Book Review
"If only you knew, she thought, you sophisticated customers in your dinner jackets and glittering dresses, sitting on the terrace drinking cocktails and champagne. If only you knew what really goes on here."
The Seagull
is written by Ann Cleeves and published by Macmillan.I'm back from holiday with a good'un, a review of the latest book in the Vera Stanhope series, The Seagull. I managed to get through quite a lot of books on my week off but none as quickly as this one, which I read in a day.
Anyone who's concerned that Ann Cleeves might be losing momentum in the Vera series need not worry, The Seagull has the same intricate story, realistic characters and atmospheric Northumberland setting, and of course, the brilliant creation of Vera Stanhope.
BLURB
A visit to her local prison brings DI Vera Stanhope face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent, and now inmate, John Brace. Brace was convicted of corruption and involvement in the death of a gamekeeper - and Vera played a part in his downfall.
Brace promises Vera information about the disappearance of Robbie Marshall, a notorious wheeler-dealer, if she will look out for his daughter and grandchildren. He tells her that Marshall is dead, his body is buried close to St Mary's Island in Whitley Bay. However, when a search team investigates, officers find not one skeleton, but two.
This cold case case takes Vera back in time, and very close to home, as Brace and Marshall, along with a mysterious stranger known only as ‘the Prof', were close friends of Hector, her father. Together, they were ‘the Gang of Four', and Hector had been one of the last people to see Marshall alive. Vera must confront her prejudices and unwanted memories to dig out the truth, as the past begins to collide dangerously with the present…
The Seagull is Ann Cleeves' searing new novel, about corruption deep in the heart of a community, and about fragile, and fracturing, family relationships.
Cleeves always gets the balance just right in her books, mixing police process, characters, backstory and setting perfectly. She has so many plates spinning in the air but she seems to do it effortlessly. I'm sure it's not effortless, which is why I'm always a bit in awe of her.
The Seagull is a wonderfully tangled mystery, like all her books, and is on the same level as the previous seven Vera novels. Cleeves seems to really know what she'd doing now, whereas some of the early Vera books seemed a little off with pacing, the first one especially, The Seagull chugs along at the perfect speed, with just the right amount of surprises without being over the top.
The Northumberland setting, as always, lends its own character and atmosphere to the story, and Cleeves is adept at showing the reality and harshness of country life, as well as the beauty of it, something that is thematic in the story.
Characters are something that Cleeves excels at, especially in her creation of Vera. I like that the books haven't been Hollywoodised and Vera still hasn't succumbed to a makeover or found a man. She's as domineering, funny and insecure as ever.
I also love the relationship between Vera and "her boy" Joe; I love character relationships that can't be easily summarised and this odd, slightly maternal, possessive relationship is perfect, with both wanting approval from the other.
The smaller characters are also well rounded; with only brief words Cleeves can conjour them into reality.
My only small issue is that I felt the stories of some of these characters weren't quite finished. But that's really the only issue I had with The Seagull and it was a tiny one. For that reason I'll knock off half a star, but this was still one of my favourite reads this year.
My Rating: 4.5 Stars (rounded down to 4 stars for Goodreads, Amazon etc)
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