Dead Girl Walking

Jack Parlabane #6

by Christopher Brookmyre

Life is dangerous when you have everything to lose. Famous, beautiful and talented, Heike Gunn has the world at her feet. Then, one day, she simply vanishes.

Meanwhile, journalist Jack Parlabane has lost everything: his career, his marriage, his self-respect. A call for help from an old friend offers a chance for redemption — but only if he can find out what happened to Heike. Pursued by those who would punish him for past crimes, Parlabane enters the secret-filled world of Heike’s band, Savage Earth Heart, a group at breaking point. Each of its members seems to be hiding something, not least its newest recruit Monica Halcrow, whose alleged relationship with Heike has become a public obsession.

Monica’s own story, however, reveals a far darker truth. Fixated on Heike from day one, she has been engulfed by paranoia, jealousy and fear, as she discovers the hidden price of fame. From Berlin to Barcelona, from the streets of Milan to remote Scottish islands, Parlabane must dredge up old secrets to find Heike before it’s too late.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Scotland, Audiobook, Humor

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Christopher Brookmyre is a Scottish novelist whose novels mix politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author. His debut novel was Quite Ugly One Morning, and subsequent works have included One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, which he said "was just the sort of book he needed to write before he turned 30", and All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye (2005). Brookmyre also writes historical fiction with Marisa Haetzman, under the pseudonym "Ambrose Parry."

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having enjoyed "Black Widow", so much recently....I was ready for another
Christopher Brookmyre mystery-thriller ride.

Jack Parlabane, ... (aw, it's great to see this guy again)....gets a phone call from his old friend's younger sister. His friend, Donald, is dead, and Jack hasn't seen Mairi Lafferty since the funeral fifteen years ago.
Mairi is now in her 40's - and in the music business. She owns her own management company....."Savage Earth Heart"
Mairi wants to offer Jack a job. ----[with a break up of his marriage and the death of his career....which I already knew from "Black Widow"....I know this guy needs a job...and I need a story]......
So.....Mairi is prepared to pay Jack three hundred pounds plus expenses to be an
Investigative reporter. Mairi tells Jack that she can't agree to tell him anything about the job until he agrees to take it. It's a big story if anyone found out- and Mairi needs to
prevent that from happening.
Well, Jack does take the job....[ I told you, I needed another Brookmyre mystery thriller].... :)
It turns out the leading singer in the band named Heike Gunn is missing. The band has just completed a sell-out tour of Europe and and a new hit single, "Stolen Glances" is #1 in 17 territories. The world is at Heike's feet and Mairi doesn't know where the F#*k she is.
Mairi has been panicking and making excuses just about as long as she can for Heike...
Heike wouldn't be called a woman with an easy disposition, but both men and women are smitten over her.

The story thickens...gets complicated. While Jack is doing his investigation, he soon ends up 'also' looking for the new fiddler, Monica Halcrow -who blogs her experience of the band but is hiding out. So of course we wonder about the relationship between Monica and Heike ... and the connection to Heike's disappearance.
There are several other characters associated with the band to whom we ( the reader) are guessing knows the whereabouts with Heike. The side stories throw the reader into a whimsy-wrestling-match in our heads while we try to solve the mystery ourselves.
Fun ride....Almost as good as "Black Widow"... but I still have a 'thing' for 'Scalpegirl'

4.7

[Andrew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is yet another series I'm working through in random order. When I first met up with Jack Parlabane, in Brookmyre’s first book Quite Ugly One Morning, I decided I'd not rush out to read the next in the series, I'd bide my time. I did. It was a couple of years later that, eschewing the opportunity to work though the series in the time honoured way, I grabbed hold of a copy of the (then) latest book Black Widow (Jack Parlabane #7). Things had changed quite a bit. The latter book was not as funny as the first but it was a brilliant thriller. And, strangely, Parlabane was conspicuously absent through most of the story. It offered little in the way of clues as to what had befallen our maverick investigative journalist in the intervening period. I needed more, so I decided I'd read the missed books – in reverse order (for no reason that makes sense).

