Disconnected

David Raker #4.5

by Tim Weaver

Lucinda Berrington started out life as a travel photographer in London, but four years later she's in Cape Town, working with the South African Police Service, under the command of the damaged and lonely Bill Zill. When a student is murdered, Ben and Lucinda suspect the killer is using social media to target his victims. But how do you find a killer who's invisible online? With every lead a dead end, an English journalist might hold the key...

51 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2013

About the author

Tim Weaver is the Sunday Times Top 3 bestselling author of the David Raker missing persons series, the standalone thriller, Missing Pieces, and the novella collection, The Shadow at the Door. His novels have been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club four times, and his work has been nominated for a National Book Award and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. He is currently developing an original TV drama with the team behind Line of Duty. He lives near Bath in the UK. Find out more about Tim and his writing at www.timweaverbooks.com.

Reviews

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me tell you a little (liable to end up long) story about how I came to read this short story.

On Thursday, What Remains came out in paperback. David Raker number six has been sitting on my to-read list since it was announced. Unfortunately, due to my OCD issues I refused to buy it in hardback because it would ruin my bookshelf. Ergo, I had to wait for it to come out in paperback. The wait almost killed me, yet I somehow managed it. On the day of the release I planned to head straight into town to pick up a copy – yet I had lectures from nine onwards, meaning I was unable to head into town to buy the book until the afternoon. This is where things get all kinds of fun. I searched almost every store in Aberdeen to find a copy of the book. Do you think anywhere had any? No. Everywhere had sold out. Thanks to having lectures in the morning, I missed out on my chance of buying it in almost all the shops. I can assure you, I am not exaggerating when I say I walked miles to find the book. I went into town. I went to the stores on the beach. I kept walking north until I was moving towards the airport and completely away from the city centre. Finally, I found a Sainsbury’s with two copies hidden away in the corner. I grabbed a copy and ran for the checkout as though the devil was on my tail.

Anyone who follows Tim Weaver on Twitter will be aware that there were two version of the paperback copy of What Remains: there is the red tinted pages version and then the short story version. Due to finding a copy in Sainsbury’s, I received the latter. Therefore, I came into possession of Disconnected. I’ve known about it for a while, since it appeared in the #Youdunnit collection of short stories (if you count three stories as a collection, that is), and I’ve been meaning to read it. After all, Tim Weaver has made it onto my list of favourite authors meaning I have to pick up everything he writes even if it is merely a short story.

I can assure you, I was plenty pleased with this short story.

Don’t let the three stars put you off, as it was a brilliant read. I should probably point out that very few short stories earn four stars from me. A short story has to be truly mind blowing to earn four stars (and as it stands I have yet to find one so amazing that it earns five stars), as I generally find there isn’t as much as you find in full-length novels.

With this one, Weaver created a wonderful story in very few pages based upon aspects and rules put forward by the people of Twitter. Considering how things were laid out for him, and that he had certain things he needed to stick to, Weaver created a wonderful little story. It is short and sweet. It is nothing too mind boggling. Whilst there isn’t enough time to build up twists and turns to keep us second-guessing, it was enough to leave us curious as to what the outcome was. We knew something was coming, we simply needed to read on to know what exactly it was.

Plus, you’re all be pleased to know David Raker makes an appearance.

Don’t worry it’s not a Raker short story. This is a story with different characters, but David does show his face for a short period of time. As much as I liked this little cameo appearance, I rather enjoyed seeing a story – even a short one – that was not written from David’s point of view. I adore David Raker – the series is one of my favourites – but it was a nice change.

Overall, a fun quick read.

[Alfonso D'agostino · Rating 2 out of 5]

E' vero che, come dice il saggio, "a caval donato non si guarda in bocca", ed è altrettanto vero che Il giornalista inglese di Tim Weaver veniva via in omaggio all'acquisto di un volume della collana Crimini di carta (iniziativa editoriale che continua a piacermi moltissimo), ma la quarantina di pagine del racconto di Tim Weaver non meritano, a mio personalissimo parere, la sufficienza.

Bene i personaggi, benino l'ambientazione (un Sudafrica ricco di contraddizione), maluccio la trama che trova il suo punto di svolta in un evento fortuito (e in una trama gialla è peccato mortale) e non si sviluppa minimamente, lasciando anche l'amaro in bocca per il finale.

Nel resto del volumetto ci sono i primi capitoli di un romanzo dell'autore (rivedibili anche questi) e, grazie all'Altissimo, una ottima introduzione di una libraia milanese che ringrazio per aver dato un senso alla mia lettura (e anche alcuni interessanti suggerimenti)

[Kahlan23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trillery s krimi sa za posledné roky stali jednými z mojich obľúbených žánrov. A keď ide o nejakú sériu? Fuuu, sem s tým. Asi tak nejak som sa dostala v rámci "spoločného čítania" k tejto sérií. A aj keď má táto kniha všelijaké ohlasy, neľutujem, lebo ma dokázala nalákať na túto sériu.

Lucinda sa živí ako policajná fotografka v Kapskom meste. Jedného dňa nájde polícia mŕtve telo mladej študentky. Pomerne rýchlo prídu na to, že vrah si svoje obete vyberá a oslovuje ich prostredníctvom sociálnych sieti. Vrah neostane pri jednej obeti. Ako ho však nájsť? Vyzerá to, že prípad ostane nevyriešený a otvorený. Tu však do toho všetkého vstupuje istý novinár, ktorý by mohol mať stopu, ktorá možno povedie k dolapeniu vraha.

Symetrie odvahy je krátkou jednohubkou, ktorá má doplňovať túto sériu. My sme si ju v našom spoločnom čítaní dali hneď na začiatok. Väčšinou je to fajn, lebo človek má tak možnosť zoznámiť sa jednak s postavami, ale aj štýlom autora/ky. Treba však povedať, že samotný David Raker sa v tomto príbehu mihne len na okamih, ale vôbec to nevadí. Jeho časť a priestor ešte príde. Musím povedať, že príbeh mal v sebe naozaj zaujímavú zápletku a viem si ho predstaviť rozvinutý do plnohodnotného príbehu. Bolo by to určite niečo zaujímavého. Takto som len čítala a čítala, čakala som čo bude ďalej a ako sa to vyrieši a ono zrazu prišiel koniec. To je asi jediná vec, ktorá ma na tom celom mrzí.

Plus mu určite dávam za výber prostredia, ktoré pôsobilo popri tých všetkých európskych a severských lokalitách nezvyčajne. Autorov štýl písania mi sadol a ja som zvedavá na ďalšie jeho knihy, tentoraz už aj s Davidom Rakerom.

[Eva S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Krátká jednohubka. Věřím, že by z toho autor udělal i plnohodnotný román. Dokonce to tak ze začátku trošku vypadalo, pak si asi uvědomil, že to má být jen krátká povídka a jednoduše ji během tří stran utnul. Byla jsem trošku zklamaná, chtěla jsem víc. Davida Rakera tam bylo maličko, možná proto mě tentokrát nestihl ani vytočit :) A trošku mi vadily názvy míst. Mohl vymyslet něco originálního. Díky tomu se víc těším na Nářek drozda :)

[Fionna Cairney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as it was tied on to weavers novel what remains excellent short story

[Lubos Elexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trochu nasilu napasované do sveta Davida Rakera. Pekne gradovaný príbeh s vcelku nečakaným koncom.

[Hanka Burianová · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taková jednohubka, poslouchala jsem audio, nebylo to špatné, líbilo se mi zasazení děje do JAR, povídka, takže poslechnuto za chvilku. Ale asi nic víc:)