Without Conscience: A Johnny Hawke Novel

Johnny One Eye #3

by David Stuart Davies

Forests of the Night introduced the intrepid John Hawke, an exciting new detective operating in London during the Blitz. Now Johnny Hawke is back in this atmospheric, thrilling sequel.

Set in 1942, Without Conscience finds Rachel Howells in London for the first time, trapped in a web of violence. Her companion, army deserter Harryboy Jenkins, will stop at nothing--not even murder--to enjoy his illicit freedom. Meanwhile, private detective Johnny Hawke is involved in the bizarre murder of one of his clients. At the same time he is trying to find Peter, the runaway boy he had befriended in an earlier case.

Inexorably the paths of Harryboy and Johnny grow closer together until they collide with frightening consequences.

This is a stunning follow-up to the critically acclaimed Forests of the Night and is sure to win Davies a whole new set of fans.

Genres: Detective, Mystery

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

David Stuart Davies was a British writer. He worked as a teacher of English before becoming a full-time editor, writer, and playwright. Davies wrote extensively about Sherlock Holmes, both fiction and non-fiction. He was the editor of Red Herrings, the monthly in-house publication of the Crime Writers' Association, and a member of The Baker Street Irregulars and the Detection Club.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's London during the Blitz, and PI Johnny Hawke's new client wants him to find out if husband Walter is having an affair and, if so, to get the proof so she can divorce him. Business is thin and sometimes a guy must do the dirty work, so he takes the case. Soon he finds that Walter is part of a flourishing London transvestite scene; but then, almost immediately, Walter is murdered in the street. Despite the client being intimidated into sacking him from the case, Johnny persists with his investigation.

Meanwhile, he has to deal with the problem of Peter, a child who's fixated on him and who has run away from his fosterparents to try to find Johnny in London. And, if that weren't enough, he's drawn into the case of Harryboy Jenkins, a sociopath who's robbing and murdering his way across the war-devastated city, dragging along in his wake the luckless young woman who thought that being with him might be "exciting" . . .

The book's very lightly and sprightly written, and I have no quibbles about its readability. The characters seem real enough, especially Rachel, the naif whom Harryboy has decided is his property. The suspenseful moments are handled neatly. There are some nattily Chandleresque one-liners. And so on.

But, oh churl that I am, I have quibbles.

(1) The final stretch of the book, while genuinely packing a thrill, depends upon a coincidence so long that I felt my lip curling as soon as it was introduced.

(2) Only on rare occasion did I notice that the novel was set in wartime London. I'm sure that, had one been living there, the daily matter of the bombing and the other privations of war would seldom have slipped from one's mind. Yet the main characters (Harryboy excepted, because he's exploiting the situation) most of the time seem barely aware of the backdrop against which they're playing their play. This lack of sense of place did bother me quite a bit.

(3) The text is littered with hundreds of trivial errors of punctuation, grammar, etc. -- the type of stuff that, back in the day, a copyeditor would have tidied up . . . and, if s/he didn't, then the proofreader would. At worst (maybe half a dozen times), this had me having to pause to parse a sentence to extract its meaning; aside from such instances, the carelessness of usage was an unremitting irritant throughout. And there's the delight, on page 41, of a character being introduced as "my brother Edward" and then, by the bottom of the page, having the name "Captain Michael Eddowes" instead.

I guess the nearest comparison within my reading experience must be the Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr, of which I've read the first three. I'd say Without Conscience measures up very favorably to the first of those, moderately well to the second, and struggles a bit when matched against the third. Even so, should another Johnny Hawke story drift in my direction, I might very well pick it up. Davies does score highly on readability.

[Nicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Johnny Hawke is a busy man in this novel. A woman has hired him to find out if her husband is cheating on her, and that case takes him into London's demi monde. He's also on the lookout for an old acquaintance who has unexpectedly returned to the city, and his friend Benny is asking him to help a girl he thinks is being beaten up by her boyfriend.

When the husband Johnny is trailing meets a sticky end, the man's widow asks him to find out the truth about what happened, leading Johnny and others into danger. Eventually, all the strands of the story come together, although you really have to suspend your disbelief at some of the coincidences that bring this about.