In this tale, Jack is obviously ‘on his uppers’. Skint, out of work and with his long term relationship having gone bad he's offered the chance of a job tracking down a missing singer. The sister of an old friend is manager of a rock band called Savage Earth Heart and lead vocalist Heike Gunn has ‘done one’. He's been told to work surreptitiously and to keep news of Heike’s disappearance secret – even from other members of the band. Even so, Jack is soon engulfed in the world of sex drugs and rock ‘n’ roll as he mingles with the band members and delves ever deeper into the seedier side of the music business.

I found the tale to be slow to get going but still interesting enough to hook me in. The setting changes constantly as we start to track back in time, seeing events unfold through the eyes of the newest band member, violinist Monica Halcrow. What exactly is Monica’s relationship with Heike and how is this linked to her disappearance? The view of events (Parlabane's current investigation and Halcrow’s story, told through a blog) alternate and this construction works really well. In the end the pace picks up considerably and Brookmyre drives his story to a satisfying conclusion.

There’s humour, social comment and a gripping narrative here, so why doesn't it quite add up to a five star read? Well, for me it wasn't as funny as the first book and the narrative wasn't as strong as the last – and the social comment wasn't as biting as that constantly delivered by his contemporary, Ian Rankin. But it’s still good. I think the real problem is that I've yet to fall fully under the spell of our Jack. This maybe down to the piecemeal way I've set about reading the series, but I suspect it runs somewhat deeper than this. Either way, I've already ordered a copy of my next Parlabane adventure, so I’ll be able to continue my cogitation at a later date.

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this tense rock’n’roll thriller, Jack Parlabane’s marriage has broken down and his career as a journalist is in freefall in the aftermath of a Levenson like inquiry where he has been left to hang in public. He is an excoriated figure being interviewed by the police who want information on the source of a story. He refuses to give up his source because he feels his principles are all he has left.

At this point, he accepts an assignment to find the lead singer of Savage Earth Heart who has disappeared. Unfolding parallel with Jack’s investigation is Monica’s journal (recent recruit to the band) of her experience of the tour. He encounters a wall of silence, lies and secrets from the male band members and the touring management company. Jack uncovers the seedy underbelly of the rock’n’roll circuit – groupies, prostitutes, sex trafficking, drugs and menacing Eastern European gangsters.

Chris Brookmyre paints a complex picture of Heike as a charismatic, creative, controlling, sensitive, stubborn, fragile, manipulating yet vulnerable woman. No easy task, but he does this brilliantly. Monica’s persona is expertly revealed. Furthermore, he impresses in skilfully interweaving the personal history of Heike with that of Berlin, where much of the action takes place.

The finale takes place at sea in a thrilling sting where the perpetrators are arrested. All the intricate pieces are slotted into place right up to Jack no longer being a person of interest to the police. All in all a intelligent, satisfying and roller coaster thriller for the discerning reader.

[Nancy Oakes]

I will just say up front that I do not particularly like thriller novels, but the story in this one kept me reading.

Starting the story of the main character in this book was a little rocky for me at first not knowing his history, but it didn't take long until I was up to speed. Jack Parlabane is married, but now separated with little to no hope of reconciliation; he is also a journalist, but now discredited, "a disgraced and disparaged hack nobody in the business would go near again." So when Mairi, the younger sister of one of his friends asks him to look into the disappearance of her client, a rock star named Heike Gunn who seems to have gone missing, he takes her up on it.

There are two alternating narratives at play in this novel, one that follows Jack and the other belonging to Monica, who has just joined Heike's band Savage Earth Heart as a fiddle player. Monica's narrative is presented as a blog written while on tour; it details not only her experiences in the music business but also her growing but very complicated relationship with Heike. It also underscores the importance of the meaning of a piece of advice she's given: "what happens on tour, stays on tour." The technique works very nicely -- while the reader is busy with Monica's story, Jack and his friend Mairi follow in her foosteps knowing pretty much nothing about what's actually happened to try to get to the truth of what happened to Heike.

Aside from the story itself, one of the best things that the author does in this novel happens in Berlin. There the reader is introduced to the city's ghost stations, a very haunting but real phenomenon, part of Berlin's history. As I discovered, these are a series of closed-down stations where trains would slow down but never stopped, where during the cold war,

"Armed guards from East Germany stood in the dimly-lit stations and before the trains entered East Berlin a loudspeaker announcement was made: "Last station in West Berlin." (see this link for more.)

