Borrowed Light

DI Joe Faraday #11

by Graham Hurley

'There is no one writing better police procedurals today.' Daily TelegraphFour charred bodies. One killer. A race against time...DI Joe Faraday is convalescing after a serious injury - but four deaths in a suspicious fire drag him back to work before he's truly fit. His partner, meanwhile, wants to adopt a child who was badly burned in the hellhole of Gaza. Both privately and professionally, Faraday is under threat.Ex-cop Paul Winter is still drug lord Bazza Mackenzie's trusted lieutenant. But his growing doubts about his new life deepen when Bazza orders him to retrieve a stash of missing cocaine ... whatever the cost.Two one official, one definitely not. And three very different men who must confront a disaster of someone else's making.Why readers love Graham 'There is no one writing better police procedurals today.' Daily Telegraph'Well-written and plotted, utterly convincing and really exciting... Excellent' Daily Mail'One of the great talents of British police procedurals... every book he delivers is better than the last' Independent on SundayFans of Ian Rankin, Peter James and Peter Robinson will love Graham Faraday and Winter1. Turnstone 2. The Take 3. Angels Passing 4. Deadlight 5. Cut to Black 6. Blood and Honey 7. One Under 8. The Price of Darkness 9. No Lovelier Death 10. Beyond Reach 11. Borrowed Light 12. Happy Days Jimmy Suttle1. Western Approaches 2. Touching Distance 3. Sins of the Father 4. The Order of Things * Each Graham Hurley novel can be read as a standalone or in series order *

Genres: Crime, Mystery

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Graham Hurley was born November, 1946 in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. His seaside childhood was punctuated by football, swimming, afternoons on the dodgems, run-ins with the police, multiple raids on the local library - plus near-total immersion in English post-war movies.

Directed and produced documentaries for ITV through two decades, winning a number of national and international awards. Launched a writing career on the back of a six-part drama commission for ITV: "Rules of Engagement". Left TV and became full time writer in 1991.

Authored nine stand-alone thrillers plus "Airshow", a fly-on-the-wall novel-length piece of reportage, before accepting Orion invitation to become a crime writer. Drew gleefully on home-town Portsmouth (“Pompey”) as the basis for an on-going series featuring D/I Joe Faraday and D/C Paul Winter.

Contributed five years of personal columns to the Portsmouth News, penned a number of plays and dramatic monologues for local production (including the city’s millenium celebration, "Willoughby and Son"), then decamped to Devon for a more considered take on Pompey low-life.

The Faraday series came to an end after 12 books. Healthy sales at home and abroad, plus mega-successful French TV adaptations, tempted Orion to commission a spin-off series, set in the West Country, featuring D/S Jimmy Suttle.

Launch title - "Western Approaches" - published 2012. "Touching Distance" to hit the bookstores next month (21st November).

Has recently self-published a number of titles on Kindle including "Strictly No Flowers" (a dark take on crime fiction), "Estuary" (a deeply personal memoir) and "Backstory" (how and why he came to write the Faraday series).

Married to the delectable Lin. Three grown-up sons (Tom, Jack and Woody). Plus corking grandson Dylan.

You're very welcome to contact Graham through his website: www.grahamhurley.co.uk

Or direct on seasidepictures@btinternet.com.


Series:
* D.I. Joe Faraday

Reviews

[Cas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a rather gloomy book, charting the disintegration of the main character, so not something I might usually enjoy, but I found myself staying up far too late to finish it. Hurley is the master of characterisation and there are a couple of characters who might take over the Faraday role in future books - I hope so. The storyline is excellent, essentially a battle of wits between the police and one of Portsmouth's most notorious criminals. The crime itself is never fully resolved and this book is far more about the characters and the way they interact. This is an unconventional crime story, and Hurley has succeeded in avoiding the 'happy ever after' ending in favour of something far more gritty.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the late summer of 2009, D.I. Joe Faraday and his partner, the French anthropologist Gabrielle, are on a birding holiday in the Middle East. It is one of the happiest times that Faraday can remember.

After a day trip of birding with a young guide, Faraday and Gabrielle are on their way back to their hotel with their guide driving the car. A moment of inattention by the driver leads to a near collision with a big truck and he swerves to avoid the head-on smash. And instead hits a tree. Neither the driver nor Faraday, also in the front seat, had bothered to put on their seat belts. The driver was crushed against the steering wheel and died. Faraday was thrown through the windshield and suffered severe head injuries. Gabrielle, in the back seat and with her seat belt on, suffered only minor injuries.

From that fateful day forward, it seems that Joe Faraday's life is in a downward spiral. He is taken to a hospital which is shortly overwhelmed by those who have been injured in one of Israel's periodic assaults against Gaza. Many of the maimed are children, including a five-year-old girl name Leila. She is severely burned by phosphorus and her survival is in doubt. Gabrielle, spending much of her time at the hospital with Joe, sees the little girl and becomes obsessed with her. She apparently has no family - they may have all been killed in the attack - and Gabrielle wants to become the girl's family.

