I've counted myself as a Sophie Hannah fan for some time now - since her
pre-crime writer days (her poetry and non-Culver Valley novels are
excellent, by the way), and have eagerly awaited each new book ever
since. Some of her more recent novels have met with rather mixed reviews
- I love her writing style so much that I've enjoyed them all, but I'd
say "The Telling Error" is her best for some time.
As a crime writer Sophie specialises in strange, apparently inexplicable situations which are gradually unravelled; the labyrinthine plotting can at times be demanding on the reader ("The Other Half Lives" springs to mind - a book I loved, but which also gave me a headache at times trying to work out who knew what about who). "The Telling Error" is complex, but not so much as to interfere with the reader's enjoyment.
Her writing can also be very funny, especially where the brilliantly sarcastic DI Proust is concerned - his lines often make me laugh out loud (his very first line about the "Simon Waterhouse tribute programme" made me snort in a very unseemly manner) and he must be great fun to write, even though he doesn't feature that much this time round. I like Charlie and Simon too, both believably complex characters whose unusual relationship is, however, not centre stage in this latest instalment. Characterisation is, as always, excellent, with even minor characters having a depth and realism which is absent from a lot of crime fiction. Hannah also has some very spot-on observations about the internet keyboard warriors who take to Twitter and elsewhere to express their general bile at anything and everything (as one character accurately says, "They want to carry on hating - it's their hobby.")
Also, the title is great. Not sure though whether to make anything of the fact that the book includes characters called both Sophie and Hannah!
Anyway, in short, another first class outing for Zailer and Waterhouse. Already looking forward to the next....
As a crime writer Sophie specialises in strange, apparently inexplicable situations which are gradually unravelled; the labyrinthine plotting can at times be demanding on the reader ("The Other Half Lives" springs to mind - a book I loved, but which also gave me a headache at times trying to work out who knew what about who). "The Telling Error" is complex, but not so much as to interfere with the reader's enjoyment.
Her writing can also be very funny, especially where the brilliantly sarcastic DI Proust is concerned - his lines often make me laugh out loud (his very first line about the "Simon Waterhouse tribute programme" made me snort in a very unseemly manner) and he must be great fun to write, even though he doesn't feature that much this time round. I like Charlie and Simon too, both believably complex characters whose unusual relationship is, however, not centre stage in this latest instalment. Characterisation is, as always, excellent, with even minor characters having a depth and realism which is absent from a lot of crime fiction. Hannah also has some very spot-on observations about the internet keyboard warriors who take to Twitter and elsewhere to express their general bile at anything and everything (as one character accurately says, "They want to carry on hating - it's their hobby.")
Also, the title is great. Not sure though whether to make anything of the fact that the book includes characters called both Sophie and Hannah!
Anyway, in short, another first class outing for Zailer and Waterhouse. Already looking forward to the next....
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