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Russell, Craig - 'The Deep Dark Sleep'
Trade Paperback: 320 pages (July 2011) Publisher: Quercus ISBN: 0857381806

THE DEEP DARK SLEEP is another stonker by Craig Russell, featuring the Canadian-born private detective, Lennox. Russell is a truly gifted story teller and this tale of life in post WWII Glasgow is brimming with rich descriptions of larger-than-life characters and how their getting mixed up in daring crimes seems to remain unpunished - until Lennox gets involved.

Still searching for the man he used to be before the war, Lennox seems consumed by an attraction to his landlady. He is gently courting her and wants to do the right thing by her - a far cry from his usual behaviour with members of the opposite sex. Things have moved on since his last outing, in THE LONG GLASGOW KISS, and Lennox is cleaning up his act. He now has a steady income from doing a weekly wages run and is trying to avoid working for The Three Kings - Glasgow's notorious crime bosses.

Then some bones are dredged up from the bottom of the Clyde and with them comes a sordid past that Lennox is hired to get to the bottom of. He reluctantly agrees to find out whether or not the bones are those of Gentleman Joe Strachan, a notorious individual who is alleged to be the mastermind behind a series of huge robberies nearly twenty years ago, and is soon involved far more deeply than he intended. With people out to kill him, Lennox is forced to further question his involvement in this kind of life and wonders whether he will even survive this time round.

Well written and fabulously entertaining, THE DEEP DARK SLEEP exposes the darker side of Glasgow and its shady inhabitants that exist on the edge of the law. A more thoughtful and wary side of Lennox is seen this time around, and you are left wondering whether he plans to shut up shop and return to Canada in the very near future. Russell's imagination is endless and his ability to describe a scene so well that you are transported to another time and place is breathtaking. Definitely the best Lennox story to date - and that is saying something!

Very highly recommended.

Amanda C M Gillies, Scotland
February 2012

Details of the author's other books with links to reviews can be found on the Books page.
More European crime fiction reviews can be found on the Reviews page.



last updated 12/02/2012 09:24