Review: In a True Light

When Sloane is released from prison for forgery he goes home to London to try and pick up the pieces of his life. He finds his converted warehouse home a mess rubbish and condoms litter the floor and his paintings have been slashed or painted over. He also finds a letter from an old lover, the artist Jane Graham, who is dying. He flies to Tuscany to see her and learns with shock that he fathered their daughter 42 years ago. He makes a promise to the dying woman to find their daughter and make peace with her. His search leads him across the ocean to New York where his daughter Connie, a washed up jazz singer, is mixed up with a mobbed up thug called Vincent Delaney. Delaney is suspected by the Police of already having killed one of his girlfriends and they believe Connie is in danger of being next. Connie is uninterested in what Sloane has to say and he must decide if he cares enough to get involved or if it would be easier on both of them to just walk away.

While in New York he also develops a relationship with gallery owner Rachel Zander who tries to awaken some deeply buried happiness in him and help him on his road to redemption. Sloane shares memories of the art world in the 1950s with fabulous stories that paint the atmosphere of the time in Greenwich Village. He struggles with his own work which never took off the way Grahams did. Harvey is a gifted writer whose love of the art world drifts throughout the story providing a lighter setting to contrast with the darker side of the story.

The story is not just told from Sloans point of view. We are also given insights into Connie, Vincent, and the Police officers who pursue him. This book is dark and bad things happen. John Harvey captures the seedy side of life in a way that will turn your stomach. Harvey is better known for his now finished series about Charlie Resnick, a Nottingham based detective. Sloane had a small walk-on part in the ninth book of that series, Still Water. In a True Light is his first novel since the series finished and he has crafted a brilliant stand alone that is pure Noir complete with mean streets, smoky bars, and a whole lot of jazz. I highly recommend it.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jaynie - Australia

Book Review: In a True Light