Flint

Rating:
Summary: Violated, traumatized, vulnerable, smart, driven and deadly
Review: Thus might Grace Flint, possibly one of the most intriguing heroes of recent thriller fiction, be characterized.

Grace is Detective Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard, assigned to the Major Crimes unit as an undercover operative. Three years previous, she got caught in a sting gone awry, during which her partner was killed and her face stomped to a pulp. Now, after extensive reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation, she's back on the job. While on assignment to America, she stumbles across the trail of the man, Frank Harling, who ordered her beating. It's becomes evident that Frank is now involved in an international blackmail and money laundering scheme masterminded by highly placed individuals in the West's intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Not knowing whom to trust, even within her own service, Flint goes underground to track Harling down.

There's actually a second protagonist in this plot, Harry Cohen, who's on an almost equal footing with Flint. Harry, a solicitor by profession, was once MI5's chief legal counsel, but was sacked after recommending against too many operations of dubious legality. Now, Grace's friends bring Cohen back to find Flint before she runs afoul of either Harling again or the criminal schemers within the Establishment that want her investigation stopped. But, are Grace's "friends" really her friends, or are they the Bad Guys?

Flint is fascinating because of the heavy load of emotional and psychological baggage she carries. There are, obviously, the aftereffects of her physical trauma manifested by her obsession with Harling. But also, as the storyline reveals, Grace's mother vanished one day when her daughter was but a young girl, apparently to foul play since the family dog was severely and deliberately injured in the same event. The woman was never found, not even her body. For a period during her adolescence, Grace actually thought that her veterinarian father had committed the murder, and had him investigated by the police - an investigation that discovered nothing. Because of all this, Flint is extremely vulnerable. Yet she remains smart, highly motivated, and terribly good at what she does for the London Metropolitan Police, i.e. being an undercover agent that can completely take on whatever role of the moment she needs to play. In that sense, she's a chameleon, both to her quarry and the reader.

As much as I enjoyed FLINT, I'm only awarding 4 stars because of a major loose end not tidied up at the conclusion - the question of her mother's disappearance. Perhaps the author means to return to the mystery in a sequel. Perhaps not. It seems too curious a thread to leave hanging, and I shall be sorely vexed if a following volume doesn't revisit the incident.

Rating:
Summary: 2.5 stars really
Review: Well, there's one thing you can say for him, he tries. He really does.

but he ultimately fails.

I can't actually understand all the hype which this overrated novel has achieved for itself. I'm actuallt surprised it got published. Not because it's badly written, but because everything about it is just so complicated. I'm surprised hwo any publisher could actually understand enough of the book to be able to say "yes, we'll publish this".

And it is complicated. Very much so. About half way through i gave up trying to comprehend the to-ings and fro-ings of all the stolen money, and just read the rest of it without understanding what it was on about.

The whole plot is just far too complex for readers to understand. The financial goings on and exactly who took what and put it in which bank and why is mind boggling. There is an impossible number of characters, which are all quite similar and often hard to recall which one you are reading about now. You need to keep thinking "now who is this again?"

The writing is good, but only language-wise. It doesn't have much depth at all. and none of the characters are very interesting, even Grace Flint, the heroin. Although apart from this, it is quite assured writing, especially for a first novel. Which really isn't all that surprising, he's been writing short stories and other espionage articles for about 25 years. So i would be surprised if it <i>wasn't</i> assured.

THis, at heart, is really a spy thriller for the modern age. the idea it carries is interesting, but Paul Eddy simply makes it far too complicated. It starts brilliantly, with real promise of something great. But sadly these hopes are not realised. He goe son for a bit about all the gadgets etc which members of the special branch carry, which is actually interesting. But it would have benefited the book a great deal if he actually incorporated some of them into it. If some of them had been relevant to the plot it would have made it quite a bit better.

Another thing which was confusing was the constant switching between tenses and time frames. I could never fathom which events were supposed to have happened before, which after, and which currently. He seemed to just jump about, filling in bits and pieces here and there until he was satisfied he had written all the important evnts into it. But it is by no means in any sort of chronological order. There is occasionally a switch to an event which happened in the past, which has an effect upon the current scene, btu as soon as it's over, he goes straight onto something else, and doesn't bother telling us what he's on about.

The catchphrase on the front of the english version of the book goes like this...

"First there was Clarice Starling, now meet Grace Flint...>"

NO NO NO! you do not immediately plant preconceptions in readers minds. it always, always disappoints them. (im thinking in particular of the Patricia Cornwell/Kathy Reichs comparison.)

and this, as i expeted, only served to disappoint. By comparing her to Clarice Starling the reader automatically expects something which Eddy can not possibly deliver.

Also, in this book there are definitely echoes of Hannibal, by Thomas Harris. It is blindlingly obvious that he's trying to make it seem like Hannibal. The ends are practically the same. and it does NOT work. i can't waork. because the two books are completely different genres. with completely diferent plots. written by completely different authors, each with different ideas.

But whereas Hannibal was a masterpice, this book just falls flat on it's face.

don't bother with it.

Rating:
Summary: Fiction or Fact ?
Review: When a friend recommends a book you politely listen as they talk about it. When they continue to rave about it you get the book.

One might think, "Oh No, another cop story." However, in this case I and my friends haven't seen or heard (audio books) such realistic excitement since Joseph Wambaugh hit the scene. That's because we're cops and we don't get excited unless it's good, it's real, it can happen, it has happened, been there, done that, seen it and it tells it like it is.

While reading this book you become Grace Flint's partner, the one that can only listen and watch. The one wondering how she'll react, how the rest of the team will react. The action, the plot, all of it invokes feelings that can cause you to leave sweaty prints on the pages.

The book moves fast when it should. It has been said to be slow in certain areas, but in those areas you obtain the information you will need to prepare for the action, just like you would on the job.

Paul Eddy has done a splendid job on the book and Grace Flint. I wonder, have the names and places been changed like Jack Webb would say, is it really fiction?

Treat yourself to what will be one of the best books that your likely to ever read. Prepare yourself to read a book that is hard to put down and will leave you wanting more Flint when you've finshed.