Title: Web of Deceit
Author: Katherine Howell
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Read: September 20 - October 10, 2013
Read an Excerpt: click here
Synopsis (Goodreads):
When paramedics Jane and Alex encounter a man refusing to get out of his crashed car with bystanders saying he deliberately drove into a pole, it looks like a cry for help. His claim that someone is out to get him adds to their thinking that he is delusional.
Later that day he is found dead under a train in what might be a suicide, but Jane is no longer so sure: she remembers the terror in his eyes.
Detective Ella Marconi shares Jane's doubts, which are only compounded when the case becomes increasingly tangled. The victim's boss tries to commit suicide when being questioned, a witness flees their attempt to interview her and a woman is beaten unconscious in front of Jane's house.
Ella is at a loss to know how all these clues add up and then a shocking turn of events puts even more people in danger...
My thoughts:
I have always thought that paramedics would make great
protagonists of a crime novel, coming in contact with all sorts of different
people and crime scenes. I was thrilled to see that not only did Katherine
Howell realise this potential, but she also executed it with such skill that
she has created a truly remarkable series of police procedurals featuring
charismatic detective Ella Marconi as well as various paramedic teams – and as
an extra bonus, they are all set in Australia.
Paramedics Alex and Jane are called to a motor vehicle
accident in Sydney, car vs power pole. The driver, Marco Meixner, appears
unhurt, but extremely distressed, claiming he is being followed and in danger
of his life but unwilling to give more information about his alleged pursuer.
At first Alex and Jane put his claims down to a psychiatric disorder and
delusional thoughts, but when he is found dead under a train later that
afternoon, they start to believe that there may have been a sinister truth to
his claims. Detective Ella Marconi, who is sent to investigate the incident,
discovers that Marco was the sole witness of a murder seventeen years ago,
leading to the conviction of the perpetrator, who has just recently been
released on parole. When she starts digging into Marco’s past it soon becomes
apparent that there are secrets he has hidden from his wife and friends – which
someone is trying to protect at all costs and may just be the reason he had to
die.
I love Howell’s writing style – whilst Ella Marconi features
in every book in the series, she introduces different paramedics in each novel,
their lives providing a parallel storyline to the crime under investigation.
Here we learn of Jane’s secret affair with a famous lover, which goes terribly
wrong, whilst single father Alex battles with his recalcitrant teenage daughter
Mia. Their experiences on the streets of Sydney provide the reader with many
interesting snippets of the everyday work of a paramedic. Drawing on her own
experiences in the profession, the stories are believable and engaging, the
information accurate and detailed enough to also hold the interest of readers
who are in the medical profession. Her “warts and all” approach paints a
realistic picture of life on the city streets and the city’s inhabitants. This
is no glorified Hollywood movie - unlike many other crime novelists she is not
afraid to unmask the boring and tedious side of police work, which form a large
part of any investigation, such as workplace politics and restrictions such as
funding cuts and red tape. Neither does she hold back when it comes to the
everyday experiences of her paramedic protagonists, which can be horrific
enough to result in lasting mental scars for Alex, who still battles with PTSD
after attending an MVA resulting in the death of a teenage girl a few months
ago.
Ella herself is a likeable protagonist, who struggles with
issues in her own personal life, such as her new love affair with a young
doctor who is suddenly giving her the cold shoulder. In fact, the dynamics of
human relationships underpin every part of Web of Deceit – a parent worried
about his teenage daughter, a jilted lover, a jealous girlfriend, an abused
partner, a bereaved wife … each emotion presented in a heart-felt fashion which
instantly grabs the reader and drives the storyline. I was especially touched
by a scene describing the reaction of a young pregnant wife when told by police
that her husband had been killed – it read heartfelt and true, like so many of
the emotion driven scenes in Web of Deceit.
I loved this book so much that I immediately rushed out to
get an earlier book in the series – Frantic – and I am deeply engrossed in it
already. Katherine Howell is evidence of the great talent we have in Australia
when it comes to crime fiction, and it is easy to see why Web of Deceit was
nominated for the Ned Kelly Award 2013. I can see the writing on the wall that
this will be one book series that will be utterly addictive and hold me in its
grip for many hours yet to come. Highly recommended.
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