Sorrow Bound: David Mark

DS Aector McAvoy and his boss, Detective Superintendant Trish Pharaoh are back for a third adventure. In my review for the previous book in this series, Original Skin, I said: "It appears that David Mark will continue to dig deeper into his characters lives as they work together." And the author does tell us more and more about his characters, their history and their foibles. That is one of the more positive aspects of this book, although some of it is told in more detail than I want.

There are two plot lines going simultaneously in Sorrow Bound. McAvoy and Pharaoh are investigating several deaths which appear to be related. The Serious and Organized Crime Unit that Pharoah heads is in flux; they take on this case although it isn't strictly under their purview. A high profile case related to drug gangs has been shifted to other detectives in the same department, but ends up involving Roisin, McAvoy's wife.

This excerpt gives some idea of the relationship of two of the protagonists. The weather is sweltering in Hull. No one is comfortable. Pharoah teases McAvoy about his clothes...

She looks at her sergeant for a moment too long, then nods. “No suit jacket, Hector?”

McAvoy looks at himself, neat and pressed in designer suit trousers, waistcoat, shirt with top button done up and his tie perfectly tied in a double Windsor. “I can pop home if . . .”

Pharaoh laughs. “Christ, you must be boiling. Undo a button, for God’s sake.”

McAvoy begins to color. Pharaoh can make any man blush but has an ability to transform her sergeant into a lava lamp with nothing more than a sentence or a smile. He has refused to wear a white shirt since she told him she could see the outline of his nipples, and has yet to find a way of looking at her that doesn’t take in at least one of her many curves. He raises his hands to his throat but can’t bring himself to give in to slovenliness. “I’ll be fine.”

I found the second book in the series to contain too much explicit violence for me. I don't avoid all books with violence; I find that my tolerance for violence varies from book to book. In Sorrow Bound, the violence continued to be a problem for me. As the positive review at Publisher's Weekly says: "Readers should be prepared for graphic descriptions of gruesome crimes."

However, I was very impressed with the plot development. David Mark includes more elements of the personal lives of his characters in his novels than I am usually comfortable with. This time the family and personal issues of just about all the policemen was very evident, but I felt the story line allowed for that and that element was handled well. I also felt like this could work very well as a standalone book, until I got to the end.

I was not pleased at all with the end of this book. There is a cliffhanger ending and it is a doozy. I can accept plot lines that continue throughout a series, even though I would prefer closure. But this one was too much for me. I don't plan to read any more books in this series.

This book gets rave reviews; there are very few negative reviews. Several reviewers whose opinion I respect were very positive about this book. I agree that the plotting and the character development are great. I don't like stories told in the present tense, but that is a minor point. So, if you think this story might appeal to you, seek out some other reviews or give it a try. You will probably like it.

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Publisher: Blue Rider Press (July 3, 2014) in the US
Length:    344 pages
Format:    e-book
Series      DS Aector McAvoy
Setting:    Hull, UK
Genre:     Mystery, Police procedural
Source:    from the publisher via NetGalley

Original Skin: David Mark

DS Aector McAvoy and his boss Trish Pharoah are back for a second adventure. The characters are fleshed out even more in this book. It appears that David Mark will continue to dig deeper into his characters lives as they work together.

McAvoy is a Scotsman. Large and very noticeable, he tries to blend in, unsuccessfully. Some descriptions from the book:

Detective sergeant Aector McAvoy spent his first months in plain clothes taking the title literally. He all but camouflaged himself in khaki-colored trousers, hiking boots, and cheap, mushroom-hued shirts, tearing them fresh from polythene packets every Monday. The disguise never worked. At six foot five inches, and with red hair, freckles, and a Highlander mustache, he is always the most noticeable man in the room.

It was his young wife, Roisin, who put a stop to his attempts to blend in. ...

Under her guidance, and blushing at every alteration to his wardrobe, McAvoy had become known within the force as much for his smart suits and cashmere coat, for his leather satchel and cuff links, as for his detective skills and scars.

McAvoy blushes a lot, and seems naive at times.

There are two plot lines going simultaneously in Original Skin.  McAvoy and his boss, Detective Superintendant Pharoah, are working on a high profile case related to drug gangs and killings involving tortured and mutilated bodies. McAvoy takes an interest in an unrelated death of a young man; the death was originally thought to be suicide. He pursues this case without explicit approval from his boss.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It has some very good characteristics, and has gotten high praise in many reviews, but the elements of gritty violence and the emphasis on sex in the story line turned me off. A lot of this is encountered at the beginning of the book, but these themes do continue throughout the book. I have not yet figured out why some books with violence and dark themes bother me more than others, but this one went over the line for me.

I enjoyed David Mark's first book in this series, Dark Winter.  In my review of that book, I described the protagonist ...

