LoveReading Says
A Maxim Jakubowski selected title.
The gripping cases of Nottingham sandwich-munching and jazz-loving cop Charlie Resnick began several decades ago with Lonely Hearts and finally come to a satisfying end with this 12th and final instalment. The discovery of the body of a woman who had disappeared during the Miner's Strikes 30 years earlier brings Resnick out of retirement for a final and poignant hurrah which allows Harvey to masterfully round off his fascinating character and all his frailties and offer a measured if chilling assessment of Britain's social landscape and woes. Without Resnick, there would have been no Rebus, Grace, Thorne, Banks or so many other Premier League British cops, and Harvey never gets a note wrong. An admirable character and series.
Maxim Jakubowski
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Darkness, Darkness (Resnick 12) Synopsis
The final DI Charlie Resnick novel, from the Cartier Diamond Dagger winner and Sunday Times bestselling author of Cold in Hand. Thirty years ago, the Miners' Strike threatened to tear the country apart, turning neighbour against neighbour, husband against wife, father against son - enmities which smoulder still. Resnick, recently made up to inspector, and ambivalent at best about some of the police tactics, had run an information gathering unit at the heart of the dispute. Now, in virtual retirement, and still grieving over the violent death of his former partner, the discovery of the body of a young woman who disappeared during the Strike brings Resnick back to the front line to assist in the investigation into the woman's murder - forcing him to confront his past in what will assuredly be his last case.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780099590958 |
| Publication date: |
25th September 2014 |
| Author: |
John Harvey |
| Publisher: |
Arrow Books Ltd an imprint of Cornerstone |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
419 pages |
| Series: |
The Resnick Novels |
| Primary Genre |
Crime and Mystery
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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John Harvey Press Reviews
'In this masterful unearthing of the grudges and resentments left behind by the Miners
Strike of three decades ago, John Harvey has found the perfect case for Resnick to get his teeth into. All the ingredients are here: social history, the problem of male violence, the shadow of death, and, of course, the search for a decent cup of coffee. Anyone new to Resnick's world should probably start here; John Harvey has saved the best for last.' -- Jon McGregor Darkness
'Darkness is so good that it makes me grateful not to have Charlie Resnick for competition any more, but as a reader I'll mourn his loss. If only every series of crime novels could end with such grace and style.' -- John Connolly
'There is no end to Charlie Resnick. He lives in the imaginations of all those lucky readers who have picked up a book and traveled with him like an old friend. Darkness, Darkness is yet another superb telling of the character by John Harvey. As distinctly as I remember reading the first Resnick I will always remember this one. Rich in wistful telling, the story holds your heart steady in a tight fist. It doesn't let you go. It doesn't let you let go of the man either.' -- Michael Connelly
'Not since D.H. awrence has a writer so captured the Nottinghamshire vernacular and place. In this atmospheric novel the crime is real: seedy and un-glamorised and the detective, Charlie Resnick, delving into a cold case, is older, wiser and like all good detectives, doing things his own sweet way. King of Crime John Harvey here demonstrates with trademark rationed lyricism how he earned his crown: he offers up a pitch-perfect ending for Resnick and the series that's masterful, poignant and true.' -- Jill Dawson
About John Harvey
John Harvey lived and worked in Nottingham during the strike and witnessed the life at first hand. His depiction of the violence and anger is both wholly authentic and riveting. He is, as the Guardian has said ‘a master craftsman.’
Loved by critics, readers and authors alike, John Harvey’s books have sold over 1 million copies and have been translated into more than 20 languages. The first Charlie Resnick novel, Lonely Hearts, was named by The Times as one of the '100 Best Crime Novels of the Century'. His first novel featuring Detective Inspector Frank Elder, Flesh and Blood, won the CWA Silver Dagger in 2004, and a Barry Award for the Best British Crime Novel published in the US in 2004. In 2007 John Harvey was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger. He was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Nottingham in 2009 and by the University of Hertfordshire in 2013.
John has written for television and radio and, a published poet himself, between 1977 and 1999 ran Slow Dancer Press, publishing work by such writers as Simon Armitage and Lee Harwood, Kirsty Gunn and Jill Dawson, Sharon Olds and Lucille Clifton. Out of Silence, his New and Selected Poems, is published by Smith/Doorstop this May.
Author Photo © Molly Boiling 2012
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