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Joe Donovan #3
White Riot
The third novel in the acclaimed Joe Donovan series by “Britain’s answer to Michael Connelly” (Ken Bruen). When the savagely beaten body of a Muslim student is discovered in a rundown area of Newcastle, blame falls on the far right National Unity Party―but for once they appear to be innocent. after the death of a supposed suicide bomber, the investigation takes a more dangerous turn as our protagonist and his team find themselves the targets of a ruthless killer unlike any they have faced before. A killer who will do anything to ensure an explosive thirty-year-old secret remains buried. Anything―even orchestrating a brutal race war that will tear the city apart, with Donovan caught in the middle.
468 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
1 person is currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Martyn Waites
46 books108 followersMartyn Waites (b. 1963) is an English actor and author of hard-boiled fiction. Raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, he spent his post-university years selling leather coats, working in pubs and doing stand-up comedy. After a stint in drama school, Waites pursued life on the stage, performing regionally in theaters across England. TV and commercial work followed, and he continued to act full-time until the early 1990s, when he began writing his first novel: a noir mystery set in the city of his birth. Mary’s Prayer was published in 1997, and Waites followed it with three more novels starring the same character, an investigative journalist named Stephen Larkin.
Since then he has divided his time between acting and writing. After concluding the Larkin series in 2003, he created another journalist, troubled reporter Joe Donovan, who made his first appearance in The Mercy Seat (2006). Waites’ most recent novel is Speak No Evil (2009). Along with his wife and children, he lives and works in Hertfordshire, a county north of London.
Since then he has divided his time between acting and writing. After concluding the Larkin series in 2003, he created another journalist, troubled reporter Joe Donovan, who made his first appearance in The Mercy Seat (2006). Waites’ most recent novel is Speak No Evil (2009). Along with his wife and children, he lives and works in Hertfordshire, a county north of London.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 31, 2010
PROTAGONIST: Joe Donovan
SETTING: Newcastle
SERIES: #3 of 3
RATING: 3.0
It's depressing to realize that despite educational efforts and huge shifts in moral attitudes, there are groups of people who join together to promulgate racist attitudes and engage in horrific attacks on people of diverse backgrounds. This is the atmosphere in Newcastle, where an extremist group named National Unity Party (NUP) is targeting Muslims and other non-whites. Someone, possibly NUP, has tortured and killed a model Muslim student. NUP is aiming at achieving political power by mischaracterizing their victims' attitudes and will do anything to get there, including inciting race riots and manipulating the media. Some of the leaders of the NUP movement are radicals whose hay day was in the 1970s. As part of the group known as "Hollow Men", they put forth a Fascist agenda. All these many years later, some of them are still in the same mind set and recruiting Newcastle youth to achieve their goals.
One of the former Hollow Men, Travis Whitman, is receiving death threats and turns to an investigator named Joe Donovan to investigate. Formerly, Donovan had a team of "information brokers" that he worked with. Their company was known as "Albion", but they dispersed as the result of many personal and professional traumas. He manages to pull them together again, but all of them have various demons they are dealing with that make the current assignment challenging. Joe himself is obsessed with the idea of finding his young son, who was kidnapped and supposedly killed. There is some indication that may not be the case.
There is a lot going on in WHITE RIOT, and ultimately, that is why the book didn't work very well for me. There are three groups of people—the 70s radicals, Albion and the current NUP organization—and within each are several individuals who are facing various situations. There were far too many characters to focus on, with the result being a scattershot plot. It felt like everyone is being watched and that everyone was in some sort of jeopardy. It doesn't help that despite a high need for communication, almost nobody answers their mobile phones or else turns them off.
WHITE RIOT is the third book in the Joe Donovan series, and one which I believe would be difficult to comprehend without having the benefit of having read at least one of the earlier books. There is a lot of back story around the members of Albion that is important to understanding the issues that they are facing in the book, as well as the relationship dynamics.
Because the plot was too complicated, while lacking suspense, and there were too many characters with too many dilemmas, I found I wasn't very engaged by the book. The ending was meant to be surprising, but instead, it felt tacked on for effect. I much preferred the second book in the series, THE BONE MACHINE, which I found to be quite compelling. WHITE RIOT was a disappointment, and I'm not certain that I will continue with the series.
SETTING: Newcastle
SERIES: #3 of 3
RATING: 3.0
It's depressing to realize that despite educational efforts and huge shifts in moral attitudes, there are groups of people who join together to promulgate racist attitudes and engage in horrific attacks on people of diverse backgrounds. This is the atmosphere in Newcastle, where an extremist group named National Unity Party (NUP) is targeting Muslims and other non-whites. Someone, possibly NUP, has tortured and killed a model Muslim student. NUP is aiming at achieving political power by mischaracterizing their victims' attitudes and will do anything to get there, including inciting race riots and manipulating the media. Some of the leaders of the NUP movement are radicals whose hay day was in the 1970s. As part of the group known as "Hollow Men", they put forth a Fascist agenda. All these many years later, some of them are still in the same mind set and recruiting Newcastle youth to achieve their goals.