Aside from historical interest, the author links these ghost stations to Heike's inner self -- very, very well done.

While, as I said, there are a few over-the-top moments, Dead Girl Walking doesn't work along the lines of what seems to pass for thriller novels these days. First of all, it's extremely coherent. It is well plotted -- one thing I object to in most thriller stories these days is that authors want to go very big and add everything but the kitchen sink -- that doesn't happen here. Also, aside from the Balkan criminals, the characters don't come across as stereotypical, another problem with more than a few thriller novels these days. And thank god there is no kick-ass, badass, gun-toting female heroine here; au contraire, considering that a man wrote this, for the most part, he writes the women very well.

Dead Girl Walking was a pleasant surprise -- I do not enjoy thriller novels, but this was a good one.

[CarolG · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first book I've read by this author so I wasn't familiar with the background of Parlabane but that wasn't really a problem. I found this to be a slow read and probably would have been just as happy not finishing it. I found Monica's parts of the story to be more interesting than his. There were some pretty obscure British (I guess) words and phrases that I still don't know what they mean plus one curse word that I really really hate was used a bit which lessened my enjoyment of the story. All in all it was a pretty good storyline but I don't think I'd rush to read another Brookmyre book.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

After several volumes away, doing whatever it is investigative journalists do when they’re not starring in crime novels, Jack Parlabane returns to Chris Brookmyre’s sardonic satirical world when he is hired by an old friend’s younger sister (cue, frisson) to find the emerging mega-star lead singer of a band she manages. It’s a sign of how far Parlabane’s journalistic cred has fallen that the job comes with a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

As we should expect from Brookmyre, at least when he is channelling Parlabane, we venture into the seedier sides of the European project – Edinburgh remains a base, but most of this story happens on a band’s tour bus, in Berlin or in the western isles, all-in-all quite un-Parlabane-esque. Alongside this, there is a further move in the narrative shift that over the years sees the bad guys continue to transmogrify from rich, corporate Tories to shysters to, here, post-communist organised crime hiding behind the corporate glitz of the cultural sector and celebrity vacuity, where glamour conceals alarming high rates and insidious forms of corporate and corporeal exploitation.

What's more, Brookmyre seems also to be name changing: Christopher was his satirical crime moniker, the source of Parlabane; Chris his crime genre nom de plume for the Jasmine Sharpe series – yet DI Catherine McLeod from those appears here as the top cop, and geek that I am it amuses me to see Brookmyre’s worlds interweaving as names blur and characters not otherwise connected between novels meet up: oh, the delights of intertextuality.

All that aside, though, this is a cracker of a yarn, told in parallel tales – the wide-eyed morally clear innocent new to band at the core of the story alternating with Parlabane’s worldly wise, problematically over-confident, self-doubting lapsed journalist. Along with that, there is a healthy dose of the new Europe’s grimy underbelly, a fair dollop of sex, drugs and rock and roll (most of it consensual, but in the end little of actually so in the grime), intense loyalty, nascent romance – all of which add up to make this most certainly not one for the kirk. To top it off, Brookmyre plays an old and simple narrative that keeps readers uncertain and manages to become several, different, old and simple narratives along the way.

It’s classic Brookmyre, great satire (he is Scotland’s Hiassen), a rollicking good yarn packed full of flawed, inconsistent and befuddled characters – and that’s just the ‘good guys’, and really hard to ‘review’ without spoilers: as with nearly all Brookmyre, no matter how great some of the characters, this is about a fabulous plot.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack is back.

Jack Parlabane is an investigative journalist. He is not adverse to using unconventional and questionable methods to get what he wants. He has spent time in prison having been caught sailing too close to the edge of legality. He is unemployed (freelance with no work coming in actually) and totally discredited. The police are coming after him for having been involved in the leaking of some secret files.

So when an old friends sister asks him to find the lead singer of the rock band she manages for £300 a day plus expenses he jumps at the chance.

Cue the usual Brookmyre mayhem, with bent coppers, drugs, people traffickers, murder all set in a fast paced thriller with bags of sass and attitude. Plot twists galore and the denouement is absolutely delicious. All written with style and grace in the familiar Brookmyre settings, plus a rock tour across Europe to boot.

