CHARLIE Hook, the last of the London Godfathers is killed just before he is about to tell his story to a seasoned crime reporter Laurie Lane, who is on the verge of losing his job. His wife had just left him. Lane gets involved in the investigations and tries to chase the leads he gets from his non-police sources. The first clue leads him in the trail of a Russian a known gangster Vladimir Petrov now holed up in Thailand. The gun that killed Hook was found in the yard of Petrov’s house. But he insists that he had no hand in the murder.
And the next day Lane finds the body of Petrov near a beach. Back in London, he receives horror mails and packets, like tongue and hook. In between Lane also acts detective in his office to find out who is flushing one of his colleagues pants down the toilet. The culprit turns out to be a cleaner, an immigrant from Colombia, who had to leave his job there as teacher because his brother had connections with the rebels there. Well, that is the humour side of it. The entire novel in fact is very humourous. The dialogues, the narration and the descriptions keep the reader to the pages.
So where next for Lane murder trail? It comes in the form of Petrov, whom Lane believed had died in Thailand. It seems Petrov faked his death to re-enter England, where he was being searched for Hook murder. He still insists that he had no hand in Hook murder. Lane is also a crossword addict. He participates in group matches almost daily. He gets the sack from the office with good settlement money.
Finally the killer of Hook turns as such a let-down surprise. And Petrov ‘actually’ gets killed by the British police. So, on police records he remains the killer.A thriller that involves the reader.
-DVN
(Hachette India, 612/614 (6th floor), Time Tower, MG Road, Sector 28, Gurgaon-122001)
