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Harpur & Iles #5
Come Clean
"Le Carré-like psychological ambiguities and fierce double-crosses―from an author who, in an understated sentence or two, can pack a knockout punch."― Kirkus Reviews Sarah Iles's latest young lover, Ian Aston, and the seedy gangland club he frequents both possess the intense attractive of the forbidden. When one night at the Monty they witness a fatal knifing, they unwittingly learn far too much for their own welfare of a deadly plot that could, if successfully executed, rearrange the city's criminal power structure. Immediately, the unfaithful wife and petty criminal become targets of both police and underworld observation.
The Machiavellian ACC Desmond Iles, Harpur's superior officer―a character Booklist calls "ranting, conniving, brutally sarcastic, and painfully funny"―has often taken the center stage in Bill James's novels. Here the betrayed policeman allows a professional crisis to become part of a personal vendetta as well, and Harput is swept direction into the path of escalting subterfuge and violence.
In Come Clean , Bill James once again explores the no-man's land of law enforcement, where human concern and naked expediency stand perennially at odds with each other. And just as in its four predecessors, a memorable drama is played out against James's striking and unique urban tableau.
The Machiavellian ACC Desmond Iles, Harpur's superior officer―a character Booklist calls "ranting, conniving, brutally sarcastic, and painfully funny"―has often taken the center stage in Bill James's novels. Here the betrayed policeman allows a professional crisis to become part of a personal vendetta as well, and Harput is swept direction into the path of escalting subterfuge and violence.
In Come Clean , Bill James once again explores the no-man's land of law enforcement, where human concern and naked expediency stand perennially at odds with each other. And just as in its four predecessors, a memorable drama is played out against James's striking and unique urban tableau.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published February 19, 1989
3 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Bill James
61 books26 followersBill James (born 1929) is a pseudonym of James Tucker, a Welsh novelist. He also writes under his own name and the pseudonyms David Craig and Judith Jones. He was a reporter with the Daily Mirror and various other newspapers after serving with the RAF He is married, with four children, and lives in South Wales.
The bulk of his output under the Bill James pseudonym is the Harpur and Iles series. Colin Harpur is a Detective Chief Inspector and Desmond Iles is the Assistant Chief Constable in an unnamed coastal city in southwestern England. Harpur and Iles are complemented by an evolving cast of other recurring characters on both sides of the law. The books are characterized by a grim humour and a bleak view of the relationship between the public, the police force and the criminal element. The first few are designated "A Detective Colin Harpur Novel" but as the series progressed they began to be published with the designation "A Harpur & Iles Mystery".
His best known work, written under the "David Craig" pseudonym and originally titled Whose Little Girl are You, is The Squeeze, which was turned into a film starring Stacy Keach, Edward Fox and David Hemmings. The fourth Harpur & Iles novel, Protection, was televised by the BBC in 1996 as Harpur & Iles, starring Aneirin Hughes as Harpur and Hywel Bennett as Iles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_James_(novelist)
The bulk of his output under the Bill James pseudonym is the Harpur and Iles series. Colin Harpur is a Detective Chief Inspector and Desmond Iles is the Assistant Chief Constable in an unnamed coastal city in southwestern England. Harpur and Iles are complemented by an evolving cast of other recurring characters on both sides of the law. The books are characterized by a grim humour and a bleak view of the relationship between the public, the police force and the criminal element. The first few are designated "A Detective Colin Harpur Novel" but as the series progressed they began to be published with the designation "A Harpur & Iles Mystery".
His best known work, written under the "David Craig" pseudonym and originally titled Whose Little Girl are You, is The Squeeze, which was turned into a film starring Stacy Keach, Edward Fox and David Hemmings. The fourth Harpur & Iles novel, Protection, was televised by the BBC in 1996 as Harpur & Iles, starring Aneirin Hughes as Harpur and Hywel Bennett as Iles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_James_(novelist)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 13, 2020
Cornuto e mazziato?
Le vicende che racconta Bill James riguardano poliziotti - Harpur e Iles su tutti - e malavita locale inglese anni 80, coadiuvati da informatori vari e cospirazioni per gestire il territorio.
In "Confessione", il centro della storia è Sarah, che assiste suo malgrado ad un caso di omicidio mentre si trova al Monty, un locale abbastanza equivoco. Sarah è la moglie del dirigente di polizia Iles, ma si trova lì in compagnia del suo amante Ian, di conseguenza non può esporsi come testimone.
