio Scotland, churning out hundreds of comedy sketches, in addition to being a regular contributor for the world famous ‘Herald Diary’.
He occasionally masquerades as a composer/musician, collaborating with crime writer Phil Rickman in a band called Lol Robinson with Hazey Jane II whose albums have sold on four different continents (Antarctica was a hard one to crack).
Allan lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland, but has never worn the kilt or eaten a deep fried Mars Bar. He also once spent three days as a stand-in guitarist for the Bay City Rollers, but he rarely talks much about that…
You can find out more at Allen's website, or follow him on Twitter @allanwatson12 and Facebook.
https://allanwatson.blogspot.com/
Twitter – @allanwatson12
Facebook – Heart Swarm Page https://www.facebook.com/HeartSwarm1/?fb_dtsg_ag=Adz0nbMEoAASgKfDosWU9lOpscQrS5RyHtZrVwbgOX9eVw%3AAdxkiZ-h5CRSD7RLCeHvFWZ2edZg00tEQhsUdK29nZJ9WQ
No comments:
Post a Comment