A Dark and Broken Heart

Long term readers of this blog will know how much I enjoy reading and that my current favourite author is a writer named Roger Ellory. He is the author of nine previous novels and three novellas, most of which I have reviewed through the pages of this blog. Last night I turned the final page of his latest novel “A Dark and Broken Heart” and in keeping with blog tradition - I share with you my thoughts.

On the inside cover of the book is the usual synopsis, which is repeated on Amazon as the book description. It is deliberately vague, gives nothing away, but a small taster of what we eventually learn through the first few fast-paced chapters about the main protagonist Vincent Madigan and his debt to the local drug king, Sandiá who rules the roost in East Harlem and Madigan’s plan to finally get his life back on track.

Vincent Madigan has a simple idea, take four hundred grand from the thieves who stole it in the first place. But this is literature and so things go inevitably wrong - spectacularly so. Madigan is forced to kill his co-conspirators and a child is shot amidst the carnage that ensues. Now not only is Sandiá after him, but the might of NYPD are too.

Just like the book cover and just like Amazon, that’s all I am going to give you. Because what happens next is a thrilling rollercoaster of shock and surprise, twists that hook you in from the off and doesn’t let you go until literally the last word of the book.

As a crime thriller, that is all you ask for, all you need, the reason why the genre is so universally popular.

But as with any of Ellory’s previous novels, there are bigger questions buried within the plot. About man, about human nature, about the nature of evil and what drives people towards unspeakable deeds.

Last time around, in the novel Bad Signs, we had Elliot Danziger, a man that was just plain evil and questions were left asked; are people naturally born bad, or does something break inside, like a switch? Whereas this time, the issue is not quite so black and white, more of a deep expanse of grey.

We are as readers, when the back cover has shut, are left in conflict. Just like we were in A Quiet Vendetta with our dear old friend Ernesto Perez.

Is Vincent Madigan an evil man or a victim himself, of life, of the system, of decisions that were made at the time that with the benefit of hindsight were later proved wrong? Deep and searching questions which will divide opinion in each one who reads it, but another set of questions that are left on purpose by an author whose intricate weaving of brutal realism vs the very nature of what drives human behaviour has become something of a trademark.

Another reviewer commented on A Dark and Broken Heart, called it “classic noir” and it is. A Dark and Broken Heart is a deeply dark and penetrative view into the underworld. The action is violent in places with dialogue as gritty and harsh as the New York environs descriptively brought to life by the author - which is a tribute by Ellory to all of the things that interest him; American history, American literature, music, film and television with subtle references throughout the novel in homage to those very things that inspire him to write.

How that inspiration can manifest itself in people and what they achieve just by taking the lead from something or someone they have enjoyed or listened to is incredible. After ten novels, ten very different stories and an vast array of memorable characters that live long in the memory, Ellory continues to be a master of his craft.

As a long term fan of his work it has been a great privilege reading and championing the books that he has written. And whilst writers in general inspire me, I’ve a particular respect and affinity for Ellory’s work that is difficult to explain. But what I need to do now, just like he has with his own work is take that inspiration and turn it into something real and tangible.

I’ve my own ambition to write, a very different style and a very different story. But it’s not there yet and it’s nowhere near it, but all the time there are people out there showing that it is possible, with graft and craft and no shortage of talent - anything is possible.

In the meantime, do yourself a favour, visit a bookstore, online or on the high-street. Buy a damn good book from a damn good author and tell the next person all about - just as I have.