Part of the storyline follows Harryboy, a homicidal squaddie, and Rachel, the naive woman he picks up when she arrives in the capital. Some of that plotline didn't ring true for me. Rachel is only with Harryboy for a couple of days when he starts abusing her, but she doesn't turn tail and run when she has the chance. I could understand that if they were in a long-term relationship, but they're not and Rachel has ample opportunity to disappear into the big city yet she doesn't.

There are a number of grammatical and editorial errors in this book, the worst being Johnny's client referring to her brother as Edward and then by the end of the same page, she tells Johnny the same brother's name is Michael Eddowes. That's just sloppy editing.

Overall, Johnny Hawke is still a likeable character trying to make a living in wartime London and these books are short and readable.

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two connected mysteries in this one. It starts when Johnny is hired by an unhappy wife to find out if her husband, Walter Riley, is having an affair. He isn’t; he’s a secret transvestite and frequents a club for men of that persuasion. He is murdered right in front of Johnny, the only clue being that the man was in a black Wolesley. Johnny is determined to find the murderer and learns that Walter worked at the War Office.

Meanwhile, an AWOL sociopathic soldier named Harryboy Jenkins picks up a young, innocent girl named Rachel who just arrived in London from her dull home in Wales. Jenkins has murdered a vicar and stolen his car and continues a spree of armed robbery and murder. Johnny runs into them at Benny’s café. During his investigation of Riley’s death, he keeps encountering Jenkins and Rachel and tries to help Rachel.

To complicate matters even more, Peter, the young homeless boy from Book 1, is back in London. He was bullied relentlessly in Devon where he had gone to live and after having cow manure rubbed into his face but his tormentors, he runs away and returns to London.

All ends well, of course, and Johnny comes up with a way for Peter to stay in London with elderly sisters who run a boarding house.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

1942 London, and Harryboy Jenkins is AWOL and arrives in London. Rachel Howells has left Wales and her boring life ready for excitment. On meeting Jenkins she believes she has found it. But trouble is coming her way. Hawke has been employed to find out by Sandra Riley if he husband, Walter, is having an affair. Unfortunately this only brings trouble to Hawke. But Peter Blake is having he own trouble down in Devon.
An interesting and enjoyable thriller and crime story

[Michael Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining Mystery Thriller

I picked this up knowing it was part of a series, but unaware that it was set in WWII London. I found it well written and entertaining. The author deftly weaves in various elements which come together fittingly. I will seek out some of the other Johnny Hawke books.

[Monica Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My, how I love crime drama's. I really thought I had figured out who killed Walter/Wilma in the very beginning. I was wrong. But that was a good thing, it kept me reading. Yes, I enjoyed the book.

[Brenda Hawley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the Johnny One Eye series set during World War II England. Johnny lost his eye in basic training and was released from military service at the beginning of the war. Not wanted by his old employer, the London police, he set up a detective agency in war torn London. This third novel in the series deals with a manic serviceman on a killing spree as well as a cross dressing public employee murdered for no apparent reason. Johnny uses his usual wit and acute observation to solve the cases and save a few lives along the way. The series set during the blitz of London has more than one dramatic moment.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnny Hawke is a private eye operating in London during the Blitz. And speaking of eyes, he's only got one.

An army deserter goes on a crime spree and kills whoever gets in his way. An orphan runs away from the rural home he's been placed in for the duration. A young woman from Wales arrives in the big city and is in over her head.

And a bunch of cross-dressing nobs get their size 40 panties in a bunch.

Good atmosphere, decent dialogue, too many concussions. Davies has to work to tie the threads together at the end. Cameo by Winston Churchill.

Check it out.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of a series starring a one-eyed detective in London during WWII who follows the trail of a serial killer. Big on plot and light on characterization, by the end of the book I didn't have any feelings for the protagonist. Pretty typical mystery.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The detective was a hard-boiled Bogart type.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detective in 1940's London solving murders. It was slow and predictable, but but the characters were likable and the enjoyable.

[Peter]

Looking forward to this detective novel by a writer who is a well-regarded expert on Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes....just got to find the time