The term "noir" (when applied to a thriller) has become somewhat overused these days, but it's useful shorthand for a dark, psychologically oriented strain of the genre which usually emphasises the perpetrators and victims of crime rather than the police procedural aspect. With George Tiffin's Mercy Alexander, the publisher's claim that the author takes noir to new dimensions is, largely speaking, justified. In the style of Rancid Aluminium (the excellent novel, not the execrable film), Tiffin leads the reader on a macabre dance in which fitful flashes of illumination pierce a night-bound atmosphere of danger and sexual menace. Very early on in the novel, the eponymous Mercy is laid flat on her back on a jetty, to all accounts murdered. In fact, this is a photoshoot on the Thames, and Mercy is a crack photographer producing grim works of photographic art for gallery walls. And this conflict between the sometimes illusory surface of reality and truth is at the heart of the narrative.Her childhood friend Rose, a prostitute, seems to be the only person who knows the enigmatic Mercy well. And when Rose dies a horrible death, Mercy is obliged to confront the fact that one of Rose's clients at a luxury brothel has killed her as part of a grim sexual rite. She must find the one witness to the murder, who has disappeared. Along with the ambiguous central character, we are taken on a nightmare journey into a world of perversity and sexual menace. But George Tiffin is also able to take on board the inexorable transformation of his heroine's personality, as the investigation leads her into a terrifying confrontation with her own soul. --Barry Forshaw
Lists
Reviews
Images
Forums
Movies
TV Shows
DVDs
Music
Books
Games