McAvoy is a likeable character, honest, well-meaning, idealistic. He is humble, and doesn't believe in himself; worries a lot about whether he is making the right decision. He is a family man, a devoted father, worried that he is making his family suffer when he pays more attention to the job.

After reading this book I would add:  He is a policeman more dedicated to the solving of crimes and righting wrongs than he is to rising in the ranks or impressing his superiors.

All of this is very good, but he does go off on his own a bit too much, and that is what made this story seem unrealistic to me. Most fiction, and especially crime fiction, veers off in this direction because we want to read about unique and courageous people. But this was a niggle for me when reading this book.

Good points:

• The characterization is very good. We get a very clear picture of McAvoy and his wife and his co-workers and his superior officer.
• There are many interesting and strong female characters.
• I like a story to move and pull me in. This one has very good pacing and never drags, not in all of the 427 pages. 

Negative points:

• Written in present tense. I don't like this style of writing but I found this acceptable in the first novel. In this one, it bothered me throughout the book.
• Many unsettling scenes of violence, descriptions of bodies. This story and its telling was too dark and gruesome for me.
• Too much emphasis on McAvoy's personal life. It does come into the plot and it is not boring. I like to know some background on the main characters, but this one has too much of that element for me.

Because Original Skin has received so many positive reviews. I would advise most readers to try the book, with the warning that there are scenes of violence that are hard to take. There is also a good bit of foul language, which doesn't bother me at all but definitely can put off some readers.

See these other reviews at In Search of the Classic Mystery, The Crime Segments, and Euro Crime.

I am committed to reading the third book in this series, Sorrow Bound. I dithered about reading this book first or just skipping to Sorrow Bound. I am now glad that I read Original Skin, because it does fill in more information and background about his family and other policemen that he works with. For me, this will be useful in going on to the next book. 

D is for The Dark Winter by David Mark

Today I am featuring The Dark Winter (2012) by David Mark for my submission for the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme. Aector McAvoy is a Detective Sergeant in the Serious and Organised Crime Unit in the town of Hull. At the time of year this is set, Hull is cold, dreary and bleak. The area is depressed. Not a picturesque setting. McAvoy is happy to have his job but he is an outsider. He is known as...

...the copper who cost a detective superintendent his job and sparked an internal investigation that scattered a crooked team of CID officers to the four winds. Who managed to glide through the whole thing without a blemish on his written record. He’s the copper who did for Doug Roper, the copper who nearly died out at the woods beneath the Humber Bridge, at the hands of a man whose crimes will never be known by anybody other than a handful of senior officers who stitched his face up more expertly than the doctors at Hull Royal. He’s the copper who refused to take up the offer of an easy transfer to a cosy community station. Who now finds himself on a team that doesn’t trust him, working for a boss who doesn’t rate him, and trying to blend into the background while carrying a Samsonite satchel with adjustable straps and waterproof bloody pockets …

Two weeks before Christmas, McAvoy is sitting with his son outside a coffee shop, eating cake, and a violent death occurs across the square in a church. McAvoy rushes to the church, and collides with the murderer as he leaves the area. He is immediately involved with the crime, the death of a young girl that seems random and meaningless. He has seen the murderer, up close; although his face was covered with a balaclava, McAvoy has seen his eyes.

Coincidentally, McAvoy also gets involved in a case of man who has "fallen" off a ship while it was out at sea. His death may or may not be suicide. Eventually what he learns about that event leads to a connection to the first death. And others to come.

The crime solving in this book does stick pretty close to normal police procedures and the crime is solved through police work, although there is some element of luck and coincidence involved (as I am sure happens in most police work). McAvoy is just one of a large team of policemen working on this very visible crime. Because he has been relegated to a lot of thankless tasks since his whistle blowing incident, he also ends up doing a lot of phone call follow-up and grunt work on this case.  And some of this work does lead to clues to the killer.

McAvoy is a likeable character, honest, well-meaning, idealistic. He is humble, and doesn't believe in himself; worries a lot about whether he is making the right decision. He is a family man, a devoted father, worried that he is making his family suffer when he pays more attention to the job. But he is not perfect, does not get along with others easily.

My Take:
I liked this story and I want to see how the series continues. The setting, the characters, and the storytelling are all unique in some ways, but I think I like the way the author had the plot unfold best of all. I did find some of the occurrences to be unrealistic; the protagonist is in danger a bit too often.

I don't especially like stories told in present tense, but it was OK here. There were strong female characters, particularly Trish Pharaoh, the new head of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit and Helen Tremberg, the Detective Constable that McAvoy works with.

Overall, I found this to be a very good debut mystery, and I am hoping the author keeps up the good work, and offers us more interesting adventures.

The Crime Fiction Alphabet is sponsored by Mysteries in Paradise.  Please visit this post to check out other entries for this letter.

Other reviews here:
Mysteries in Paradise
crimepieces
In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel