PURE EVIL
Author: Lynda La Plante
Publisher: Zaffre
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
The devil is in the detail…and in ‘Pure Evil’ by Lynda La Plante – she spares us nothing.
Sometimes too much detail detracts from a good read – but here, well, La Plante knows her audience. Detail is exactly what we want: to set the scene, follow a criminal mind, enjoy some down time with the protagonists, take us one step at a time towards the conclusion. If ever you wanted to know a British police procedural here it is…
I was privileged to attend a virtual interview with La Plante at Franschhoek and, while I had loved the Prime Suspect TV series, had never read any of her books. But here she was larger than life, talking fast, furiously funny, giving snippets of her life and we were lapping it up. I was hooked. You might say it took me a while but hey, so many books too little time and she’s getting her fair share of good and gracious reviews. But I received this book with delight and read it almost in a sitting.
Two stories run concurrently in ‘Pure Evil’, fourth in the DC Jack Warr series and oh how La Plante loves planting (excuse the pun) seeds of suspicion, of discontent. Jack is a good detective, if a bit of a loner, a maverick. His intuition is sharp and when Rodney Middleton is arrested for armed assault, his gut tells him there is more to this than meets they eye…and of course there is. Playing the system is Middleton’s forte and his girlfriend, underage Amanda is disarming – until she isn’t. Warr is most definitely going to dig, and dig. What he finds is unnerving – and all too real. It’s the seedy side of London and ugly!
As his boss DCI Simon Ridley always said ‘never assume – go back on everything’, which is exactly how Warr operates. When Ridley is suddenly removed from his post and accused of murder, he asks Warr to investigate – off the record. There’s a lot to unravel as Warr finds, and much more than is on the face of the case…rewinding, drag queens, dating agencies, all come under the lens and it’s not pretty. Never obvious, the trails are twisted and delve into the psyches of criminal minds.
La Plante’s characters are relatable – Warr’s family are likeable and readers will empathise with their woes; she creates the right ambience, situations are very believable and of course the crimes add up. The fast and furious pace underlines the extensive research she undertakes and reflects her own personality. Masterful and murderous, La Plante exudes an infectious energy in her stories.