Nightrise

Philip Dryden #6

by Jim Kelly

Journalist Philip Dryden is shocked to be informed by police that his father has been killed in a car accident – he drowned during the fenland floods of 1977, 35 years before. At the same time, two unrelated cases are demanding Dryden’s professional a body riddled with bullets found hanging in the middle of a lettuce field, and a couple protesting that the local council has buried their baby daughter in a pauper’s grave without permission. As Dryden pieces the clues together, he realizes that the three cases may be related after all . . .

Genres: Mystery, Crime, British Literature, Contemporary

298 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 27, 2012

About the author

Jim Kelly is a journalist and education correspondent for the Financial Times. He lives in Ely with the biographer Midge Gilles and their young daughter. The Water Clock, his first novel, was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Award for best first crime novel of 2002.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I tried one of Kelly's books some years ago and can't recall my thoughts as I failed to note them here. This time I will heartily endorse this investigative journalist series. My only quibble may have been the lack of progress within the first 50% of the book, but I enjoyed all the descriptions of life in the Fens.There was very strong character development and careful plotting.
It does not require reading the books that went ahead of this one as plenty of detail and background is provided to acquaint the reader with the circumstances of this journalist's challenges in life.
A major theme is a scheme to steal identities and all that entails with the financial backing of Russians who do not play nice. I don't want to spoil it for others so will stop here.

This is book 6 in the Philip Dryden series, Severn House, published in 2013

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phillip Dryden is back! Phillip Dryden is back! And this book is one of the best of the Dryden books. Once again, Jim Kelly has done an excellent job of creating fully developed characters, and the sense of place he creates makes me long to see "the fens" for myself, especially the drowned town of River Bank. But Jim Kelly hasn't just done a great job of creating characters you believe in and a setting you can fullly visualize - there is also a great mystery here with all the plot twists and turns that make for a compelling read. I found I could not put Nightrise down, and when I wasn't actually reading it, I was thinking about it and trying to see if I could come up with what was behind all of it. This is an excellent book, I cannot recommend it highly enough. My advice is, read this book!

[Cabbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a pleasure to revisit Ely and the Fens of eastern England in Jim Kelly's crime mystery novel Nightrise. It's a couple of years since I read my last Philip Dryden book, and this one is set five years after the fictional journalist's previous outing.

It was a bit like visiting friends you've not seen for ages and who have hardly changed. Dryden's wife Laura has come out of her coma and just given birth to their son. The Crow, the local newspaper where Dryden works, is struggling in the new media climate. Humph is still driving the journalist around and learning foreign languages, this time Estonian.

The story takes place over one week and as with previous Dryden mysteries, weaves together several seemingly unconnected events. It touches on how the death of a loved one affects people, how deaths are registered, identity theft, and IT changes in journalism.

One of the things that Jim Kelly does well is describing the Fens, Chapter 15 in particular, when Dryden witnessed a re-flooding.

the landscape was lifeless, which made the sky the most important facet of all, because it was the only moving, living thing. And so it didn’t matter how much water they let through the sluices, the sky would always be there; in fact, there’d be more of it, reflected in the water. Not a sea at all, or even a lake, carrying the inverted outlines of hills or mountains, pine trees, or lakeside homes; but instead just more sky.

There's not much to dislike in Nightrise. Only a churlish nerd would point out that the iMac laptop isn't a thing, but you can overlook that. It's advisable to read it in summer rather than in the middle of a cold snap, since it's set during a heatwave. Although the backstory is explained, making it unnecessary to read the previous five books, more enjoyment is gained if you've been with Dryden since 2003's The Water Clock. Re-discovering his immobile face as if carved in stone on some cathedral tomb, that he's still finding food in his pockets that he’d stowed away a few days earlier and that Humph’s car's glove compartment is still crammed with miniature spirits and wines adds to the pleasure.

[Kaysi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this mystery story quite a bit. I have read another of Kelly’s Dryden mysteries and thoroughly enjoyed it. This one had a great, interesting story, however, I found my mind wandering during batches of excessive description. I appreciate Kelly setting the scene, but it became distracting in this story. I would still recommend this as a good read! Kelly is a very well-articulated writer!

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dryden’s wife is getting better after 2 years in a coma as the book opens with her having given birth to a son. Dryden learns from an officer that a man died and has his father’s name. Dryden’s father died in 1977. Who is the dead man? This investigation leads to fake identities, family protection, more murders.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book to be rather "dry" compared to the first five books in this series. It was almost as if there were too many plots that the author was trying to connect. I did find the mystery of Phillip's father very intriguing. Too bad that the story wasn't build entirely around that link.

