Just Finished Reading: Songs of Innocence by Richard Aleas (FP: 2007)

Three years have passed since private detective John Blake tried to solve the mystery of his ex-girlfriends death. Both sickened and guilty by the effects the investigation had on those around him he has turned his back on the investigation game and has taken his life in another direction. Now working in a college administration programme he is at last happy with his life. He even has a sort of girlfriend – fellow student Dorothy Burke. He’s even come to terms with her other life as a private masseuse and has learned not to ask too many questions about her exclusive clients. But when she apparently commits suicide in her apartment John can’t leave the case alone. Without a forced entry it must have been someone she knew, it must have been someone on her client list who spent the time to destroy her paper records and delete her e-mail account before killing her. It’s not a long list and John has a few leads to go on. He’s not getting paid but he doesn’t care. He’s doing this for Dorothy and he won’t stop until he has the answers he wants. But as he delves deeper and deeper into the New York sex trade he realises that he’s moving in waters he can’t easily navigate. Did a sleaze king-pin have her killed for taking her business elsewhere? Did a client kill her to stop her talking or blackmailing him? Was it some kind of guilt trip gone wrong or something even darker? When John finally finds out he really wished he hadn’t. But someone’s going to pay….

After enjoying his first hard case crime novel I was looking forward to this one. Aleas has a good writing style that really reminds me of the 50’s Noir novelists I really like but brought up to date (although even 10 years is starting to make elements of the story seem dated). But there was something about this one that felt ‘off’ as if the author’s mind wasn’t completely on the case. It might be because he had already decided that he wasn’t writing another one (this was his last novel) so didn’t put his heart into it – although I might have simply been projecting that feeling onto the plotline. It’s difficult to say. The main character, Blake, is just the same – more jaded maybe, more lost – and the portrayal of the city is as Noir as ever. Likewise his characters are rounded believable people. The king-pin reminded me too much as a similar character in the previous novel but I forgave him that. The women were very well drawn and almost completely believable except (I couldn’t help thinking) for the English girl who came across as too much of a fabrication. Overall though this was a pretty good crime thriller. The content, being based in the sex industry, isn’t for the faint of heart and the ending is very dark and not a little twisted but still made complete sense. But despite having a fairly strong stomach for this sort of thing I still found the resolution to the case more than a little icky. If you still fancy this then be prepared to be disturbed by it.   

This is my last book review of 2017. I'll do a round up of the Best books of the Year on New Years Day. The following Monday I'll see about a Preview of the Year ahead.....