Jeff Noon

Crime fiction: a sole survivor is haunted by a family tragedy on a remote Scottish island

Jeff Noon reviews the latest thrillers from Rebecca Wait, James Sallis, Robert Harris and Iain Reid

James Sallis has a modus operandi: never to waste a word. Sarah Jane (No Exit Press, £8.99) follows this stricture well, using a sparse yet poetic style to tell the story of a woman born on the wrong side of town to bad parents, who wanders from one lowly job to another, one unsavoury man to another, one trouble to another, living a life of chaos, until, led by some curiously twisted route, she takes a chance and decides to join the police, working small cases in a small town. When the local sheriff, Cal Phillips, disappears, Sarah Jane Pullman assumes the task of tracing his whereabouts, an undertaking that leads to unpleasant truths, both for herself and her late friend and mentor.

Sallis tracks her every movement in his custom-made manner, the prose as sharp as salt on a tequila drinker’s tongue. But that doesn’t mean the language is simple: it weaves a fine spell, digging deep into emotions and motives. And, although Sallis has no great interest in traditional mystery plotting, he still manages to squeeze in a surprise or two along the way. Cool, crisp, non-linear, gritty and dreamlike. A unique voice in contemporary crime writing.

Iain Reid’s Foe (Scribner, £8.99) features married couple Junior and Hen. One day a stranger arrives at their home with the news that Junior has been chosen for a very special journey: a space mission that will take years to complete. Hen will remain behind, but she won’t be alone. A clone or replica of her husband will be left in his place. Junior starts to regret his decision. He wonders about the purity of his own mind, and who this replica will be, and what kind of relation it (or he) will have with his wife.

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