Nonostante ciò, la trama segue il suo corso naturale grazie a intuizioni e cose non dette, sempre al limite tra il lecito e l'illecito, stanando qui e là indizi utili per l'indagine del marito in quanto poliziotto, e per la stessa Sarah in quanto donna in crisi matrimoniale.
Non si deve avere fretta nel leggere Bill James, si rischia di scentrare l'atmosfera costruita dai dialoghi, che fanno la storia.
Non getta l'osso al lettore per stupirlo o per colpirlo. Non è un autore da best seller.
E io lo ringrazio.
Le vicende che racconta Bill James riguardano poliziotti - Harpur e Iles su tutti - e malavita locale inglese anni 80, coadiuvati da informatori vari e cospirazioni per gestire il territorio.
In "Confessione", il centro della storia è Sarah, che assiste suo malgrado ad un caso di omicidio mentre si trova al Monty, un locale abbastanza equivoco. Sarah è la moglie del dirigente di polizia Iles, ma si trova lì in compagnia del suo amante Ian, di conseguenza non può esporsi come testimone.
Nonostante ciò, la trama segue il suo corso naturale grazie a intuizioni e cose non dette, sempre al limite tra il lecito e l'illecito, stanando qui e là indizi utili per l'indagine del marito in quanto poliziotto, e per la stessa Sarah in quanto donna in crisi matrimoniale.
Non si deve avere fretta nel leggere Bill James, si rischia di scentrare l'atmosfera costruita dai dialoghi, che fanno la storia.
Non getta l'osso al lettore per stupirlo o per colpirlo. Non è un autore da best seller.
E io lo ringrazio.
June 20, 2019
*Potential spoilers ahead*
Another fine entry in the Harpur & Iles series featuring all the hallmarks I've come to expect from it. Tightly plotted and incredibly tense crime fiction populated by believable characters who sound like real people all inhabiting this grey zone where the police seem as dodgy as the crooks. None of them are particularly likable but there's enough humour to stop things from being too grim One thing that stands out here is that we're seeing the consequences of events and actions from previous books. There's a power vacuum now and two gangs fighting over the spoils. There's also continued infidelity on the part of Sarah Iles. All of it ties into the plot of the book wonderfully.
It seems to me that one of the main themes of the book is the power of information. The assumptions you make about the information you have. How it can be manipulated to achieve the results you want. The biggest manipulator being the author as he drip feeds you just enough to ratchet up the tension in particular scenes. There is more poking fun at the genius-detective-making-brilliant-deductions-to-solve-cases trope but it does tie back into that theme of the power of information. There's a section where Harpur is feeling bereft, having lost his strongest source (fled the country). An informant that's been influential in resolving prior cases. It'll be interesting to see where this particular beat goes in the future.
The author has a knack for putting characters in precarious and unenviable positions which makes for really compelling reading. In this case it's about Iles and how far he is willing to go to protect his marriage. Not to mention Sarah Iles and how far she is willing to go to protect her affair. It all builds to a tense finale that leaves you wondering exactly how things went down. The author certainly left me wondering about Iles.. There's the question mark over how he dealt with one or two other cases in preceding books. It's all starting to mount up and I hope we get to revisit this subject in future instalments.
Highly recommended for fans of crime fiction. Sort of works as a standalone but I think you're best served starting from the beginning. All of the books have been worth reading so far. Long may that continue.
Another fine entry in the Harpur & Iles series featuring all the hallmarks I've come to expect from it. Tightly plotted and incredibly tense crime fiction populated by believable characters who sound like real people all inhabiting this grey zone where the police seem as dodgy as the crooks. None of them are particularly likable but there's enough humour to stop things from being too grim One thing that stands out here is that we're seeing the consequences of events and actions from previous books. There's a power vacuum now and two gangs fighting over the spoils. There's also continued infidelity on the part of Sarah Iles. All of it ties into the plot of the book wonderfully.
It seems to me that one of the main themes of the book is the power of information. The assumptions you make about the information you have. How it can be manipulated to achieve the results you want. The biggest manipulator being the author as he drip feeds you just enough to ratchet up the tension in particular scenes. There is more poking fun at the genius-detective-making-brilliant-deductions-to-solve-cases trope but it does tie back into that theme of the power of information. There's a section where Harpur is feeling bereft, having lost his strongest source (fled the country). An informant that's been influential in resolving prior cases. It'll be interesting to see where this particular beat goes in the future.
