Rating 3.5⭐s
318 pages
You can buy Blood On The Broadcast...here You can find out more about SDW Hamilton...here
The Blurb...
A Locked Room. An Improbable Murder.
When Private Investigator Jacob Kincaid is approached by mystery podcaster Natalie Amato, he senses a case that matters may have finally fallen across his desk.
The former journalist hires Jacob to investigate the death of a colleague, convinced what was initially written off by police as an accident, was actually murder.
With an unlikely crime and a cult of Ireland’s elite watching from the shadows, Jacob must navigate an increasingly deadly case to get the answers he needs and where every new truth uncovered puts his life, and Natalie's, at risk.
Our Review...
While writing this review I have decided to include a spoiler (well sort of ish) Dont worry before you come to it I will announce it red letters so you have the opportunity to either carry on or look away.
Set in Northern Ireland. The story focuses on Jacob Kincaid an ex-police officer drummed out of the force for reasons unknown. Now down on his luck he is running a one man (with a secretary) sleazy private investigator business. He is hired by a female, podcast journalist to investigate the death of her colleague who was found dead in a totally locked room after an apparent drunken slip and fall. At the time she was investigating a shadowy but highly influential cult in Northen Irish society. Add in ex boyfriends, other podcast colleagues, unloving wealthy father, scheming brother and a murky MI5 agent and the gangs all here.
The Northen Ireland (N.I.) setting is interesting with little nods to the past and some colloquialisms. I haven't heard the term Peelers since I was a kid and I still don't know what "hoking" is despite trying to look it up, but the location was a plus. The only downside here was that the author does, I feel, get dragged into too many road names and routes eg.
They came off the motorway at Stockman’s Lane and took Kennedy Way up to the Andersonstown Road,
in the centre lane through Dunbar Link onto Great Patrick Street and saw Natalie follow the road towards the M3 and her home in the East of the city.
through town and onto the M2 motorway. It was only a short distance before they exited and turned into the Harbour estate, following the road down into Sailortown.
circled back onto the M2, following the road until it merged with the M5. As they exited the motorway
crossed back through Writer’s Square. Instead of continuing across the road to Talbot Street, she took a right, heading along Donegall Street.
While reading, these instances of specific directions took my head out the narrative. If you are familiar with N.I. then I am sure it all adds to the ambience. However I feel for an audience not familiar with N.I. a generic description would suffice.
As a reviewer one of the prompts i set is "ask the main question." In this case the main question was not Whodunnit? but how they committed murder in a locked room. This question is consistently teased through out the story. More of this later.
The road directions/names thing aside., the writing is simple and concise as befits the breathless pace of the story. The writer did keep me turning the page with the several action sequences including fights, car chases and even even a bit of arson thrown in. It reminded me of the Alaistair McClean stories I used to love as a teenager. This is clearly a strong point for the author.
This is the author's first novel and as such augers well for a future writing pacy thrillers.
SPOILER (sort of ish)
As I have stated earlier, the main question asked was how do you commit a murder in a locked room. Again as stated earlier this question was highlighted a number of times through out the texts thereby raising the stakes continually. When the payoff was finally revealed the scenario that kept popping into my head was "Kobayashi Maru" from Star Trek. Where Kirk is confronted with the ultimate no win scenario in a battle situation simulation. No one has ever passed this test but Kirk wins a commendation for his approach to the problem. What does he do? he breaks in the night before and changes the programming of the simulation so what is billed as a " no win situation" isn't really a "no win situation." I remember feeling a little let down by this "cop out." If you are advertising a no win situation then that is what the viewer, wants to see. Similarly in our case the locked room
mystery isn't really a locked room. You want to see it solved by ingenious but potentially possible methods (some were even suggested in the text) rather than changing the parameters of the security of the locked room.
As i am writing this it feels a bigger issue than it actually was.. It feels that I may be making mountains out of molehills. and this is a "just me then" issue. I feel It just would have added a little more to what was a very good, engaging first novel.
Selected Quotes..
Old suspicions died hard in Belfast. It was the third time in the last hour Jacob had noticed the twitching of the curtain in the upstairs bedroom. Belfast’s housing estates were still divided by ancient grudges and on a street like this, memories lingered and a stranger in a strange car stood out.
Half an hour ago he had thought the investigation was nothing more than him pissing in the wind. Now, a slow shiver crept up his spine. Not fear, but excitement. It had been a once familiar sensation. The anticipation that came with a sudden crack in an investigation, a previously unseen avenue opening up,
The man was on him. Small and junkie thin,
“And you think they’re capable of murder?” “Any religion is capable of murder. Anyone from here knows that well enough.”
He had read once that coincidence was the word used when you couldn’t see the levers and pulleys.
If You Liked This, Then You May Like...
Country by Michael Hughes
Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman
Fear is the Key by Alastair McClean
About The Author...
S.D.W Hamilton is a writer from the North Coast of Northern Ireland. His debut novel, Blood on The Broadcast, a crime and mystery thriller set in Belfast, released in February 2024.
He has also recently completed his first foray into the Young Adult genre with a mystery novel titled Our Strange Town, and is currently working on the sequel to Blood On The Broadcast.
His writing can also be found in CrimeBits and over at Punk Noir Press.
When not writing, he geeks out over video games and most things Star Wars related.
He lives with his wife, daughter, son, and two doggos in Belfast.
No comments:
Post a Comment