Product Description

Will's first thought when he saw the man's face: it was like a glove that had been pulled inside out...Stephen Bryan, a gay academic, is found brutally murdered in his bathroom. Will Grayson and Helen Walker, police detectives investigating the case, at first assume that his death is the result of an ill-judged sexual encounter: rough trade gone wrong. But doubts are soon raised. Bryan's laptop has gone missing - could the murder be connected to a biography he was writing on the life and mysterious death of fifties screen legend, Stella Leonard? Convinced there's a link, Bryan's sister Lesley sets out to prove that Bryan had uncovered a dangerous truth, and that - desperate to keep it hidden - Stella Leonard's rich and influential family have silenced him. But soon both Lesley and Helen Walker find themselves victims of the violence that swirls around them, as gradually the investigation uncovers the secrets of a family corrupted by lust, wealth and power...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16628 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 464 pages

Synopsis
Will's first thought when he saw the man's face: it was like a glove that had been pulled inside out...Stephen Bryan, a gay academic, is found brutally murdered in his bathroom. Will Grayson and Helen Walker, police detectives investigating the case, at first assume that his death is the result of an ill-judged sexual encounter: rough trade gone wrong. But doubts are soon raised. Bryan's laptop has gone missing - could the murder be connected to a biography he was writing on the life and mysterious death of fifties screen legend, Stella Leonard? Convinced there's a link, Bryan's sister Lesley sets out to prove that Bryan had uncovered a dangerous truth, and that - desperate to keep it hidden - Stella Leonard's rich and influential family have silenced him. But soon both Lesley and Helen Walker find themselves victims of the violence that swirls around them, as gradually the investigation uncovers the secrets of a family corrupted by lust, wealth and power...

From the Back Cover
Will’s first thought when he saw the man’s face: it was like a glove that had been pulled inside out…

Stephen Bryan, a gay academic, is found brutally murdered in his bathroom. Will Grayson and Helen Walker, police detectives investigating the case, at first assume that his death is the result of an ill-judged sexual encounter: rough trade gone wrong.

But doubts are soon raised. What, if anything, did Bryan’s ex-lover have to do with his death? Could Bryan be yet another victim in the spate of homophobic attacks which are plaguing the East Midlands? Bryan’s laptop has gone missing – could the murder be connected to a biography he was writing on the life and mysterious death of fifties screen legend, Stella Leonard?

Convinced there’s a link, Bryan’s sister Lesley sets out to prove that Bryan had uncovered a dangerous truth, and that – desperate to keep it hidden – Stella Leonard’s rich and influential family have silenced him.

But soon both Lesley and Helen Walker find themselves victims of the violence that swirls around them, as gradually the investigation uncovers the secrets of a family corrupted by lust, wealth and power.

‘Harvey is a master craftsman … This is classic stuff’ Guardian

‘I know of no other crime writer who writes so well, has attracted such unanimously positive reviews, and been so respected by his fellow writers.’
Marcel Berlins, The Times

About the Author
JOHN HARVEY is the author of the richly praised Charlie Resnick novels, the first of which, Lonely Hearts, was named by The Times as one of the '100 Best Crime Novels of the Century.' His first novel featuring retired Detective Inspector Frank Elder, Flesh and Blood, won the CWA Silver Dagger in 2004, and also won a Barry award for the Best British Crime Novel published in the US in 2004. He is also a poet, dramatist and occasional broadcaster. For more about John Harvey, visit www.mellotone.co.uk

Customer Reviews

I really enjoyed this book by John Harvey
I really enjoyed this book by John Harvey. Gone to Ground features the detectives Will Grayson and Helen Walker. As I read the book, I thought these characters worked very well and I got the feeling that Will Grayson could confide in Helen Walker with more confidence than his wife Lorraine. Having said that though, we have to remember that Lorraine was looking after the children in the house and with Will working it must have been a strain for his wife.

I thought the character McKusick was a very 'dark' character and I had a surprise at the end of the story.

Nottingham was featured in the story and so I could identify with the places that John wrote about in the book.

Cambridge was also mentioned and I have heard of Histon.

It would be great if Grayson and Walker could appear in a further book and I really liked this novel.

Why Oh Why?
This is the book that was described by the Guardian as 'classic stuff'. The author is described by Marcel Berlins of the Times unique, such that he 'knows of no other crime writer that writes so well'. On the basis of this book, it is clear that Berlins has never read Chandler, Hammett or McBain.

So what is wrong with this book? It feels a bit amatuerish and could have done with some attention by an editor. Harvey used the 'God's eye view' so that we get bits the story from several (actually too many) people's point of view. But the strange things is that all the people seem to talk the same. All of them speak without notable exception in the same clipped tones using sentence fragments. This is no hard-boiled dialogue, there is no eloquence and it does grate. We delve into the private lives of some of the people, but the descriptions lack colour and Harvey does not convey to us the humanity of the protagonists, whic is usually the main reason for having a backstory. The use of news items and the name checking of consumer goods and media is an unnecessary distraction and may have been used to pad the pages. There is altogether too much unnecessary exposition where the author lectures the reader. Frederick Forsyth is also marginally guilty of this, but at least he writes well. Harvey does not. Fiction is meant to be more then the reciting of ideas from the author's imagination. The book does not flow.

The only reason I finished this book was that I wanted to know whodunnit, but this is not a whodunnit story. Perhaps Harvey has ambitions on this book as a time capsule of life in the early part of the 21st century. This is a putdownable read and on the basis of the work I will not be reading another of his books.

This has, however, encouraged me to put pen to paper as I think I can write a better novel than him. So perhaps you should read this book and if you feel you can do better then have a go - Harvey got his published so you might too...

SPARE PROSE, INTRICATE PLOTTING - HARVEY IS SUPERB


As a well known thriller writer said of John Harvey, "He writes the way we all wish we could." More than true. If you haven't given yourself the pleasure of reading a Harvey book, do it now. His prose is spare, his plotting is intricately wrought and quickly paced, his characters sharply drawn, affecting. Harvey's descriptive skill captures minds as well as eyes - can you not see "the ivory lozenge" of a doorbell?

A stand alone British police procedural following his enormously successful Charlie Resnick series, Gone to Ground reunites Will Grayson and Helen Walker (who were introduced in an earlier short story ). They're at the top of Cambridge's Major Investigation Team, and have worked together for three years. Now they're faced with a particularly heinous crime - the fatal beating of Stephen Bryan. This was an act so brutal that "the man's face...was like a glove that had been pulled inside out."

Bryan's lodging had been ransacked but what could a gay teacher have had that was worth murder? He was well thought of, apparently liked by his colleagues. When Grayson and Walker learn that Bryan has recently ended a relationship with former lover, Mark McKusick, they focus on him. A crime of jealousy and passion?

However, it's not long before other events catch their eyes - recent homophobic related gang beatings, threats made to Bryan demanding that he stop working on a book he was writing about Stella Leonard, a ` 50s film star. Bryan's sister, Lesley, a radio newscaster is frustrated by what she considers to be lack of results by police so she begins an investigation of her own. Enter Howard Prince, a zealous real estate broker married to Stella's apparently unstable sister, and Natalie Prince, a relative of Stella's and a young actress who has a tendency to run riot.

Together Lesley and Natalie make some astounding discoveries.

However, for this reader it's not the solving of the crime that lingers but the sheer delight in Harvey's telling which, at times, borders on the poetic. He's a consummate craftsman, a topnotch storyteller.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke