I found this book to be a very odd read although in the end it turned out pretty well.

The story is a fairly standard crime/thriller type novel with just a few main characters and lots of walk on parts but I have to say that about a third of the way through I simply lost track of everything. It seemed that all of a sudden there were twenty people all speaking at once and I couldn't make hide nor hair of it.

The story then calmed down and I got to grips with it again and all was well. Nevertheless, I did find that the book was too long and if they'd chopped out a third of it at the editing stage, it wouldn't have been a bad idea.

That's not to say that I didn't like the characters and the plot, I did. Apart from the problem I just mentioned, I also thought that the book was reasonably well written: Slaughter (now I don't believe that's her real name, for a start) has her idiosyncracies when putting words into the mouths of her characters. They don't just say something or agree with something, they allow it. They don't just answer questions, they supply answers ... not irritating at all; but it struck me as a little old fashioned and I noticed it!

The title Faithless is a huge clue to the core of the story: the centre of the story is the death of Abby who came from a religious sect type farming community. Much of the story then revolves around that community, the people in it and the way they behave. There is little in the way of the bashing of the God Squad and that is quite right since everyone is free to live as they wish. Although of course some of the characters do have their say on the matter but it comes across as blind prejudice, which is all that it can be.

Except of course that there is this unexplained death ... murder by cyanide poisoning ... oh! and Abby was buried alive with just a breathing and feeding tube between her and oblivion at the time. How they came across the poor girl, dead by this time, is done simply but effectively and in an unusual way.

The story meanders a bit from the point where Abby is found and it is here that efficiencies with the story could have been found: and the saving of a few trees to boot!

Abby's family is a rag bag of characters and there is certainly dysfunctionality as they range from deeply religious men and women whose lives are given to the service of God to someone who just has to be a ne'er do well ... well, he is a lawyer after all.

There are things left unsaid with massive pregnant pauses. There are things left unsaid with cold stares, entreaties ... the lot.

The detectives trying to crack the case have their own foibles and we are treated to the normal round of the leading detective who cannot sleep, whose wife is frustrated because he slept on the settee for the whole night ... yet again. They do reconcile their bodies at one point, only to have them torn apart when one of them notices a torch flashing through the window and off in the distance. So, they give chase and that's the end of that session for now!

In line with all crime/thriller books I read these days, I think cardio thoracic surgeons are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of the work that is coming their way. All main characters' hearts pound away like beggary these days. Barely a chapter goes by when someone is in the throes of a near cardiac collapse, so scary is the situation they are in. It's true, the situation is scary and my heart would be pounding like billio but much more would be happening too: heart, lungs, legs, sweat ... a lot more than a pounding heart. Ergo, either talk about all symptoms of fear or none; but I'm bored with pounding hearts now!

This is a detective story so I won't give away much more except that another young girl from the family disappears and that reveals all sorts of new and vital information. This also brings out some serious wife abuse. The Lawyer reveals his true colours. An ex con is killed (By himself? I'm not sure we ever find out!) by cyanide poisoning whilst drinking a cup of coffee in the presence of the leading detective, Jeffrey.

Suffice it to say that many people have died within the family community: their farm was staffed and lived on by many former prison inmates and down and outs. There is a scam involved in these deaths but they escaped the attention of the local policemen partly because they are portrayed as hicks and partly because of the way the scam was managed by its perpetrators: almost Shipmanesque.

Unlike most of the crime stories I have read recently, this book has a couple of closing down chapters that reassure us, in the end, that all is right with the world. Although Lena, the female detective, has to go through some more agony before she is in the clear. Jeffrey's alright though!

A good story, a bit long and watch out for any confusion around a third of the way through: if there's no confusion, then blame me for losing my concentration at that point.

Duncan Williamson
23 October 2005