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. It was too descriptive of every building and piece of ground and cloud.. Bored me so much that I couldn't even care enough about the main characters to keep reading. It could've been good, but too many descriptive details to plow through.

[Leanne Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the best part of this novel was the setting. I knew nothing before about the fens in England and the story provided lots of visual details. The story itself was rather slow but I enjoyed the leisurely pace and found the resolution satisfying.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a good story but I'm still not sure how I feel about these characters. Dryden is complex and interesting but I just don't believe in him as a reporter.

[Mary Ahlgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked learning about this part of England and its people. The drowned city was particularly interesting. Guess I should look to see if there really is one:)

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this much better than I did #5 of the series...Dryden was a part of the story and not just on the periphery.

[Barbpie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad things are looking up for Philip D. for a change, although I have a sneaking suspicion things will go south in the next book. I love the fens setting, the complex yet believable plots, and the well-drawn characters in this series.

[Gloria Feit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book that I enjoyed immensely, despite the fact that at times it moved rather slowly for me, probably because many of its frames of reference were unfamiliar, coming as I am from the “other side of the pond.” Even extending to the title, although I supposed it was meant to evoke the opposite of sunrise, and is defined by the author at one point as the moment when one sees “the first star clear in the sky.”

Philip Dryden had been a Fleet Street reporter, a job he’d left for one on the local paper to be near his wife. I found him to be a very original protagonist, one made very human and vulnerable when, on the opening page, he is introduced to the reader as the father of an infant son, following somewhat traumatic circumstances: His wife “had been badly injured in a car accident a decade earlier - - trapped in a coma for more than two years. She would never completely recover. They’d been told a child was impossible.” But, almost miraculously, here he was.

Also in the opening pages, Philip is told by the police that his father has just been killed in an auto accident, the body burned beyond recognition, only the vehicle itself providing the identity of the owner. This is a second near-impossibility: His father had died 35 years before, drowned during the floods of 1977, the body swept away and never found. The thought that he might have survived and simply chosen not to return to his family is, to say the least, stunning.

There are other story lines here, and a faint suspicion allowed that somehow they may be linked.. A West African man, seeking asylum in England but being forced to return to Niger; has been refused, without explanation, the return of the body of his infant daughter, buried, he is told, in an unmarked grave, and he and his wife seek Dryden’s help. Then there is the mystery behind the murder of a local man whose already dead body had been hung from an irrigator in an open field. When another murder occurs, a very personal one for Dryden, his efforts to solve these crimes are redoubled.

The novel is very well-written, suspenseful, and with a totally unexpected ending. This is the sixth book in the series, but the first one I’d read. I was happy to discover it, and shall definitely look for the previous entries. This one is certainly recommended.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sixth book in this compelling and atmospheric crime series. It starts off with a shock for Dryden when he is told his father has just been killed in a car crash when he believed him dead for thirty years in the Fen floods. Then a body is found in a field in what seems like either an execution or a revenge killing of someone who appears to be a completely respectable member of the community.

Philip Dryden finds himself touched by a tragic story of an immigrant about to be deported and agrees to write a news story about the case. In addition he is adjusting to major changes in his private life and wondering whether to apply for the editor's job on the newspaper he currently works for - The Crow.

This is a tense and shocking crime story which takes the reader on a roller coaster of a journey through the more criminal elements of Fen life. The geographical background is brought vividly to life - especially the drowned village. I am still remembering the passages describing that, hours after finishing reading the book.

If you want a crime series which is out of the ordinary, features believable and likeable characters and is well written with a background which you can almost see as you read then do try this book and this series. The books can be read as a standalone novel but are better read in the order in which they were published.

[Verena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nightrise, a Philip Dryden mystery by Jim Kelly, is of most interest to me because of its setting, the Fenlands in eastern England. This lowland region of extensive fens has been claimed and reclaimed through the centuries from the flooding of the North Sea. Farming the rich land has been at odds with environmental concerns. Draining the fens has resulted in drying up the peat bogs, which in turn have lowered the ground level and caused more flooding. It is a land of dykes holding back the sea, meres, and island villages. In this story there is a submerged village with only a church steeple and a tower from a Victorian mansion rising above the water. These ghostly reminders that people once called the place home is the ghastly setting for one of several murders relating to stolen identities and illegal immigration. Philip Dryden is a newspaper reporter who is professionally, as well as personally, involved in solving the crimes. Although the characters did not come to life as vividly as their surroundings in this sixth and latest novel of the series, I am interested enough to try at least one of the earlier Philip Dryden stories.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been nearly 6 years since the last Philip Dryden (Skeleton Man)and that's just way too long between encounters with this terrific series. The setting is wonderful - the island city of Ely and the surrounding Cambridgeshire fen country are vividly described with enough bits of local history to enrich the context.