This book was an absolute joy to read. Sadly I don't have as much time to read as I would like but I was lucky today as I had two three hour train journeys which meant that I was able to polish off this book in one day. A rare treat indeed.

I have left the best until last. The final page of the book brings a new challenge to Parlabane and promises further installments as an agent of the establishment - a semi house trained polecat on her majesties service (deniable of course).

I can't wait.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I haven't read any of the previous books in this series, but I found this to be an intelligent page turner. Journalist Jack Parlabane is called upon by an old friend of a friend to investigate the mysterious disappearance of talented lead singer -songwriter, Heike. It soon becomes apparent that one of her bandmates, Monica Halcrow is also missing. Are both women the victims of foul play? Or a romantic relationship gone very wrong?


There's plenty of twists and turns and our main protagonist finds himself drawn into some pretty dangerous situations. I was also totally entranced by Monica's narrative although I did question her reliability of some events, as the story progressed. Christopher Brookmyre is quite the storyteller!

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first few pages set a scene which very cleverly plays scenarios through your mind throughout, forcing you to make assumptions which constantly require review.

A good old-fashioned chase across time and place which will pretty much keep you guessing to the end. Well written and constructed. Loved it!

[Allie Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my word, how I've missed Parlabane. It must be a good 15-17 years since I read the first five books. This was everything I came to expect from that series. Ingeniously plotted, exciting, funny, moving, the works. Brookmyre, unlike some authors, wears his intelligence lightly. He is not showing off or being too clever by half. This is simply sublimely entertaining storytelling and an utter joy to read. As an added bonus, it will have you guessing till the end. Fabulous stuff.

[Andrew Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I look forward to getting new books by Christopher Brookmyre and until recently they had never disappointed. And he is still a good writer, so a relatively poor CB novel might be a better choice than the best some other authors can offer. But I have some real problems with this one.
One thing in particular I did not like was the bringing Catherine McLeod into Jack Parlabane's world. After establishing her reality and her character in her own series CB had sacrificed both for a needless crossover that looks like a clumsy marketing device.
There is more of that. Reviving JP seemed unnecessary. CB had, I thought, moved on as an author since those earlier JP based novels, so why return? And the back story and the ending were clearly designed to lay the ground work for a new JP series, again things done to the detriment of the story that is being told here.
I felt there were places where this was lazy in the writing. CB establishes his characters and their strengths and motivation and then sacrifices them for the convenience of the plot. I won't give anything away (unless you have a really exceptional memory, in which case stop reading now if you want no idea of any detail in the book) if I say that the leaving the railway station where they had insisted on the exchange was out of character with the strength and sense shown up to that point. The plot needed them to go where they went, on form, if he cared about this novel in itself rather than as a tool for building other things upon, CB would have put some work into making that decision credible. The actions didn't need to be any different but they needed to be justified. Otherwise people are acting out of character to drive plot. I know CB's novels are all essentially plot driven but there are limits.
The book still features CB's good writing. It is still easy to whizz through and briefly distract one from the world. But it does not engage one as earlier books did. And one reason for that is another weird choice. JP era CB usually lets us in on the secrets. Let's us see what is going on so we are part of the thing causing confusion in others. Here he frequently refers to something that is common knowledge amongst the characters but that we do not get to know about as readers until more than half way through the book. What an irritating thing to do.
This feels like a once good standalone book, told from the perspective of a strong female lead (something CB has often written and written well) that has been sacrificed to revive a character who had reached a natural end and give him s new lease of life. And because it was done in that way, we lose the voice and the strength and the reality of that character as they are steamrollered away into the set up for the heroic return of JP. It is all just disappointing. Please read lots of Christopher Brookmyre - but give this one (and Bedlam - an experiment that just didn't come off) a miss.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is set post the Leveson Inquiry and Jack Parlabane, sometime journalist with a somewhat less than ethical approach at times, is back. I've read quite a few of the early Brookmyre books and loved them so I was interested to see how Jack's character had progressed and was holding up. I was hooked within a couple of chapters - Jack has an investigative job looking for a lead singer of an up and coming group who has "gone missing" and it looks interesting.