Eventually, Faraday is cleared to returned to England, but Gabrielle stays on to care for Leila.

Back in England, Faraday is unable to return to work at first, but finally does so. However, he is a changed man and his second-in-command Jimmy Suttle, a detective who was trained by Paul Winter and is still close to him, worries that his boss may no longer be up to the job. That becomes a major concern when an investigation of a house fire discloses four dead bodies, all of whom had been shot and killed before the fire started. Behind the burned house is a recently dug hole that seems to have been hiding something. What? Speculation focuses on a large quantity of cocaine. Faraday and his team are charged with finding the answers.

Meanwhile, Pompey crime lord Bazza Mckenzie, nemesis of the police in general and Faraday in particular, has gone legit - well, mostly anyway. And former D.S. Paul Winter is still working for him but is beginning to have serious second thoughts about the relationship. Although he has been made part of the "family," he is more and more uncomfortable with his role.

McKenzie has ambitions to get into politics. In fact, he has plans to run for mayor of Portsmouth! He's spending his time romancing journalists, trying to publicize himself and his "good works" as a precursor to a mayoral campaign.

But, wait. What about those four dead bodies? What is their connection to McKenzie? What about that big hole behind the house? Who did the presumably large quantity of cocaine that had been buried in the hole belong to? Is it significant that the man who lived in the house was an associate of Bazza McKenzie? And is it significant that that man has now disappeared without a trace, along with the cocaine? All questions that haunt Paul Winter and that impel him to contact Jimmy Suttle for a conversation, possibly aimed at finding a way out of the McKenzie orbit.

All in all, this is a downer of a story, as one of the major characters, Joe Faraday, deteriorates throughout, and as the other major character, Paul Winter, is conflicted and seemingly at a crossroads in his life. By the end of the book, it is still unclear which direction he will take. Meantime, Winter's protege, Sulttle, plays a larger role in this story and seems poised to become a major character when (and if) this series continues.

[Brendan Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the Audiobook version which has just come out. Tim Pepper is an amazing reader and carries the listener effortlessly into the Portsmouth scene with its local rhythms of speech. This volume sadly closes out an extremely good series featuring a tired but driven police detective, DI Joe Faraday, who uses his organisational skills and basic copper instincts to battle not only the criminals on his patch but the new bureaucratic approach to policing which has become a general feature throughout the UK with its tick-the-boxes approach to crime investigation, fear of budget overruns, and sensitivity to political winds. This time around four suspicious deaths in a farmhouse fire on the Isle of Wight lead to a search for a missing stash of cocaine which may or may not be tied to local businessman and former football hooligan, gangster and newly-emerging local celebrity 'Bazza' Mackenzie, a sinister but oddly compelling character who recurs throughout the books of this series. Faraday has recently been involved in a traffic accident while travelling to the Middle East with his partner, the French anthropologist Gabrielle. Faraday returns to work prematurely, still suffering from the effects of concussion, while Gabrielle remains in the Middle East having become obsessed with the plight of a young Palestinian girl badly injured by Israeli phosphorus bombs during the recent siege of Gaza. The year is 2009. Bazza (remember him?) is suffering from a meltdown of the property market and badly needs to recoup his lost millions with the help of his sidekick, Paul Winter, a former DS under Faraday who has left the police force under a cloud and now has gone over to the dark side. If it sounds a bit complicated, remember we are talking about a series which has developed a story line over several thousand pages (this is the 11th volume). The plots are extremely well constructed and are character-driven throughout.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Without spoiling the ending, I have to say that although I was disappointed I admire Graham Hurley for having the courage to develop his characters in the way he has.

[Nat K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vale Joe Faraday.

Even though I knew of the ending, it didn't sadden me any less. Au revoir...

[Wendy Hearder-moan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband gave me a heads-up/spoiler about the ending of this book, but that was fine because it prompted me to pay more attention and appreciate Hurley’s masterful “documentation” of Faraday’s mood swings. Winter, too, is undergoing interesting changes in his perspectives and Jimmy Sutton is developing as a character. All this sticks in my mind more than the actual storyline.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see that I gave a very poor rating to one of Hurley's books in 2012. However I actually enjoyed this police procedural much more. I like the way police procedure is described and I like the setting in Portsmouth on the south coast of England.

[Andrea Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Portsmouth and policing all pulled into focus through the characters whether its Bazza the criminal,Winter the corrupt cop or Faraday the tired policeman.

[Maisie Hobbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cast of slightly underwhelming characters and generally not the most interesting plot but moments of good twists and investigations. I keep managing to read books with unsatisfying endings atm...

[The Villan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

[PAUL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a brilliant series. Such great plots and characterisation.

I forgive Mr Hurley, but not the proofreader, for getting one of this book's characters name wrong three times!

[Simon Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly unusual in the way the book was a crime thriller however it turns out to be mainly about the characters rather than the crime story itself.
It was good though.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book in the longrunning series about DI Faraday was written during the global economic downturn, when the news was depressing every night and many people despaired. This may well have affected the author's mindset.