The author has a knack for putting characters in precarious and unenviable positions which makes for really compelling reading. In this case it's about Iles and how far he is willing to go to protect his marriage. Not to mention Sarah Iles and how far she is willing to go to protect her affair. It all builds to a tense finale that leaves you wondering exactly how things went down. The author certainly left me wondering about Iles.. There's the question mark over how he dealt with one or two other cases in preceding books. It's all starting to mount up and I hope we get to revisit this subject in future instalments.
Highly recommended for fans of crime fiction. Sort of works as a standalone but I think you're best served starting from the beginning. All of the books have been worth reading so far. Long may that continue.
October 17, 2017
Well plotted and well written--this is the first I've read in this series--but I must say it's rather darker than I prefer. There's so much double-crossing and double-dealing, which is appropriate for a gang war, but there are no real sympathetic characters and everyone either hates or distrusts everyone else, including the principals. James is very funny, which lightens things a bit, but not entirely enough for my taste.
October 3, 2023
La prima parola che mi viene in mente pensando a questo libro è fatica. Finirlo è stato difficile, molto difficile .Certo alcune battute divertenti ci sono, ma tutto della trama (il finale è buttato lì e dei veri protagonisti della storia non si sa niente) non mi è piaciuto. Un procedurale senza procedura, con una risoluzione disonesta (il capo detective capisce tutto in un dialogo che il lettore non segue). Che poi da capire non c'era nulla essendo tutto piuttosto scontato nel suo sviluppo e tu lettore passi tutto il tempo a sperare in una trovata che non c'è, in un personaggio che stupisce nel bene e non nel male. Peccato.
May 29, 2020
Libro strano e poco collocabile, preso per caso e letto senza riuscire mai ad appassionarmici davvero.
Non è scritto male e in molti punti prorompe uno humour inglese spassoso, ma è andata così.
Non è scritto male e in molti punti prorompe uno humour inglese spassoso, ma è andata così.
January 27, 2014
Come clean! Giallo inglese poliziesco classico, senza frattaglie goresplatter e altri gadget di dubbio gusto ma frequente utilizzo odierno. Una signora altoborghese, di una non troppo sonnolenta citt� di provincia, fedele al detto che chi cerca quello che non deve trova quello che non vuole, mentre col suo drudo s'intende in un bar equivoco, il frisson cresce fino all'insopportabile quando compare un "morto che cammina". Di inglesissima ambientazione (Hornbyana direi, ma non solo: in una citt� italiana i due verrebbero sgamati in dieci secondi e che la moglie del commissario se l'intende col demimondano giovine lo saprebbero perfino le suore sorde di clausura) piacevolmente datato (scritto e ambientato vent'anni fa) britannicamente cinico e con la battuta affilata, piacer� a chi cerca pi� dei caratteri che delle macchiette. 20 anni sono pochi per espungere dalla commedia umana le signore (*) in cerca di diversivo, purtroppo moltissimi per eliminare ogni adattabilit� odierna mentre ogni telefonino � in grado di inviare immagini in alta definizione quando non veri filmati. Fa parte di una serie, segnatevelo se interessa. Colonna sonora: Jimi Hendrix - Valleys of Neptune (*) una cosa � notevole per�: cosa crede di vedere lei in lui, e cosa in realt� vede sono due cose differenti. Non solo: si modificano in continuazione; non solo: parlandone con la sagace amica prezzolata (una psicoterapeuta, ahim� gli USA hanno tinto pure gli UK) ci� che vede si modifica mentre ne racconta. La lettura � sconsigliata a minorenni, illusi, deviati o altri soggetti svantaggiati non ancora iniziati alla permutabilit� variegata intrinseca dell'immagine maschile nella donna. Non siete (siamo) statue di granito. L'immagine proiettata da un vecchio tubo catodico a valvole con l'antenna tenuta assieme da nastro isolante appesa al palo del telefono � pi� cons�na alla realt� temporalesca.
September 23, 2011
Le changement de narration dans cette série est surprenant. Ici c’est une bonne surprise, le point de vue de « la femme du chef adjoint ». Iles apparaît un peu moins mauvais que dans les autres livres que j’ai lus.
November 14, 2012
noiosissimo
January 2, 2017
Harpur and Isles are deadpan hilarious.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews