Easy Meat

Rating:
Summary: John Harvey Strikes Again
Review: John Harvey is arguably one of the crime writers today. Easy Meat is another in his Charlie Resnick series. Each one, it seems, is better than the previous ones. Harvey's stories deal not only with crimes, but also current issues in society, such as racism, sexual harrassment on the job, infidelity, child pronography and others. Many authors chose to ignore these subjects. Not so with John Harvey. In this installment, a youth is accused of murdering an older woman. Convicted of the crime, he is later sent to a youth dtention centre, where he is found hanging in a room. He was only 15 years old. Resnick has to deal with the psyche of the boy and those who drove him to his death. The book is well written, yet at the same tim difficult to read because it does not seem like fiction at all, rather it is true life. It is a pity the Harvey has not written a Resnick novel in a few years. We can only hope that changes.

Rating:
Summary: Darker and Deeper
Review: Somewhat more complicated than the seven previous entries in the Charlie Resnick series, this one involves a young boy hurtling down the road to a criminal life and his subsequent suicide in a youth facility as well as a series of attacks on gays in a park, and the killing of a police officer. More so than usual, Harvey has these events intertwining in the end. The CID's personal life gets heavy treatment here, as Resnick gets involved in a serious relationship, and a young black officer is added to his team.

Rating:
Summary: hard to get into
Review: this is one book that I could not get into. I have picked it up at least 2 or 3 times & I can not get past the 3 chapter. the plot sounds great but it just is not there.

Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: This was a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed it - it was fast paced and very real. This was actually the first book I read in the series and it encouraged me to read the rest of them ( although I still think this is the best one ). It's just a shame that there will be no more. It's a british book, written in a very british way about british urban life - if people think its depressing, they're simply missing the point.