DI Faraday has been enjoying his birdwatching, but the author has chosen to provide him with a recent French girlfriend who is clearly just using him until she finds someone her own age with money, while his deaf son travels a lot and seems to be living on planet weird. Then we start this book, with an abrupt car accident. As I've noted in the past, each book has parallel things happen to the main roles, so later on Paul Winter who is now regretting cosying up to crooks, has his own serious car accident.

The good part is that we see the stupid, egotistical and violent crook from Portsmouth's drug gangs lose his money in the crash. Rather than let the cops enjoy this moment, since they were never able to stitch him up, the author sends them off chasing a multiple death scene on a nearby island.

By the end, depressed and learning that the people around him are not there for him, Faraday bows out in such a way that the author / editor tacks on the first chapter of the next book just so we're clear. Jimmy Suttle the younger cop will take on the main role next. But who then will do the birdwatching for us?

This is an unbiased review.

[L.M. Krier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half solid stars for my first experience of Graham Hurley. We really do need that half-star option!

I read this in French, which is significant. There was nothing at all on the French cover to indicate that this book was part of a series, and certainly not number eleven in the series, or I would have hesitated in choosing it. Did it work as a standalone? Possibly, in a way, although there was clearly a lot of back-story which would have filled in the gaps nicely.

First, as a police procedural, it's pretty much flawless. The detail and knowledge is excellent. The interview scenes at the police station are particularly well done and were the parts, for me, where the book really came into its own.

Thanks to thoughtless reviews containing spoilers, posted on Amazon, I knew before I read it how the book ended. Had I not known, I would have been surprised because of what was, for me, a weakness with the writing. The characters didn't really make me feel anything. Anyone who follows me knows I'm a great fan of Ian Rankin. That's because I want to slap the face off John Rebus a lot of the time, and I like characters who can evoke that sort of emotion in me. Mr Hurley's characters left me feeling flat. I didn't want to cheer for the goodies or boo at the baddies. I found Faraday himself a particularly grey and characterless character, which is perhaps where I needed to have read the ten previous volumes in the series.

I also couldn't really identify with the struggles going on in Faraday's private life as I didn't find the writing strong enough to pull me in sufficiently to care much. The idea of the side story - the badly-burnt little girl snatched from a war-torn region for life-saving medical treatment - was bold and topical. But I tended to find Gabrielle's behaviour rather self-indulgent and, based on just this one book, I couldn't understand enough of their couple to know why Faraday couldn't simply sit down with her at some point and say sorry, ma cherie, it's a beautiful dream but it cannot be like that in reality.

However, having said all of that, if I can find the rest of the series, in French, through my local library, I would probably read through them to see if I could get more of a feeling for Faraday. But based on this one alone, I would deduct one star for not making me feel enough about the characters, and half a star for rather too much recap and waffle.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

We have been big Hurley fans over the years, but this one was very of gloomy and unfocused. Joe is barely functioning after the accident in Egypt. Gabrielle is obsessed about the badly burned child that she discovered in a hospital ward and her attitude toward Joe is uncommunicative and combative. Winter is fed up with Mackenzie but doesn't seem be able to make a break. The central crime — the murder of four people on the Isle of Wight — wobbles about ineffectually and comes to no real conclusion.

7. MemoryWalk: At the stove top in the kitchen. A man in traditional Egyptian clothing — a long cotton shift and a small turban — is bending over the red hot element of the front burner trying to light his cigarette. A small child wrapped in bandages is huddled in the space beside the stove.

MemeTracker > BORROWED LIGHT by Graham Hurley > body of work > ?

[Rog Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed this series which latterly has concentrated on the criminal Mackenzie and his ex-police assistant, Paul Winter. Every time Detective Inspector Faraday comes close to happiness the author snatches it away. In this book Faraday is going through a bad patch with Detective Sergeant Jimmy Suttle having to take on a lot of the work but the ending is truly shocking.

[Philip Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Quite the best police procedural crime book I have ever read . The detail is impressive and the characters rounded and interesting. One of a series which all feature the same characters this book must be read in conjunction with Happy Days which brings the story arc to a conclusion.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is apparently the last of the D.I. Joe Faraday books. Too bad, he was becoming an interesting character. It seems that it all becomes too much at some point or another - when everything you held dear has vanished from your life...

[Matt O'leary · Rating 1 out of 5]

having only read this novel I was actually quite disappointed by the end. the book leaves you with many unanswered questions and left me feeling frustrated. wouldn't bother again. maybe if I had read this after the rest of the series I might have had a different opinion

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time I've read Hurley and I want to get to know Faraday and Winter more!

Hurley has developed interesting characters, intriguing setting, and a good plot.

Looking forward to more in the Faraday series.

[Gary Van Cott · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The author has done a good job of plotting an arc for his main characters throughout this series. However, in this next to the last book Faraday is losing it which makes it less enjoyable to read. Suttle has been growing in importance and is featured more here than previously.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wandered a bit too much and was rather gloomy but still a good book.

[Chris Lelliott]

based in Portsmouth so enjoyable because I understand the geography...but I also enjoy Graham's books that were recommended to me by my friends husband Pete