Quintin Jardine

Primavera Blackstone goes into hiding when she survives the plane crash that she believes was initiated by her ex-husband, Oz Blackstone. However when he dies a few months later she feels it’s safe to come out of hiding, retrieve her young son Tom and head off to Spain to live a life of luxury. Two years after this her Aunt Adrienne shows up and asks Prim to help locate her son Frank who, since he finished his prison sentence for fraud, has been working at a resort in Switzerland but has show more now disappeared. Prim, having previously helped her ex-husband who was apparently a private investigator as well as being a world-famous actor, agrees to become involved. Mayhem ensues.

Surely Primavera Blackstone is the kind of woman who only exists in the fantasy lives of men? There is no substance to her at all as she flits from being the world’s cleverest woman to the world’s most perfect mother to the world’s best lover while maintaining a nice line in pithy one-liners. Everyone she knows loves her, everyone she knows will risk their own death to save or protect her and everyone she knows is awestruck by her. I, on the other hand, found her tiresome and entirely unbelievable. None of the other characters is memorable enough a day and a half after finishing the book for me to make any kind of comment about them at all.

The plot started at implausible and got sillier from there. There is so much double crossing and triple crossing and parish priests saving the world kind of nonsense that I’d really lost interest well before the last ludicrous and unsatisfying twist. No one seemed to be telling the truth at any point in the story so there really wasn’t any suspense because I had nothing invested in the characters or the story.

I’m quite sure the book is not meant to be taken terribly seriously and I’m quite content with that concept but in such cases I have to find something to like and here I couldn’t. I can’t even sensibly explain why Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody (an equally implausible heroine of adventure tales) makes me smile while Primavera Blackstone just made me cranky but that’s the way it is. Once again though I am out of step with the mainstream because Jardine has published 30 novels including nine previous books featuring Oz Blackstone and they seem to be very popular but I’m afraid I didn’t see much here that would have me hunting down any of his other titles. show less

A standalone novel from the author best known for his Bob Skinner series, THE LONER was a real surprise package.

Styled as an autobiographical account of the author's friend, journalist Xavier (Xavi) Ailsado, THE LONER is partially the recollections of the central character, partially the observations of the narrator. It's an affectionate telling of Xavi's life, from his beginnings in Scotland, the son of a local mother and a Spanish refugee. His father and grandparents having settled in show more Edinburgh after they were forced to flee from Franco's regime. It's a story of family that stays together and family that fractures all at once.

Xavi is a gentle giant of a man, raised by his grandmother, until she and his father, a successful businessman return to Spain, leaving him with money, a place to live, a real connection with them and the chance to grow into his own person. Despite his potential as a professional footballer, Xavi is not that upset when injury ends that possible career, as exposure to newspapers via his father's latest business venture - the media in Spain - has convinced him that journalism is what he really wants to do. His life seems comfortably, and somewhat boringly predestined, with a childhood sweetheart fiancé, a good job, a place to live, and a secure self-image and almost abnormal control for a young man of his age.

Told with great restraint, there is, however, a sense that something is not quite right drawing the reader in. It was actually quite surprising how quickly the book engaged, and kept the reader's interest, particularly as there isn't a crime up front, there's no investigation, there's nothing of the normal stylings that you expect in some measure from crime fiction. Told mostly from Xavi's viewpoint, interspersed with snippets that give the reader just enough clues or hints to wonder, the book is a slow burner. The structure is also intriguing, opening with a "co-author" note from Jardine, taking off in an autobiographical style, heading into the ups and downs of what seems, on the face of it, to be a reasonably ordinary life, not only is it very hard to tell where it's heading, it rapidly became just about impossible to not be intrigued.

Obviously, THE LONER is something a little different. It's not about the investigation of a crime or the identification of a perpetrator. It's not about justice or explanation or retribution. It's the story of strongly-held beliefs, love, and how truth can be manipulated, even if sometimes with the best of intentions. It's a character study and Xavi is the sort of character that many readers will feel a direct, close, personal and real connection with. It's also not a particularly straight-forward or even an always easy book to read. But it is a very memorable one.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/loner-quintin-jardine show less

The last Skinner book was arrant nonsense, but this one is back on form. Following directly after the events of the previous book, this inserts a slight dose of reality into all that silliness.

The real strength of these books has always been the breadth oft he cast of characters, rather than just Skinner himself. The whole cast of supporting characters have lives and personalities and grow along with the main characters as the series progresses. It is especially fun to see Proud Jimmy out show more from behind his desk and investigating a mystery of his own. show less

Well written and entertaining, but it contains a double dose of the convention I least like in mysteries: detectives (or their allies) sleeping with the perpetrator. I would prefer less of the international intrigue and the celebration of the national security apparatus of Scotland and more of clever crime detection. There are times that I tend to agree with his fiction critics and think that Yes, Skinner is a fuck up. Way too many people die. I do not mind people dying in grusome ways, but show more I get tired of the plaint "it is not my fault". And the celebration of the security apparatus cancels out the affection I have for the monster who lives in Skinner. It will be a while before I search out the next installment. show less