Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Debut
Review: One of the best crime novels I've read in quite a while, this book takes the reader deep into the tough world of sexual abuse survivors in Glasgow. A year ago Maureen O'Donnell suffered a breakdown after repressed memories of her childhood sexual abuse came flooding back. Now, eight months out of Northern Psychiatric Hospital she holds a dull (albeit steady) job as a movie ticket seller and has been having a rather unsatisfactory affair with a married therapist. Resolving to dump him, she gets blotto drunk with her pal, stumbles home and passes out. Unfortunately, when she wakes up the next morning, her boyfriend is tied to a chair in the living room with his throat slit. The police naturally suspect her, or her drug dealer brother, of the murder, and lean heavily on both. Matters aren't helped by Maureen's alcoholic mother who's liable to say anything, and is in total denial (along with Maureen's two sisters) about Maureen's being abused by their father-who fled after Maureen's breakdown. With little support from that end of her family, Maureen and her brother bond together, along with her legal student friend Benny, and tough social worker Leslie.Spurred by a small initial suspicion, Maureen starts digging into the murder herself, and finds out all kinds of things the police haven't. As she bounces between her dysfunctional family, threatening police, friends, and local psychiatric facilities, she starts uncovering more and more secrets, spurring the killer to take further action, upping the stakes. She's a realistically haphazard and inept amateur sleuth, but her familiarity with the mental health care system and it's people allow her access to areas the police can barely fathom. She's also an extremely compelling character, flawed in many ways, but with a slowly simmering desire to discard her vicitmhood and take action. She's not unlike Alan Warner's Scottish women in Morvern Callar or The Sopranos. All the supporting cast burst from the pages with life, and Mina has that rare talent of creating fictional characters you miss when the book is done. (Fortunately, you can tell that in setting up Maureen with a new man and a new job, she's laid the groundwork for a sequel, which is Exile.) Mina has written a gripping and expertly plotted account of how things can go badly wrong in mental healthcare, how little protection sexual abuse survivors have, but with an oddly empowering ending. The Glasgow of her book is not the out and out ghetto Scotland that one finds in some other Scottish fiction, but rather a tough, lower-class environment where people struggle to make a life for themselves despite the world around them. Similar in tone to John Harvey's Nottingham, John William's Cardiff, or George Pelecanos's Washington, DC. By the way, the CD that is mentioned several times is by the '80s British ska revival band "The Selecter" not "Selector." I'm not sure why Mina chose to change the name, but with Pauline Black at the vocals, The Selecter still make for great listening. One last note, Maureen orders one of the nastiest sounding drinks, I've ever heard of: half whiskey, half lime cordial...
Rating:
Summary: It's one of those books...
Review: Some books, when you are not reading them, are missed. This story, with characters real and damaged by life and each other, is that kind of book. The author is gifted with the ability to flesh out her characters with a few well chosen words. The plot is good but it is secondary to the exploration of how we treat mental illness and those who've been traumatized by family betrayal. It makes you reconsider the stereotypes typically hung on the institutionalized. The main character is admirable despite her flaws,and she shouldn't show up as a crime solver ever again,please.
Rating:
Summary: Bleak as befits the genre, but with very Glaswegian humour
Review: The word that keeps coming to mind when I think about this book is gritty. Not gritty as is determined but gritty as in sand in your shoes. Glasgow as portrayed in this book is abysmally depressing and filled with predators and prey. I couldn't put it down. The theme the author builds the mystery around is abuse in its myriad forms. The main character is Maureen, a survivor. Her family definitely did not put the FUN in dysfunctional. She has just found out that her lover is married. She has a dead end job. There doesn't seem to be much left to do but go out on a whizzer. Then, she wakes up with a hang over and her troubles really start. The language is probably a little rough for the more delicate mystery lover--it's definitely not a cozy. It does have an authentic edginess to it. I can honestly say that the raw edges of Glasgow are similar to those in any urban area I've known. Her description of Glasgow's mean streets, and even meaner inhabitants, is gripping and engaging. It should probably be noted that this is the first of a series. The plot in the first one has a satisfactory resolution, but it's only a waystop, not a conclusion. The second, Exile, and the third, Resolution, are already available in the US. So be prepared to enjoy this triptych of terror.
