John Lawton, Flesh Wounds

Flesh Wounds

John Lawton

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John Lawton, Flesh Wounds - World War II ended fourteen years ago, but London still shows the ruins. For Russian descendent Chief Superintendent of Scotland Yard Freddie Troy, the conviction of crime kingpin King Alf should be a time of elation. Instead, the war years have returned; his former lover Kitty Stilton is back in town but unavailable since she is married to American presidential hopeful, Calvin Cormack, another person from Freddie's espionage past.

Private investigator Joey Rork is in town to insure that Kitty behaves while in England. However, while London swings with Kitty as its biggest swinger, a war seems imminent to take over King's Alf's crime syndicate and American gamblers and crooners are in the middle of the action. When Rork and others are violently killed, Freddie leads the inquiries that take him back to 1944 when he was recovering from a bullet, courtesy of his mistress and the antics of his family, especially his promiscuous sisters and his brother, who has present day (1959 that is) ambitions. There are also links to when he was Sergeant Freddie Troy. Still, in spite of his efforts, London with Ike coming is filling up with mutilated corpses.

FLESH WOUNDS is an exhilarating, British, historical police procedural that binds events and real persona or obviously disguised persona between World War II and 1959. The storyline is overloaded with several subplots that at times may feel overwhelming, but not only come together but enable readers to compare 1944 and 1959 London. Freddie is terrific in both eras as he is the string that keeps the multitude of subplots tied together. Fans will appreciate this deep but dark look back to two distinct Great Britains only fifteen years apart within a fine Noir.

Atlantic Monthly, Mar 2005, $23.00

ISBN: 0871136988