The book is written in two voices alternating for much of the time - that of Jack and then that of Monica the new violinist in the group the singer is missing from, Savage Earth Heart (hum is Brookmyre a fan of a group I'm a fan of...!). The first chapter as Monica I found a little awkward - the second chapter came alive and I had goose bumps - good writing. I actually found the interactions between Monica and Heike (the lead singer of the group) convincing and well written; indeed the voice of Monica I found extremely well done overall. I guess I'd seen Brookmyre as a fairly blokie Scottish writer however I'm happily proved wrong on that - he writes female roles well too. The story is well paced and kept me engaged throughout. In the earlier books it was Brookmyre's black humour which I loved and this is still around in the rock and roll scene although I am a little worried about the publisher's tag of it being an "accessible" book by this author.

As a reviewer I read quite a lot of books these days and you become quite accustomed to books that are broadly "ok". However when you read something like this you get some perspective on just how indifferent "ok" actually is. This book is not the greatest book I've read, probably not the best one of this author's that I've read however it really is a very good story very well told and I thoroughly enjoyed it - 4.5/5 probably. I'll certainly trawl the back catalogue for those I've missed however this can certainly be read without having read previous Parlabane books.

Disclosure - I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heike Gunn, a rising star in the music industry is missing and Jack Parlabane, ex journalist who is down on his luck has been hired to investigate her disappearance. The story is told from two perspectives, the first being that of Monica Halcrow. Monica is the new violinist in Heike’s band and her story is in the form of her diary/blog updates. I really enjoyed reading these, the story of her entry into the band, her interactions with the other band members and touring with them, as well as her relationship with the charismatic Heike. It was well written and really seemed to appeal to the inner rock chick in me. As we read the entries we begin to realise that something is not right in the band’s world and her story gradually reveals the events that lead to Heike’s disappearance.

By contrast I have to say I found Jack’s investigations quite dull and tedious. They just didn’t have the same spark as the other side of the story and I found myself skimming parts of it. I couldn’t quite get my head round Jack’s character at all – he is not afraid to break the law to find out what he needs to know, whether by computer hacking or by theft. In addition he is a parkour expert with a bag of tricks that he carries everywhere with him. There were times when his actions to get himself out of a tight spot just felt a little OTT and silly.

To sum up, a book worth reading for Monica’s story but Jack’s was just a bit meh. Thanks to the publishers for the review copy.

[Rob Twinem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having recently read and enjoyed Want you Gone and Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre I was hoping for more of the same fast prose, good characters and enticing story line in Dead Girl Walking. Jack Parlabane, ace investigative reporter, is asked to help find the beautiful and talented Heike Gunn the mesmerizing band leader of the rock band Savage Earth Heart. What I did enjoy about this story was learning a little about Savage Earth Heart and travelling with them as they performed all over Europe in anticipation of the big American Tour. The author shows, in a colourful way, how the band lived and worked with each other on a day to day basis and the petty arguments and jealousies that frequently occurred as band members fought for self recognition. Monica Halcrow, classically trained violinist and the latest recruit, becomes besotted with Gunn at the expense of the relationship with her boyfriend Keith. This however could not sustain a story that was rather devoid of ideas as we waited to see if the charismatic Gunn could be found safe and well by our hero Parlabane.

[Alfred Nobile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this a very satisfying read. It is less comedic than previous offerings by Chris. Maybe that is the reason he is now Christopher, wanting us to know he has grown up. Wants to be taken serious? I was at an event where he read from the book. It was interesting that he choose one of the few "Chris Brookmyre" chapters in the book. one of the few comedic chapters in the book. As if he was unsure people would come with him. Don't worry Chris they will and if they don't stuff them? I won't tell you the plot, buy it, you won't be disappointed!

[The Cats’ Mother · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed all of this series to date, and while I didn’t read them in order at first, I am now, and have another two or three to go. This was another page-turner, a well-crafted suspense thriller with a good twisty plot, but it feels like Brookmyre has gone mainstream, and I miss the anarchic Scottish fury and mayhem of the early books. It seems that as Parlabane has grown up and calmed down, so has the author, more’s the pity.