One of the former Hollow Men, Travis Whitman, is receiving death threats and turns to an investigator named Joe Donovan to investigate. Formerly, Donovan had a team of "information brokers" that he worked with. Their company was known as "Albion", but they dispersed as the result of many personal and professional traumas. He manages to pull them together again, but all of them have various demons they are dealing with that make the current assignment challenging. Joe himself is obsessed with the idea of finding his young son, who was kidnapped and supposedly killed. There is some indication that may not be the case.
There is a lot going on in WHITE RIOT, and ultimately, that is why the book didn't work very well for me. There are three groups of people—the 70s radicals, Albion and the current NUP organization—and within each are several individuals who are facing various situations. There were far too many characters to focus on, with the result being a scattershot plot. It felt like everyone is being watched and that everyone was in some sort of jeopardy. It doesn't help that despite a high need for communication, almost nobody answers their mobile phones or else turns them off.
WHITE RIOT is the third book in the Joe Donovan series, and one which I believe would be difficult to comprehend without having the benefit of having read at least one of the earlier books. There is a lot of back story around the members of Albion that is important to understanding the issues that they are facing in the book, as well as the relationship dynamics.
Because the plot was too complicated, while lacking suspense, and there were too many characters with too many dilemmas, I found I wasn't very engaged by the book. The ending was meant to be surprising, but instead, it felt tacked on for effect. I much preferred the second book in the series, THE BONE MACHINE, which I found to be quite compelling. WHITE RIOT was a disappointment, and I'm not certain that I will continue with the series.
October 7, 2011
Martyn Waites may not be a household name yet in worldwide crime writing, but he weaves out thrillers magically. As the blurb by an equally unknown (for me) commenter in the book says, it grips, squeezes and won’t let go, sexual connotations aside. In the tradition of thrillers set in locales, Donovan’s Newcastle is as exotic as Wallander’s Ystad, Sveinsson’s Reykjavik and Boldt’s Seattle, brimming with urban tussles, contemporary mores, and societal problems.
When an aged anarchist began receiving threatening phone calls from strangely familiar individuals, he doesn’t call the police, or hide, but calls Joe Donovan. Donovan, who gathers his life after a disastrous divorce and the breakup of his team Albion, begins to build the team up again, which consists of Jamal, Amar, and Peta. Old friends turn into bitter enemies, fanatical devotion turn deadly, and unchecked loyalty a cause for opportunity.
What makes Waites’s novel exciting is the use of language. Short, jarring phrases burst with action, livery, and excitement. It mimics that adrenaline rush in a chase, holds surprises, and enthrals. The action doesn’t ebb down quite. I also think that the multiple views were cleverly done though the subplot involving the search for Donovan’s son was lacking. Most importantly, Waites tackles race relations, religion, and ethnicity with deft and humanity.
The only thing that didn’t hold water for me was Mary Evans. You’d only be asking “why now?”
When an aged anarchist began receiving threatening phone calls from strangely familiar individuals, he doesn’t call the police, or hide, but calls Joe Donovan. Donovan, who gathers his life after a disastrous divorce and the breakup of his team Albion, begins to build the team up again, which consists of Jamal, Amar, and Peta. Old friends turn into bitter enemies, fanatical devotion turn deadly, and unchecked loyalty a cause for opportunity.
What makes Waites’s novel exciting is the use of language. Short, jarring phrases burst with action, livery, and excitement. It mimics that adrenaline rush in a chase, holds surprises, and enthrals. The action doesn’t ebb down quite. I also think that the multiple views were cleverly done though the subplot involving the search for Donovan’s son was lacking. Most importantly, Waites tackles race relations, religion, and ethnicity with deft and humanity.
The only thing that didn’t hold water for me was Mary Evans. You’d only be asking “why now?”
January 23, 2010
This author writes in the "neo-noir" style currently so popular in the modern thriller. And he does very well. Not quite up to Ian Rankin, but quite close. The story is very well done - leading the reader to assume that the problem stems from the clash of skinheads and new immigrants to Britain (Pakis, etc. - anyone with darker skin.) Because this has become such an overwhelming problem in England, one assumes that that's where the action lies in this book.
But - and the main reason I liked this book so very much -- the crux of the problem is economic -- and the darkest deeds are committed in the name of the almighty dollar (although - in this case, we should say the almighty pound) -- and I think that the mis-direction the author uses is excellently done.
