Jeff Noon

Mad, bad and dangerous

Jeff Noon reviews the latest thrillers from Iain Maitland, Mark Billingham, David F. Ross and Jess Kidd

Mr Todd is a lonely man, out of work, nursing a thousand grudges while he ekes out a living with his grown-up son, Adrian. He believes Adrian is dangerous, a threat to other people. But the real evil might be living inside Mr Todd’s head.

This is the squalid battleground set out by Iain Maitland in Mr Todd’s Reckoning (Contraband, £8.99). Skirmishes take place in a rundown bungalow, giving father and son few places to hide. There is no relief from intimate noises and petty arguments. When Adrian brings home a girlfriend and her young child, Mr Todd’s world crumbles at the seams. The consequences are horrible.

Maitland conjures madness from the inside, looking out. We view the world only as Mr Todd sees it, as he converts true-life stories into fables of self-justification. Sensitive readers beware: this book is very, very nasty in places. The voice inside records the build up of irritants, until violence is the only possible release. It has the feel of a low-budget Hitchcock movie, as moments of empathy for the protagonist are continually torn aside. Both repellent and fascinating at the same time, this is a brave book, tackling a difficult subject and never backing away from its true implications.

Mark Billingham’s Their Little Secret (Sphere, £18.99) also tackles madness, but from a more forgiving distance. It’s a continuation of the DI Tom Thorne series, but the real focus settles on the two criminals, a classic mismatched couple. Conrad is a confidence trickster who targets women, charming them and then exploiting their love for him in order to steal their fortunes. His latest mark is Sarah, a single mother. But all is not what it seems, for Sarah has secrets of her own; one of them, concerning her son, quite startling in its nature.

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