This follows on from the short story, 5.5, where Jack has been played, having stolen a laptop which would expose a defence minister’s sex scandal and security breaches, to discover that it was a trap, so the metropolitan police are after him. With no career left, he’ll take any work he can get, so when the sister of an old friend, Mairi, asks him to investigate the disappearance of an up and coming rock star, he feels he has to take the job in spite of it not being his area. Half the chapters are told from the point of Monica, a young violinist from Shetland, who has just joined the band, and is in awe of Heike the singer/guitarist, and is going on tour for the first time. Shocked by what she sees going on around and from the band members, Monica feels herself falling under Heike’s spell, but doesn’t know if she’s just being used.

This was well paced, with some chase scenes around Berlin reminiscent of a Bourne movie, and finally Jack may have a way out of his problems, although sadly it sounds like his marriage is well and truly over. 4 stars, because this is very good, but nowhere as funny or original as the earlier books, although I did enjoy all the cameo appearances from both this series and his standalones.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dead Girl Walking is a very good read with an interesting plot and great characters. Jack Parlabane, hero of some of Mr Brookmyre's previous novels, is asked by an old acquaintance to investigate the disappearance of Heike Gunn, lead singer of an up and coming indie rock band. The story is told by 2 voices in alternate chapters - excerpts from Monica's, the newly appointed violinist in the group, blog which fill in the background to Heike's disappearance and a "straightforward" third person narrative of Jack's activities which always end up as less than straightforward as Jack is a trouble magnet.
What you get is an absorbing, extremely well crafted thriller set in the rock world but with emphasis on the seedier side of the business. Mr Brookmyre's trademark humour is less in evidence here but there is still the odd gem which made me laugh out loud. I love his characterisation as it is always so lifelike and realistic, full of cynicism and yet hopeful.
I think this is the best book I have read this year so far and I have read plenty, both good and bad, but for sheer professionalism in plotting and characterisation it will be hard to beat.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another winner from Christopher Brookmyre.

This is the sixth book in the Jack Parlabane series but the first I have read. Jacks’s an investigative journalist. Reading this makes me keen to read the entire series.

A clever story combines rock n roll, touring, people smuggling, and more. Engrossing from start to finish with a nice twist at the end which I didn’t see coming.

4/5

[Phil Leader · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a while since the last Jack Parlabane novel, Brookmyre's investigative journalist who has a knack for finding trouble and then effortlessly making it worse. But in this novel he makes a triumphant return - if in somewhat diminished circumstances.

Parlabane has been a victim of the Leveson enquiry into press standard and phone hacking. Hung out to dry as a scapegoat to save the real guilty parties (not that he would be above a little phone hacking but more that he would never get caught doing it) he has fallen out of the bottom of journalism and is seriously considering what else he can do.

Enter Mairi, the sister of a childhood friend who manages a band. The band are very much the 'next big thing' and following a successful European tour are now heading to the United States. The only problem is that their lead singer and songwriter has gone missing. Mairi needs her found and figures Jack's investigative skills are what is needed.

The narrative more-or-less alternates between following Parlabane as he tries to work out where the singer is and the private blog/diary of the band's new violinist, parachuted into the band and feeling very much out of her depth. The Parlabane thread contains its fair share of action and humour in equal measures. The diary entries seem very authentic in their descriptions of the closed and self-regarding world of a rock music tour.

The plot is not complex but compelling as both strands come together at the end. The reveal is hardly devastating or a huge twist but is entirely satsifying and in keeping with the work. As usual with Brookmyre there are inside jokes and nifty throw away band and song references littered throughout. It is also easy to read with short snappy chapters making it hard to put down without wanting to read just another one.

In in all I thought this was a great book from Brookmyre and it was so good to see Parlabane back in action.

[Wendle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had missed Parlabane, and so had a lot of his friends, it turns out, because the man we meet at the start of this book is certainly not the Parlabane we know from previous books. Along with Brookmyre’s writing, Parlabane’s grown up a wee bit. I’d say he’s having a midlife crisis, but as his life is usually so full of comedy, adventure and danger, a midlife crisis for him is having no job, no wife and no hope.

The best part of Parlabane stayed the course, though: his humour. His dry, cynical, straight talking makes me crack a grin every time, with more than a few chuckles.