The characters of Dryden, his wife Laura and his cabbie friend Humph were engaging from the start and have only grown more so with each book. Humph's collection of miniature liquor bottles and foreign language tapes are quirky and they come in handy at the oddest times.

And the plots are always interesting and well developed. This one brings together the death of a man who apparently stole the identity of Dryden's long dead father, a current day false identity ring and the political and economic consequences of plans to once again alter the topography of the fens. It's fascinating stuff, really well written. I hope we don't have to wait another six years for the next one.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another very good Jim Kelly mystery, again featuring newspaper reporter Philip Dryden. Dryden lives and works in an area of England called "the Fens," and Kelly's descriptions give the story a Dickensian feel - I half expected Pip to find Magwitch lurking about somewhere.
Nightrise starts with Dryden and his wife Laura celebrating the birth of their son, and the discovery of a body identified as Dryden's father, who died 30 years ago. A little international intrigue in this one. A few implausible connections between the mystery of Dryden's father and the international intrigue, but otherwise a good book.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a review that compared the author of this book to PD James, & indeed the rhythm and complexity of the story is similar. The pace & time spent developing the characters and setting wouldn't satisfy many readers. But I enjoyed the voice and insight of the central character, and once the critical elements were set, the plot developed quickly & kept me engaged as well as any more traditional thriller. I'd read at least one earlier book in the series, & that did enhance my reading pleasure. Very well written and finely executed story that earned my full endorsement!

[Colin Hodgkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant, I love Jim Kelly's story telling.
Read this book whilst on holiday in North Norfolk, enhanced the scene setting.
Really good to get the Phil Dryden character back, whilst I enjoyed the other series, I longed for another Dryden story and was not dissapointed in this one.
How does he keep coming up with so many origninal twisting plots?
For those of you who have not come across the Dryden novels go for all 5. I bet you'll read them all in one sitting.

[Florence Primrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journalist Philip Dryden is shocked when informed by police his father who had been missing many years had died in a fiery crash. Then a body was found hanging from an irrigation gantry. And then then very soon Philip's uncle was found murdered. How are these deaths tied together?

As Philip gradually pieces the clues together he stumbles on the secret that links these deaths stretches back many years to his childhood.

[Gary Van Cott · Rating 3 out of 5]

While things seem to be looking up a bit for Philip Dryden, plenty of bad things still happen in this book. Jim Kelly continues his habit of frequent errors as far as the US Air Force is concerned. The worst is a real groaner. Dryden describes seeing the RAF Mildenhall conning tower on the horizon. Submarines have conning towers. Airports and air bases have control towers. Also he continues to mention fuel transport tankers. They are air refueling tankers.

[Rosy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Jim kelly's atmospheric crime novels, set in the flatlands of East Anglia, and the Philip Dryden series are my favourites, but this one is the best I have read so far. Rich in the haunting imagery of water and drowning, and of death and the paraphernalia which surrounds it, both ceremonial and earthily mundane, it is not just the story and characters but also the atmosphere of this book which will stay with you for many days after you have closed the final pages.

[Virgil Larson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nightrise is a mystery set near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England. The main character is a newspaper reporter for a small town paper. There are several deaths, victims of international intrigue. We learn about the fens area, a rich farming area reclaimed from the sea, as in Holland. The flat landscape seems more like parts of Minnesota than England.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I waited a long time for another Philip Dryden mystery but it was worth the wait. I think this was the best yet and I was pleased to see Humph getting more of a role and doing a bit of sleuthing himself.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good atmosphere of the fens - flat and watery. Good plot and strong characters. I'll read more of Jim Kelly's books.
One thing I couldn't work out, though, was why Dryden was left for dead rather than killed?
And how does Humph's taxi pass its MOT?

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a bit slow moving at times, I liked this book a lot. Lots of things going on, a complex plot about stolen identities, sold on the market to those looking for a new face. Kelly creates a nice atmosphere, nice descriptive scenes.

[Jamie]

1/1/13

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally Philip Dryden is back! Jim Kelly can't write fast enough for me. I love the atmospheric fens background he creates. Read them.

[Adam Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philip Dryden is back. Wonderful English crime fiction with a strong sense of place, Kelly makes the Fenland landscape come alive.

[MaryAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good story in this series. Kelly's writing always makes the reader see what he's describing, and the fact that his main character (Dryden) is a journalist adds extra interest.