REVIEW

Time Out, London
11th October, 2000
Colin Ahern

Earl Dean sells vacuum cleaners, and he's about to make his last call of the day. What he's not expecting to meet is his old school bully, nursing the dead body of his brother in a freezer and looking for revenge. Unable to escape, Earl is dragged along for the ride and given ample opportunity to test both his detective and survival skills as the longest night of his life unfolds like a snake.

It takes a special talent to combine the thrill of the chase with enough introspection to make sense of it all, but this is one of those rare books where you can go for several pages without referring to present plot predicaments, then drop back into the sharp end again without missing a beat.

Nunn skilfully presents some insight into his characters' histories without getting bogged down. Amid the adrenalin there's humour too, but the whole tale is spiked with violent outbursts so the end result may not suit the squeamish reader - it's kinda Kinky Friedman meets 'Reservoir Dogs'. It's a fluid read and not his first success so there's always more to look out for. As murder mysteries go, the writing is cerebral enough to satisfy on many levels, and yet it still manages to combine an atmosphere of menace with a sense of fun.