Parlabane is only half the book, though. The other half is Monica and Heike. I was ambivalent on the pair of them, to be honest. Throughout I seemed to dislike one or the other of them. I think they were supposed to be in their early 20s, but they often read like teenagers. They were moody and fickle and never properly talked to each other, which lead to many misunderstandings. I just really like it when two female lead characters are mature and get on with each other, so it’s a shame these two couldn’t manage it. I liked that Brookmyre included a lesbian character and a bi-curious character, but i couldn’t buy their relationship because it never seemed consistent enough

The story was fine–typical crime/mystery thriller type with a sex-traffic angle, though the missing rock star and band-on-tour blog added an interesting shade to it all. I looooved the start, in that the only thing revealed was that someone was murdered and someone witnessed it, but you don’t know who these people are. It had me interested and analysing everything right from the first chapter. Unfortunately the twists in the reveal weren’t a shock to me–i’d called most of them.

A slightly longer review can be read at my book blog: Marvel at Words.

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the ending of this book brought everything together well - showing Brookmyre's craft as a storyteller weaving a complex and challenging story - it took a long time to get there, and it was a bit of a slog in the process. Nevertheless it didn't quite raise itself from a three to a four, despite this improvement late in the book.

The story surrounds the disappearance of a female rock star on the final day of a European tour, and is told from the POV of a lady violinist band member and from the viewpoint of returning character Jack Parlabane as he investigates the whereabouts of the musician/singer. It just took a long time to get going, there was a lot of character-building on one strand with little action, and a bit too much unbelievable superhuman action on the other strand. I expected a bit more humour from Brookmyre, but he plays this one straight and aims to have a more character-driven sense, and I don't think it made for as enjoyable a read.

[Sue Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very strong mystery/thriller alternating between a rock 'n mystery and a conspiracy thriller. Heiki Gunn is the lead singer in a group ready to explode with their new album, but she went missing on her last tour date in Berlin. Trying to keep it quiet, their manager calls in Jack Parabande to investigate. As he's an old friend of her brother's, and a disgraced journalist, he has the investigatory tools and a good cover. This was my first Christopher Bookmyre and will definitely go back and read some of the earlier books. Still this book stands on its own without feeling dropped into the middle of a series. The characters were interesting and plot was too.

[Jamie Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Happy to get a new Jack Parlabane book, and this was an enjoyable read - if rather tame, for Brookmyre. Little violence, no gore, and hardly any ranting; just a few digs at Starbucks. It’s also notably lacking in thick Scots dialect, which will be a plus for some readers, but I missed it.

Since his career has tanked and his marriage has collapsed, Parlabane is available for solving mysteries, and here looks into the case of the missing pop star. The POV alternates between Parlabane and a young violinist on her first tour with the pop star’s band.

[Christie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like his last book I found this book disappointing. There is only the occasional sharp wit and humour that was found in his earlier books. An average story, bit ridiculous at time.

[Shannon M (Canada) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to rush through this book but because I was having trouble with my eyes I could only read a few chapters at a time, then had to stop. This gave me plenty of time to ruminate while I was reading.

From the beginning, I knew that DEAD GIRL WALKING was a well-written book, and as I had recently read a very poorly written one, I contemplated the differences. The first thing I noticed was that each character stood out as an individual, even the minor characters. They were described not only in terms of what they looked like but also in terms of their movements and expressions, so characters were layered — looks, actions, expressions — even those who I knew from the beginning would be minor players in the story (and thus those who would turn out to play a more major role didn’t stand out and give the ending away).

In this book, Jack Parlabane, who often plays a major role in Brookmyre’s books, again plays a major role in this one, especially in the “thrilling” sections, given Parlabane’s well-honed break-in and escape tricks. But Parlabane is not the only main character in the story. Heidi Gunn is equally important, even though we only view Heidi through the eyes of others, especially Monica, the new member of the band. Many readers might think that Monica is the other main character in the story, given that the book alternates her blog (told in the first person) with Parlabane’s attempts to locate Heidi. But I think that the author was very canny here. We never really understand Heidi’s motives for how she acts, except for what she confides to Monica, thus maintaining her charisma — a necessary facade for a rock star. If the story (or parts of the story) had been told from Heidi’s point of view, we either would have loathed her or felt sorry for her. This way she gets to maintain her rock-star mystique.

By not putting all the emphasis on Parlabane, the author escapes repeating himself time and time again, as many authors who have recurring characters simply run out of things to say about them. We know Parlabane is an escape artist and his role as an escape artist is put to good use here. His personal life is changing but we don’t have to dwell on it as we have much more interesting characters in Heidi and Monica.

