Rough Treatment

by John Harvey

Charlie Resnick (2)

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Description

A willing victim complicates a case for Detective Charlie Resnick, "one of the most fully realized characters in modern crime fiction" (Sue Grafton).
Maria Roy is in the tub, musing on her hatred for her movie producer husband, when Grabianski and Grice break into her house. Though she is fearful at first, something about Jerry Grabianski's confidence calms her down. Over tall glasses of Scotch, she directs them to her valuables—jewelry, bonds, her wedding tape—even doing them the favor show more of unlocking her husband's safe. There Grabianski finds a surprise: a kilo of cocaine. He leaves with the drugs, the valuables, and a piece of Maria's heart.

This is not the story she tells to police inspector Charlie Resnick, but Maria's confusion makes the disheveled detective doubt her account of the robbery. As he combs Nottingham for the burglars, Maria and Jerry's love affair charges ahead. She is about to learn that not even love can keep crime from turning bloody.

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Member Reviews

4 reviews
Well, Harvey has hit his stride. I guess introductory books, complete with egg stains on ties, can be a little ponderous, but this second foray was excellent. It kept me up until midnight! Not my usual thing these days. Burglaries, cocaine, teenagers off the skids, patterns .
Very well written procedural with complex characters who are just plain real and interesting.
Compelling, simple elegant prose, gritty and realistic. What's not to like?!
½

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Author Information

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83+ Works 5,327 Members
John Harvey was born in London, England on December 21, 1938. After studying at Goldsmiths' College, University of London, and at Hatfield Polytechnic, he received a master's degree in American studies at the University of Nottingham, where he briefly taught film and American literature. He taught English and drama in secondary schools for 12 show more years. He has been a full-time author since 1975. He has written more than 100 books including The Charlie Resnick Mystery series. He has received several awards including the Grand Prix du Roman Noir Etranger in 2000 for Cold Light, the British Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger and the Barry Award in 2004 for Flesh and Blood, the Prix du Polar European in 2007 for Ash and Bone, the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for Sustained Excellence in Crime Writing in 2007, and the CWA Short Story Dagger in 2014 for Fedora. He has also published several poetry collections including Ghosts of a Chance, Bluer Than This, and New and Selected Poems, Out of Silence. He has written for television and radio. Between 1977 and 1999, he edited Slow Dancer magazine and ran Slow Dancer. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Awards and Honors

Series

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Rough Treatment
Original title
Rough Treatment
Original publication date
1990
People/Characters
Charlie Resnick; Jerry Grabianski; Harold Roy
First words
'Are we going to do this?' Grice asked.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She turned the car around and headed back towards the main road, towards the city, and by then Resnick's door was closed and he was back inside his house.

Classifications

Genres
Fiction and Literature, Mystery
DDC/MDS
823.914Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesEnglish fiction1900-1901-19991945-1999
LCC
PR6058 .A6989Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish Literature1961-2000
BISAC

Statistics

Members
279
Popularity
115,474
Reviews
3
Rating
½ (3.62)
Languages
8 — Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian
Media
Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
ISBNs
26
ASINs
5