Darkness, Darkness is the 12th and final DI Charlie Resnick novel. We find Charlie is now retired but still working as a civilian investigator, or as he puts it, a paper pusher when a body is found under a slab of concrete. This body is that of Jenny Hardwick who disappeared in 1984 during the British Miner’s Strike. Charlie is asked to assist his friend DI Catherine Njoroge in the investigation.

The author weaves both the past and present together as Charlie comes to terms with the inevitability of his police work ending. The details surrounding the death of Jenny are vivid as she was a militant union activist, a mother of three and the wife of Barry, a scab. For years she had been dismissed as a runaway wife, despised instead of being mourned. Now it is up to Charlie and Catherine to try and find out what happened.

While this was another well written and interesting story, I was sad that it is the final Charlie Resnick book. I have been reading this series for years and I will miss these excellent police procedurals. ( )

Excellent, simply excellent. What a way for Resnick to bow out. Really evocative prose, lovely pacing and gritty. I've not been to Nottingham, but is is richly painted in my mind. ( )

Well, this is purported to be the final Charlie Resnick novel. This novel is better than most, but I didn't feel it was one of the stronger Charlie Resnick novels.

From the start, with a title of "Darkness, Darkness," I felt the tale was going to very stark and with long reaching impact.

It is the story of the discovery of a woman's body that ends up being that of a murder victim from longer than thirty years ago.

This is above standard fare when compared to mystery/murder novels, but I was hoping for just a bit more since this is the last of the series.

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So this is Charlie Resnick's last case and I have been with him since the beginning, although I probably read the first one a few years after it was published. Ever since the TV adaptation I have had a clear picture of Tom Wilkinson as Charlie, perfect casting, which always makes reading the books easier. As Harvey says in his afterword, this is more Charlie observing than acting, and the back story, set during the Miners' strike, is ,well constructed. This is a series I will miss, but I look forward to other books by John Harvey. ( )

I first came across Charlie Resnick via Tom Wilkinson as his TV persona in the early 90's. Being suitably taken with the character and having lived in Nottingham the books were a great find and I really enjoyed them. I was therefore delighted when I had the opportunity via Netgalley to review this latest offering. As with previous titles I was not disappointed.

As a character Resnick has always been likeable because while he is a realist, he has never succumbed to the worn down cynicism that hangs over many detectives, he always shows his humanity.

In this, sadly, final novel he finds himself seconded to a cold case team searching for the killer of a young woman who went missing during the Miners' Strike. As he had run an information gathering unit at the heart of the dispute, this case brings him into contact with characters from his past. As well as being a well written murder mystery, it is an interesting insight into the Strike and how it was perceived, as well as how it was manipulated by the authorities. A subject that is topical given ongoing reviews of how the South Yorkshire Police in particular handled the situation.

While Resnick confronts the past, he is also very much in the present, as he is still coming to terms with the violent death of his partner.

Despite the long gap between the last book and this, John Harvey has not lost his touch, and if this is the last time we meet Resnick, this novel is a fitting end.




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