Of course Brookmyre can’t resist throwing in a few twists and turns, his trademark, but mostly the story is about the characters — and this is done very well indeed.

Another thing that I believe helps Brookmyre stand out as a writer is his research. Thus far, I have read four Brookmyre books, and every one was set in a different environment — here, what occurs with a rock band on the road. Others have been how a surgical hospital operates, a how computers can be hacked, and the interactions between members of a dysfunctional family. It’s very difficult to maintain a reader’s interest when the story is repeated using the same setting, the same main character, and just slight variations on the same plot. Brookmyre does not do this. Thus, “Dead Girl Walking” is definitely a five-star read.

[Lee Prescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining thriller set in the world of music. The ending is a bit Hollywood and detracts from the overall quality of this one, which is very good.

[Stuart Lutzenhiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

The life and times of a fictional investigative reporter can be or could be in this fictional world very similar to a detective, particularly if they were investigating a murder.
In this case, Scottish report Jack Parlabane is on the outs with the media outlets as he is being investigated himself for stealing state secrets. So, a sister of a former friend hires him to investigate, but not publish, a missing rock star suddenly disappeared from her European tour.
The story is told in alternating chapters - half from Jack's viewpoint and moving forward from the present to the future.The other half is told from the viewpoint of one of the musicians on the tour and is told in the past up to the present. This is a very simple narrative structure to use but could be tempting to hide elements from the reader so that you don't give too much away but at the same time are laying the groundwork for any solutions that might want to be exposed at the end. A very tricky balance and Brookmyre does a superb job of balancing this. There were many red herrings that ended up being interesting and fleshing out the picture of what was going on but not being part of the case. this made it that much more interesting and realistic.
The case really took a turn in the last third and picked up the pace as it should - but still leaving you in the dark on critical pieces. A master at doling out the information at a pace that kept you turning pages until the very end.
The ending was well played and came as both expected and logical but at the same time nowhere near where the various tangents led you earlier in the book.
Recommended for lovers of Scottish detective novels (see Ian Rankin) and Carl Hiaasen. I recall that Brookmyre won a prize in recent memory related to P.G. Wodehouse. Jack Parlabane is no Bertie Wooster - but I see where the humor in his craft is appreciated.

[Keith Nixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

International fare, this one, from Brookmyre and his dodgy reporter, Jack Parlabane - international in that much of the action takes place outside of Glasgow - London the Shetlands and Berlin. Time has moved on for Parlabane; he's separated from his wife and washed up in (or out of) his industry. The sister of an old friend engages Parlabane more as a PI - to find missing music superstar Heike Gunne.

The action flips between two POVs - Parlabanes and a member of Gunne's band, Monica. As usual, there's much, much more to the plot than an apparent disappearance and Parlabane takes pleasure in dredging up the dirt. At the outset he's a shadow of himself, towards the end Parlabane is kind of back, but different. The plot itself is much more to my taste, gone are the vast sections of exposition and the story is much better for it. Initially, Monica's POV is, IMHO, redundant, as it's her settling into the band and going through a change herself. Later, we see the crimes themselves through her eyes and this, eventually, adds another layer to the book (although you could largely skip most of these chapters, I think). All in all, a decent read.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant Brookmyre - I have no idea why I left it on my shelf for so long!

Jack Parlabane is back and although he thinks he's washed up there are a few people who think different, one of whom hires him to look for the missing Heike Gunn.

Half way thru the book you will think you have solved the mystery, and know what is going on, but by the end of the book you realise you only had half the truth.

Cracking good story, from start to finish. It was one of those books that you get near the end and you both want to rush to the conclusion to find out what happens, while reading as slowly as you can to savour every moment!

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Really enjoyed this and couldn't put it down once I'd started. I've always liked Brookmyre's books and their sly humour. The plot is watertight, strong female characters to the fore, and any book containing phrases such as "some chinless Tory fuckpuddle" has got to be worth reading. There are wee smart references to Orwell and Macbeth/Hecate, etc too which give it a bit more oomph than some thrillers (which I don't read a lot of). I'm glad Jack's back and am looking forward to the next one.