Rating: 
Summary: The Mean Streets of Glasgow
Review: The word that keeps coming to mind when I think about this book is gritty. Not gritty as is determined but gritty as in sand in your shoes. Glasgow as portrayed in this book is abysmally depressing and filled with predators and prey. I couldn't put it down. The theme the author builds the mystery around is abuse in its myriad forms. The main character is Maureen, a survivor. Her family definitely did not put the FUN in dysfunctional. She has just found out that her lover is married. She has a dead end job. There doesn't seem to be much left to do but go out on a whizzer. Then, she wakes up with a hang over and her troubles really start. The language is probably a little rough for the more delicate mystery lover--it's definitely not a cozy. It does have an authentic edginess to it. I can honestly say that the raw edges of Glasgow are similar to those in any urban area I've known. Her description of Glasgow's mean streets, and even meaner inhabitants, is gripping and engaging. It should probably be noted that this is the first of a series. The plot in the first one has a satisfactory resolution, but it's only a waystop, not a conclusion. The second, Exile, and the third, Resolution, are already available in the US. So be prepared to enjoy this triptych of terror.
Rating:
Summary: A good read and then some
Review: This author is a definite find, a true original. I was happy to get to know the protagonist, Maureen O'Donnell, and her friends and hope that this is the first of a series that will feature them. I am especially curious to know what will happen to Maureen in relation to her family, who are appallingly real and funny, especially the mother, a classic monster. I think the book would make a wonderful TV miniseries. Unfortunately, the killer seems rather pale compared to the other characters, and I kept stumbling over the Scottish jargon.
Rating:
Summary: Superior Mystery
Review: This book succeeds both as a mystery and as a work of fiction. Mina takes on a complex set of characters and makes them work in an illuminating and realistic fashion. Her heroine is extremely well done. I look forward to her next book, Exile.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful new crime writer!
Review: This is a marvellous book - well written, atmospheric and completely true to its subject matter. A compelling story told with a mixture of black humor and sadness. The characters are strikingly well developed, and I hope that we will get to meet them again in future books by this author! Also a great depiction of the city of Glasgow in all its grimy splendour.
Rating:
Summary: Mr pedantic here
Review: This is a reply to any of the editorial reviews that describe the Garnethill location as the grimmest in the city. Glasgow is a wonderful city which has enjoyed a fantastic rennaisance. Like any large place it is pock-marked by areas of poverty - but these are not in Garnethill. The "No Mean City" image has been put to rest, and to compare it with the contrasts of American ghetto areas (for example) is laughable.
Rating:
Summary: Mr pedantic here
Review: This is a reply to any of the editorial reviews that describe the Garnethill location as the grimmest in the city. Glasgow is a wonderful city which has enjoyed a fantastic rennaisance. Like any large place it is pock-marked by areas of poverty - but these are not in Garnethill. The "No Mean City" image has been put to rest, and to compare it with the contrasts of American ghetto areas (for example) is laughable.
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: THis is a very good debut novel. it is assured, the writing is punchy. However, it sometimes lacks a certain depth, and, personally, i feel that this is an overhyped book. The characters have been praised. Yes, they are quirky, yes they are realistic. But at times they annoyed me. And at others some of them just seemed too wooden. (Liam, Benny, Winnie, Una, for example.) They are given quirks to make them real, but that is not quite enough. Nonetheless, this is a very enjoyable novel, with a good dark plot, and a strong atmosphere of the underbelly of Glasgow, and of life. It is certaibnly impressive. She deals with her issues (namely abuse in many forms) well, and writes with a brutal and blunt compassion. I would reccomend this book, yes. As a must-read? No, not really. But, this is part of a trilogy. And it is a debut novel. Writing generally always improves with experience. So, this is some very good stuff, but what does that mean about the forthcoming books in the series??? I have very high hopes of it. Despite its flaws (and they are not all that numerous) i do like it a great deal.
|
