Book Review: The Day of the Dead

Reviewed By: Ali Karim - RAM

The Day of the Dead     Amazon UK PB
John Creed
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Jack Valentine
2003, Faber and Faber

Hot on the heels of the debut of Cerebral Scottish Spy - Jack Valentine, comes the cordite filled sequel (which unfortunately shares the title of a George Romero zombie movie). I have to confess to developing a real taste for these violent thrillers by Eoin McNamee. They are filled with moral angst, the brutality of the human condition with more than just a peep into the dark nature of people who live and die in the world of covert operations. Valentine is a man of culture, who enjoys art, music, epicurean pursuits, but deep inside he lives with the faces of the men he has killed. He has now left that world of espionage, but that world has yet to leave him.

This time around Jack Valentine is working on a personal mission tracking down Alva the errant daughter of a dying friend, Paolo. The trail reunites him with ex-IRA enforcer Liam Mellows and his sister Deirdre (Valentine's former lover). The action starts with a car bomb going off in London, and before you can yell 'duck', Valentine is on a flight to New York to try and pry the errant Alva from the Uber-Drug Dealer - the Mexican known as Xabarra. Joining him are Mellows, Deirdre as well as a Puerto Rican drug peddler Jesus replete with his male-lover and his Mother Irene. Bodies litter Manhattan as Valentine and his friends lock horns with Xabarra, as well as a family feud dating back to Jesus's origin as well his mothers. Sniper rifles, grenades, bombs, poison drugs, torture, machine guns, helicopters, car chases - sheesh this book has them all! The trail then zooms to Mexico and to the festival that gives the novel its title. A mad chase in helicopters ensues. More people join and die in Valentine's relentless pursuit, and soon the complex and far-fetched plot starts to knit together.

Like 'The Sirius Crossing' this is a complex story that really is about people, friends and family caught up on the dark side of covert operations. It's about how some have to live with the sins of their past, and how the haunted eyes of the dead plague their dreams. Despite its brutal violence, it is a deeply moral tale, and one that is very moving, and poignant. This is no hollow action tale, but one with as many ideas about living with death, as it has bullet wounds that tear across its pages. A Highly recommended series and its story will haunt you long after the smell of cordite has gone.

© 2003 Ali Karim

Ali Karim - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ali Karim - RAM

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