Sometimes, a successful first novel acts as an unchangeable blueprint for successive books by the author, with everything set in aspic, never again catching the fire of that first book. Danny Leigh’s The Monsters of Gramercy Park is a total refutation of that syndrome: not only is Leigh’s second novel as different as could be imagined from its predecessor, his much-acclaimed debut The Greatest Gift, it’s almost equally successful, and ratchets up a considerable amount of tension after a deceptively slow-burning start.The Greatest Gift described, in fascinating detail, the life of a suicide in the telescoped moment before his falling body struck the ground; here, Leigh’s protagonist, successful US crime writer Lizabeth Greene, is having a bad time – excoratingly bad reviews are shaking her faith in her own abilities, not to mention hurting her sales. She needs to re-charge her batteries – but how? The answer lies in an unexpected source. Lizabeth will write the biography of the real thing: a criminal psychopath. She chooses imprisoned murderer Wilson Velez, who (despite his incarceration) appears to be running lethal criminal enterprises from his cell, via his savage underlings. The theme of a dangerous killer whose activity continues from within a prison cell is the first of several echoes of Thomas Harris and Hannibal Lector – but this canny thriller is none the worse for that. The title of Leigh's book is the children’s novel being written by the terrifying Velez, which he insists Lizabeth ensures publication of before he helps her. But the price she must pay turns out to be considerably more extreme.
Apart from the ever-accelerating tension of the plot, one of the keenest notes sounded here is our uncertainty about Velez: is he an unalloyed monster? Or something more complex? Stick with that over-leisurely opening, and you’ll find yourself deeply engaged with a disturbing narrative. --Barry Forshaw
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