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Chief Superintendent Gently #16
Gently Sinking
When a dilapidated cargo ship sinks, killing the illegal immigrants packed in below decks, the man responsible goes free, but not for long. Two weeks later hi is found dead in bed with a knife in his back.
Human trafficker Thomas Blackburn lived and died in the heart of London's West Indian community and, when the attitude of the local murder squad Chief Superintendent is deemed likely to aggravate race relations, George Gently is called in to oversee the case.
But as tempers flare within the community, fuelling the fires of racial conflict, time is not on his side . . .
Human trafficker Thomas Blackburn lived and died in the heart of London's West Indian community and, when the attitude of the local murder squad Chief Superintendent is deemed likely to aggravate race relations, George Gently is called in to oversee the case.
But as tempers flare within the community, fuelling the fires of racial conflict, time is not on his side . . .
- GenresMystery
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
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113 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 4, 2017
I'm going to be honest here; when I saw the title of this book, I was worried it was going to be racist. I mean, it was written in the mid-1960s by an author born in 1922... I know from personal experience that people of his generation tend to have certain unfortunate attitudes towards anybody who doesn't meet their definition of 'one of us'.
Turns out, I needn't have worried. Not only is the protagonist not racist, he actually goes out of his way to take other characters to school for their racist attitudes, without ever feeling preachy. Thank you George Gently and thank you Alan Hunter for defying my expectations. I've been enjoying this series so much it would have been such a shame for it to be tarred with the racism brush on book sixteen.
All this aside, I was absolutely delighted to find that this book, rather than letting the series down, was actually the best book in the series so far. Hunter portrays the racial tensions in '60s London brilliantly, without resorting to clichés, and the atmosphere he creates is palpable (hey, I never said I wasn't going to resort to clichés). The characters all feel real, the plot is perfectly paced to naturally create suspense and the ending... Oh... Your... God, WHAT an ending! It was heartbreaking; absolutely bloody heartbreaking. I had tears in my eyes.
All in all, I'm very happy to have returned to this series after a seven week break and shall me moving straight on to book seventeen with no break at all.
Turns out, I needn't have worried. Not only is the protagonist not racist, he actually goes out of his way to take other characters to school for their racist attitudes, without ever feeling preachy. Thank you George Gently and thank you Alan Hunter for defying my expectations. I've been enjoying this series so much it would have been such a shame for it to be tarred with the racism brush on book sixteen.
All this aside, I was absolutely delighted to find that this book, rather than letting the series down, was actually the best book in the series so far. Hunter portrays the racial tensions in '60s London brilliantly, without resorting to clichés, and the atmosphere he creates is palpable (hey, I never said I wasn't going to resort to clichés). The characters all feel real, the plot is perfectly paced to naturally create suspense and the ending... Oh... Your... God, WHAT an ending! It was heartbreaking; absolutely bloody heartbreaking. I had tears in my eyes.
All in all, I'm very happy to have returned to this series after a seven week break and shall me moving straight on to book seventeen with no break at all.
July 1, 2023
Gently at the Calypso Club
Review of the Constable Kindle eBook edition (2012) of the Cassell Crime hardcover original (1969).
This one didn't leave much of an impression except for Gently treating the West Indian immigrant witnesses respectfully, in contrast to the racism of some of the other police authorities. I didn't catch any great descriptive passages or dialogue so am at a loss to post any interesting excerpts. The background had a depressing aspect as it involved the drowning of illegal immigrants from Jamaica who were put to sea in an unworthy vessel run by a gang of human traffickers. One of the traffickers is murdered in London and the suspects are plentiful as many local community members had relatives on board the doomed vessel. As usual Gently is called in to sort out a difficult case, and the centre of the investigation becomes a Calypso Club run by an influential family in the community.
The other item of note was the unfortunate original 1969 title of the book as Gently Coloured, which has been changed in later reprints to Gently Sinking as if to make it a companion piece to the earlier boating related novel Gently Floating (Gently #11 - 1963). Even the Sinking title has an ugly association to it though, given the mass tragedy in the background.
The dust cover of the unfortunately titled original UK hardcover published by Cassell Crime in 1969. Image sourced from Goodreads.
So this wasn't the most impressive Gently to my mind, but I still admire the series and author Alan Hunter for his attempts to refresh his styles and locales with each additional novel. I think his George Gently is quite as great a series detective as Simenon's Inspector Maigret, even if Simenon's 75 Maigret novels outdo Hunter's 46 Gentlys.
Trivia and Link
Gently Sinking was not adapted for the Inspector George Gently TV series (2007-2017). Very few of the TV episodes are based on the original books and the characters are quite different e.g. Sgt Bacchus does not appear in the books. The timeline for the TV series takes place in the 1960s only.
Review of the Constable Kindle eBook edition (2012) of the Cassell Crime hardcover original (1969).
This one didn't leave much of an impression except for Gently treating the West Indian immigrant witnesses respectfully, in contrast to the racism of some of the other police authorities. I didn't catch any great descriptive passages or dialogue so am at a loss to post any interesting excerpts. The background had a depressing aspect as it involved the drowning of illegal immigrants from Jamaica who were put to sea in an unworthy vessel run by a gang of human traffickers. One of the traffickers is murdered in London and the suspects are plentiful as many local community members had relatives on board the doomed vessel. As usual Gently is called in to sort out a difficult case, and the centre of the investigation becomes a Calypso Club run by an influential family in the community.
The other item of note was the unfortunate original 1969 title of the book as Gently Coloured, which has been changed in later reprints to Gently Sinking as if to make it a companion piece to the earlier boating related novel Gently Floating (Gently #11 - 1963). Even the Sinking title has an ugly association to it though, given the mass tragedy in the background.
The dust cover of the unfortunately titled original UK hardcover published by Cassell Crime in 1969. Image sourced from Goodreads.
So this wasn't the most impressive Gently to my mind, but I still admire the series and author Alan Hunter for his attempts to refresh his styles and locales with each additional novel. I think his George Gently is quite as great a series detective as Simenon's Inspector Maigret, even if Simenon's 75 Maigret novels outdo Hunter's 46 Gentlys.
Trivia and Link
Gently Sinking was not adapted for the Inspector George Gently TV series (2007-2017). Very few of the TV episodes are based on the original books and the characters are quite different e.g. Sgt Bacchus does not appear in the books. The timeline for the TV series takes place in the 1960s only.
February 24, 2020
Not the best in the series. The original was titled Gently Coloured, this covers the aftermath of the tragic sinking of a boat carrying illegal immigrants from Jamaica in the late 60s. A senior policeman is outrageously racist allowing the author to contrast with Superintendent George Gently. Still, not a comfortable book to read.
December 2, 2014
Gently disappointed
Took me a long time to read this book. Just never got interested. Was disappointed and won't buy anymore. Like the pbs show better.
Took me a long time to read this book. Just never got interested. Was disappointed and won't buy anymore. Like the pbs show better.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews