Novel set in Overijssel 1961
Thriller set in Northumberland (#whoissamalexander?)
14th June 2014
Carnal Acts by Sam Alexander: thriller set in Northumberland.
The Northumberland Tourist Board will not, I stress will not, be promoting this novel! The book is like walking into Dante’s Inferno, there is rape and pillage (not by the Border Reivers or the Scots this time but masterminded by the Albanians); there is human trafficking, forced sex, members of the gentry with odd predilections, dabblings in white witchery, class issues, race issues, history, injury, stabbings, frankly, vice lurks everywhere, and virtually every man seems up for a quick shag (yes, there is S&M too)….in many ways it’s like a Terminator movie but transmogrified to the printed page. Almost anyone who has a pulse in this thriller has something happen to them – an attempted attack with a urinary catheter by a patient on a police officer, oh and the rest… (you get the degree of – at times – imaginative violence). But I guess the title “Carnal Acts” is a clue to content.
It is not really the Northumberland I know and love (but perhaps I lead an extremely sheltered life!). Some of what happens in the book must be a reality in hidden areas, however… and that is a sobering point.
The action is centred around Corham (do we think this is a blend of Corbridge and Hexham?), but the presence of a paper mill might indicate Prudhoe. Whatever, there are real locales that can be teased out from the writing, combined with a wealth of fanciful references which are imaginary writer’s licence, aimed to be a tad discombobulating. But that’s ok. By and large it does work, it does transport you in some ways to verdant Northumberland, and, it is a rip-roaring read that can at times leave the reader breathless. However it teeters on the edge of being a racy crime thriller which occasionally topples into the realms of being extremely fanciful…
DI Joni Pax has come up from London to work in the rural confines of Northumberland after an attack whereby she sustained terrible injuries. But she is soon back in her element and involved in the aftermath of May celebrations in seedy Corham. Suzanna, a young woman working as a sex slave in a brothel escapes and leaves a trail of injury and death in her wake. The search is on. But it soon becomes clear that she is just a cog in a much larger criminal picture. Where will the threads of vice lead? Who will survive? And who’s is really involved with the baddy Albanians?????
In the build-up to publication there has been a lot of hype about the author. Sam Alexander is a pseudonym for an acclaimed British crime writer, it is an androgynous name that could be either male or female. At first I was convinced it was likely to be a female who was writing in a hard-as-nails manner, but then there were little insights which left me wondering whether the writer is in fact male #sticksneckout – for example, the writer describes a woman as wearing ‘shoes that were halfway between boringly flat and fuck me over the desk high heels’. Now, is that the kind of writing (fantasy?) that a male or a female author is more likely to write? We leave you to continue guessing… Post your answers below in the Comments Box. We WILL solve this mystery together!
1.7.14. UPDATE: Revealed via www.bloodyscotland.com : #whoissamalexander – click here to find out.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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