All in all, I would recommend this book completely -- particularly to those of use who have read our way through the Rankin canon, and are looking for MORE~!
But - and the main reason I liked this book so very much -- the crux of the problem is economic -- and the darkest deeds are committed in the name of the almighty dollar (although - in this case, we should say the almighty pound) -- and I think that the mis-direction the author uses is excellently done.
All in all, I would recommend this book completely -- particularly to those of use who have read our way through the Rankin canon, and are looking for MORE~!
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July 29, 2011I very much agree with the reviewer who described this as exceedingly complicated. An intelligent, fast-paced plot about radical groups orchestrating a race riot is only one highlight of Waites's superb third Joe Donovan thriller (after Bone Machine). In a thoughtful subplot, the British author suggests it's not shared beliefs that draw some to extremist organizations, but a sense of belonging and acceptance that these groups offer the lost, the displaced and the unloved. Newcastle PI Joe Donovan and his ragtag information brokers investigate who's behind threatening calls to a former '70s radical. The calls coincide with a Muslim student's savage murder that point to the far-right National Unity Party. But this thinly veiled white supremacist group appears to be innocent and is poised to win big during the upcoming election. Waites masterfully pulls together a cohesive story about fanatical politics filled with surprises and suspense.
April 8, 2008
The third book in the Joe Donovan series, I can hardly wait for book four. Especially since Martyn Waites left this one on such a cliffhanger. With any luck, by the time 2009 and comes around I will have forgotten how much I enjoyed this and won't be quite so antsy for the next section!
Once again, Joe Donovan and his disbanded group of delinquents in Albion save the day. This time against terrorists. Or so they think. Another plot twister that, as always, leaves you craving for more from Peta, Joe, Amar and Jamal.
Once again, Joe Donovan and his disbanded group of delinquents in Albion save the day. This time against terrorists. Or so they think. Another plot twister that, as always, leaves you craving for more from Peta, Joe, Amar and Jamal.
November 6, 2009
What an amazing book. It has so many levels. The white racists who are trying to create riots in the street. The Detective who has lost his son and is trying to find him. Also, a shocking ending that makes you want the next book to come out immediately.
August 31, 2012
I loved this book. It sat on my shelves forever..as soon as I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. And as soon as I finished it, I ordered the other 3 books in the series.
April 6, 2016
Complex group of characters and if it's not always believable, it's still a good read.
December 15, 2022
This isn’t a bad book (neither is it a great one!) but it has the misfortune of being the first book I’ve read immediately after the very excellent and vastly superior “Troubled Blood” by Robert Galbraith; this just pales by comparison. Had I read it after some lesser book, I may have rated it more highly.
I don’t have an awful lot to say about this book. It was short, it was easy, it was mildly interesting and it was utterly unremarkable.
There is one more Joe Donovan book after this, published in 2009 I think, then nothing so presume Waites has given up on the character. I think that’s for the best as I don’t really see it going anywhere. I certainly don’t rate it as highly as his Brennan & Esposito series.
Just a pet peeve with Waites which is equally present in all his other books as this one - please stop telling us what music the character puts on every time they get in the car or get home after a hard day, etc. I’m sure you just want to share the music you love with your readers but it really dates your work especially when you’re reading it several years after publication as I am.
I don’t have an awful lot to say about this book. It was short, it was easy, it was mildly interesting and it was utterly unremarkable.
There is one more Joe Donovan book after this, published in 2009 I think, then nothing so presume Waites has given up on the character. I think that’s for the best as I don’t really see it going anywhere. I certainly don’t rate it as highly as his Brennan & Esposito series.
Just a pet peeve with Waites which is equally present in all his other books as this one - please stop telling us what music the character puts on every time they get in the car or get home after a hard day, etc. I’m sure you just want to share the music you love with your readers but it really dates your work especially when you’re reading it several years after publication as I am.
May 26, 2018
When Sooliman Patel is brutally murdered by a gang of thugs in the West End of Newcastle, it is the beginning of a race war that threatens to engulf the city. Meanwhile, Peta Knight is asked to investigate a series of threatening phone calls received by celebrity writer, Trevor Whitman. But is everything as it seems? And what does Whitman know that he's not telling? Joe Donovan and his team get drawn into a world of urban politics, property development and corruption that would make 1970's Newcastle look like a Teddy Bear's picnic. Some clunky writing but fast paced and exciting making this an entertaining read.
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April 10, 20093/8
January 18, 2010
London based detective,
Review: ehh..so so
Review: ehh..so so
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March 26, 2010White Riot by Martyn Waites (2008)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews