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Tabloid Circus: KENT HARRINGTON
With Tabloid Circus, Kent Harrington joins the elite group of American authors. "Daniel Marrois, Huffington Post
The world’s press has landed on the small Caribbean island of Tortola to report the disappearance of American college student Mary Waters. Among the crowd of journalists is 33-year-old Stanley Jones, on his last chance as a reporter for the Royal, a London tabloid. Stanley’s editors have told him to focus on finding Mary’s killer, looking for a lurid story about an innocent blonde ravaged by a local.
The real investigation is in the hands of the island’s police chief, Lawrence O’Conner, a Tortola native who resists the FBI’s offer of help even as he wonders whether his department can handle the global scrutiny. The media pressure weighs heavy on the island’s prime minister, who fears a Grenada-type intervention, and Lawrence knows it’s a matter of days before he must accept the FBI’s assistance.
Stanley meets another American girl, Colleen Thompson, who is as lost as Mary Waters, but in a different unhappy, hard-drinking, promiscuous. Stanley, fighting his own alcoholism, sees a kindred spirit in Colleen, and hires her to help him with gossip and local color.
Everyone involved in the Waters investigation and its coverage has an agenda, large or small. Regardless of what really happened to Mary Waters, the search for her and her attackers becomes an opportunity to shift the balance of economic and political power, not only on the island but throughout the region. As Stanley and Lawrence investigate the Waters disappearance on separate tracks, they become unlikely allies, treading carefully among questions of race, economic disparity, the legacy of colonialism and the demands of the 24-hour news cycle. What they ultimately discover is that, despite political complications and technological advances, the central and hardest human mysteries — love, violence, redemption — never change
The world’s press has landed on the small Caribbean island of Tortola to report the disappearance of American college student Mary Waters. Among the crowd of journalists is 33-year-old Stanley Jones, on his last chance as a reporter for the Royal, a London tabloid. Stanley’s editors have told him to focus on finding Mary’s killer, looking for a lurid story about an innocent blonde ravaged by a local.
The real investigation is in the hands of the island’s police chief, Lawrence O’Conner, a Tortola native who resists the FBI’s offer of help even as he wonders whether his department can handle the global scrutiny. The media pressure weighs heavy on the island’s prime minister, who fears a Grenada-type intervention, and Lawrence knows it’s a matter of days before he must accept the FBI’s assistance.
Stanley meets another American girl, Colleen Thompson, who is as lost as Mary Waters, but in a different unhappy, hard-drinking, promiscuous. Stanley, fighting his own alcoholism, sees a kindred spirit in Colleen, and hires her to help him with gossip and local color.
Everyone involved in the Waters investigation and its coverage has an agenda, large or small. Regardless of what really happened to Mary Waters, the search for her and her attackers becomes an opportunity to shift the balance of economic and political power, not only on the island but throughout the region. As Stanley and Lawrence investigate the Waters disappearance on separate tracks, they become unlikely allies, treading carefully among questions of race, economic disparity, the legacy of colonialism and the demands of the 24-hour news cycle. What they ultimately discover is that, despite political complications and technological advances, the central and hardest human mysteries — love, violence, redemption — never change
353 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 20, 2016
3 people want to read
About the author
Kent Harrington
25 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Kent Harrington is a 4th generation San Franciscan, born to an Irish-Jewish father and Guatemalan mother. His early education was spent at the Palo Alto Military Academy, where he was sent at an early age. He attended San Francisco State University and received a degree in Spanish Literature. After living both in Spain and Latin America, he returned to the Bay Area and began his career as a novelist supporting himself as a teacher, carpenter, factory worker and life insurance salesman.
His first published work was the well-received noir thriller Dark Ride published in 1997. Booklist’s review wrote: “This is as noir as it gets.” His follow-up noir thriller Dia De Los Muertos is now considered a modern crime classic. Amazon’s editorial review says: “If "American noir" were in the dictionary, you might find Kent Harrington's picture in place of the definition.”
Other works include Red Jungle, set in Guatemala, and The Good Physician. Both novels were compared to Graham Greene and John le Carré’s work. Red Jungle was selected as one of the “10 best crime novels” of the year by Booklist.
Kent Harrington is the author of seven novels, the latest, The Rat Machine, will be published by Market Street Books in 2013. He lives in Northern California with his wife.
Kent Harrington is a 4th generation San Franciscan, born to an Irish-Jewish father and Guatemalan mother. His early education was spent at the Palo Alto Military Academy, where he was sent at an early age. He attended San Francisco State University and received a degree in Spanish Literature. After living both in Spain and Latin America, he returned to the Bay Area and began his career as a novelist supporting himself as a teacher, carpenter, factory worker and life insurance salesman.
His first published work was the well-received noir thriller Dark Ride published in 1997. Booklist’s review wrote: “This is as noir as it gets.” His follow-up noir thriller Dia De Los Muertos is now considered a modern crime classic. Amazon’s editorial review says: “If "American noir" were in the dictionary, you might find Kent Harrington's picture in place of the definition.”
Other works include Red Jungle, set in Guatemala, and The Good Physician. Both novels were compared to Graham Greene and John le Carré’s work. Red Jungle was selected as one of the “10 best crime novels” of the year by Booklist.
Kent Harrington is the author of seven novels, the latest, The Rat Machine, will be published by Market Street Books in 2013. He lives in Northern California with his wife.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 18, 2016
Kent Harrington has said, "This is me doing Graham Greene, language wise." It's a look at the underbelly of The Fourth Estate, clearly inspired by the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Harrington revisits some of his favorite themes, notably dirty American politics and the intelligence community (here British as well as American). There are a lot of interesting characters -- notably the local cop, Lawrence, and the other islanders, including the kingpin, Joe Tannahill. It's good -- I always enjoy Harrington's work -- but not one of his best. The resolution of the missing-girl story line comes very late and out of left field.
Displaying 1 of 1 review