August

by Jim Lusby

“The return of a master story-teller… With August, Jim Lusby easily reclaims his place alongside Rankin, McDermid & Connolly.” Detective Sergeant Jack Mason’s search for an escaped convict is derailed by the discovery of the bodies of three teenagers in the crypt of a deconsecrated church. Initially the case looks to be straightforward - teenage drug experimentation gone wrong, ending in a tragic double murder and suicide. Tragic but no great mystery. Some hope. Much to Mason’s annoyance any chance of a quick resolution become a distant hope when evidence of occult rituals are uncovered at the murder scene. Jack Mason has no choice but to follow the case wherever it leads. As a result he finds himself embroiled in the dark underside of modern Irish society where the establishment closes ranks to ignore the spectre of institutional child abuse, where organised crime gangs operate an increasingly violent drug trade, and where populist politicians build their reputations whipping up hysteria over immigration. As the complicated case unfolds, deeply buried memories from Mason’s past begin to resurface causing the competing demands of the investigation and his increasingly chaotic personal life to become almost overwhelming. About the author Jim Lusby is probably best known for his series of five crime novels featuring DI Carl McCadden and set around his native Waterford. The first two books, Making the Cut (1995) and Flashback (1996), were loosely adapted by RTÉ for a television series that was broadcast in 1998. Sean McGinley played DI McCadden in the TV version. The first feature-length episode was written by John Brown, while Eric Deacon wrote the remaining four. The second season was rebranded under the title DDU (1999). Lusby also wrote the standalone thriller Serial (2002), which imagined how a serial killer would tell their own story and "control the narrative". As James Kennedy, he has written two thrillers, Armed and Dangerous (1996), which explores the legacy of the dirty war between the MI5 and IRA, and Silent City (1999), featuring DI Charlotte Rainey. Lusby is a Hennessy Award winner for his short stories, and has written for the stage and radio, he now lives in Dublin.

246 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 20, 2018

Reviews

[Hobart · Rating 3 out of 5]

★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
It's time for another round of, I don't care enough about this to make too much effort, so here's the Publisher's blurb: (I've got to come up with a shorter name for that)

Detective Sergeant Jack Mason’s search for an escaped convict is derailed by the discovery of the bodies of three teenagers in the crypt of a deconsecrated church.

Initially the case looks to be straightforward - teenage drug experimentation gone wrong, ending in a tragic double murder and suicide.

Tragic but no great mystery.

Some hope. Much to Mason’s annoyance any chance of a quick resolution become a distant hope when evidence of occult rituals are uncovered at the murder scene.

Jack Mason has no choice but to follow the case wherever it leads. As a result he finds himself embroiled in the dark underside of modern Irish society where the establishment closes ranks to ignore the spectre of institutional child abuse, where organised crime gangs operate an increasingly violent drug trade, and where populist politicians build their reputations whipping up hysteria over immigration.

As the complicated case unfolds, deeply buried memories from Mason’s past begin to resurface causing the competing demands of the investigation and his increasingly chaotic personal life to become almost overwhelming.

If the first 60% or so of the book had been as good as the last 40 I'd probably be raving about August, but I just could not connect in any way with the story, Mason or the other characters until that point -- and somewhere around there it felt like the book changed and became interested in the crime, and the way that Mason's past, the city's elite, the crime and various gangs intersected.

But before then we got this strange combination of a new partner -- with a mysterious past that's totally unexplained (but hey, he knows a lot about occult rituals in the area), a looming threat from the regional police bureaucracy, and Mason's self-destructive (and very unbelievable) lifestyle dominating the narrative. Maybe, maybe all of this works for other readers, but to me it felt coming in media res without ever getting the context explained to me. There's far too much about what happened in the book that I don't understand for me to recommend the book.

But the last part of the book redeemed the effort, and I found it compelling, so I can't completely give a bad review to this.

[Richard Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most intriguing and well-penned crime novels I’ve read this, or last, year. Lusby is compared to Rankin, McDermid and Connolly, and August has elements of the best of these perennial best-sellers.
The book is set in Ireland and features abuse in Catholic schools, and the storyline gradually leads to a major community festival. You just know it’s going to end with a gloriously bloody finale at the carnival ... but, will it; there are so many twists and turns that nothing is as it seems. August has one of the most intriguing and flowing finales: masterful writing.
The relationship between our hero, Detective Sergeant Jack Mason of the Guarda and his sidekick DC Shaw, fresh from undercover work, remind me of a little bit of Morse and Lewis. Mason has his personal problems, but this time it’s not alcohol, it’s an addiction that’s much more interesting and marriage-wrecking.
August begins with three teenage deaths and the clear recognition that the deaths were drug related. Mason has a nagging doubt, and the book takes on a roller coaster of a ride through police wanting a quick result and no peeking under the blanket of institutional child abuse, organised crime and drug dealing, and a policeman who simply won’t give up. Mason gets dropped from the case, but we all know he’s not going to let it end there.
Lusby is a craftsman of crime fiction. I get the nagging feeling that he actually knows much more than he commits to fictional print.

[Doug Brunell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lusby's thriller has everything you could want in a crime book. Pagan rituals, racists, gangs, sex, and violence. It also has a main character who is a bit of a cliche (hard drinking cop who goes through women like Skittles). That's really the only complaint I have. Despite that, though he's still interesting enough to keep one's attention.

It's also, to its credit, has an ending you won't see coming. Definitely worth reading, and I'll be checking out more from Lusby.