Book Review – Murder Club

by Mark Pearson (Arrow Books) ISBN: 978 0 099 55088 4

Mark Pearson is hailed as Britain’s best new crime writer. He has already co-authored James Patterson’s bestselling Private London and penned three other violent police procedurals featuring Detective Inspector Jack Delaney. In this explosive novel, Delaney is on the trail of a vicious and violent rapist.

In England and Wales, 40% of adults who are raped tell no one. 31% of children who are abused reach adulthood without having disclosed their abuse. More shocking is the fact that only 15% of serious sexual offences are reported to the police and fewer than 6% of these result in an offender being convicted.

Pearson prefaces his novel with these sobering statistics and it certainly adds a grim edge of realism to the fictitious scenario he spins out with breakneck speed.

The story is set at Christmas in London, but Jack Delaney is not feeling any Yuletide cheer. Rather he is feeling bitter and belligerent. Hard-boiled doesn’t even begin to describe him—even Philip Marlowe or Mike Hammer would blanch at his behaviour. In fact, he is not a likeable protagonist—but he is always entertaining and intriguing.

Murder Club brings to life the seamy side of London, with a fast-paced story that never releases its chokehold on the reader. Raw and rough, it’s for readers who like their crime fiction with a serrated edge.

Anthony Ehlers
3/5