I think the best way to describe Lonely Hearts by John Harvey is to say that it is a typical British detective novel. It's not too bad but I think it's main problem is that it's archetypical of its type. What that means it's that there is a detective who is essentially married to his work: lives alone, keeps cats, is available for work at all times. A bit like Jack Frost in A touch of Frost on the telly!

There is nothing particularly wrong with such characterisation and I should say that Harvey wrote this book in 1989. May be the problem I have with the book is that I should read it 18 years ago when it was first published. Having said that, books like this are pretty well timeless except of course that such things as mobile telephones didn't exist then otherwise I'm sure they would be littered throughout the book.

Basically the book concerns the murder with an apparently obvious suspect. That suspect is to some extent an unsavoury character and we are treated to an interesting arrest, the suspect micturating on a policeman's leg; and a solicitor again drafted in an archetypal way. One twisted with the solicitor is firstly she is female and secondly she has a crush on the Inspector, Charlie Resnick. we are carried along on a tide of this arrest believing that he is the right thing to do but I think Harvey created the feeling quite well that in the background the suspect wasn't the right man; and so it proved to be.

One of the ways that we learn that the arrest was wrong is that there is another murder whilst this boyfriend, the suspect, is in custody.

In the meantime the subplot that emerges concerns Resnick's love life: a social worker crosses his path and he is attracted to her. In turn, the social worker is going through a rough patch with her boyfriend and in time Resnick in the social worker get together in a little bit of an unorthodox way. he takes the initiative, she doesn't resist. He thinks he's made a conquest, she likes him, likes being with him, but isn't so committed. She very quickly lays her cards on the table and makes it clear that she is in control.

This book he is 358 pages long so there is a lot more action than I'm revealing here. Suffice it to say than that the story develops quite well as Carby introduces another character, an academic from the local university,comes across as perfectly normal and rational. Watch out for the way the story develops, however, because there is clearly more to this character than meets the eye. Of course it's unfortunate that two women have to die in dreadful circumstances before this story gets to where it gets to!

By saying what I just said I haven't spoiled this story: there are several complications underlying that paragraph!

If you are looking a book to take on the aeroplane or a train or a bus, you could do worse than to read lonely hearts. It's not as clever as a Colin Dexter, it's not as comprehensive as a John Grisham and it doesn't really compete with the Kellermann's and Kathy Reichs. I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, though.

The Language of the Book

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What really surprised me about this book was some of the language: as readers of my review is no this is something that I notice. For example, I almost laughed out loud when I first came across bread on which the sandwich that Resnick eats ... he eats rye bread. I just knew that before long he was going to have some pastrami on rye. I got a shock, however, when Harvey didn't go the whole hog and make it hot pastrami on rye. How did I know this? At about the time this book was written there was an advertisement on British television during which an American in New York ordered a hot pastrami on rye sandwich. Like Harvey, I was smitten by that sandwich and was intrigued to see it included here. It seems to me that it took about 15 years to the summit itself to appear in sandwich bars in the UK but it's here ... not hot pastrami, of course!

I was shocked that Harvey told us about faucet ... why? It's a tap. He used the construction to talk with rather than to talk to. He also said then and there whereas we in the UK say they are in them. Hardy was also very early user of stairwell rather than stair case. He also had one of the characters with a pack of cigarettes rather than a packet of cigarettes. Finally, he used that ridiculous construction: of answering the telephone and saying. 'Who is this?' ... the answer to that question is, it to you!

the shock of this language is that this book was written in 1989 and it's taken many years for newspapers and radio and television centres to use this sort of language: AmerEnglish; the dilutions of our language. At least he didn't say, I don't think, right now!

Duncan Williamson
12^th October 2007