Cold Light: A Charlie Resnick Mystery

by John Harvey

Book Overview

On the first day of Christmas, a cabbie was bludgeoned by a skinhead, a woman went missing, and a police inspector named Resnick opened a present to himself--the complete works of Billie Holiday. On the second day of Christmas, Lady Day's voice turned even bluer, the missing woman was still missing, and her time was running out.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805020462
• ISBN13: 9780805020465
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Best of the series to date

I am reading my way through this superior series by John Harvey in chronological order, and this sixth book is my favorite. While the protrayal of life in England's Nottingham and the Midlands in the late 80s and 90s is gritty and grim through-out, and there are characters in every book that are pretty repugnant, the previous book, "Wasted Years" was for me a depressing low point. By contrast, "Cold Light" is a rebound, and the pace and pull of the plot and narrative is far stronger and more satisfying, It is the veracity of the characters, with all their shortcomings and their small human surprises, that makes Harvey's work so good. Resnick, the nominal main character, is a quite delight, full of his own foibles and flaws, in particular in his relationship issues. But it is his humanity, decency and quiet, sure smarts that makes him the reader's anchor.

Resnick

This is my first Charlie Resnick novel, and I must say I'm impressed. Harvey's one of the rare genre writers - in this case, crime fiction - who transcends genre. "Cold Light" in some ways reminds you of Ed McBain's cop novels. The main story, the tragic disappearance of young woman on Christmas Eve, is told from a variety of viewpoints, with numerous side stories that in the end contribute, rather than detract, from the main story. Harvey's eye for detail is impressive. "Cold Light" takes place in the early 90s of Thatcher's England. What a bleak place and time! This is underscored immediately, as a young woman crawls out from underneath her sleeping common law husband. Her life is already sad, even though she's not yet out of her teens. The government housing they live in, with two small children, is freezing and wet. Her husband is abusive, and getting worse, as hope is not even a glimmer in his devastated life. Across town, there is the near death by beating of a taxi driver, and police detective Charlie Resnick mulls over his jazz collection, but is probably dodging the extreme loneliness of his life. Separate threads that eventually intertwine, largely due to the movement of the characters. There is, eventually, a murder. And it involves, that most overused of crime figures, a serial killer. But in Harvey's hands it becomes something new, given his attention to character, dialogue, and setting. Make it real, and readers will come. Well, eventually. Unfortunately, this book is out of print. Which is a shame, since it's better than most crime novels, and better than most (big) "L"iterary efforts. A good comparative novel would be George Higgins' "Outlaws." In fact, the late Higgins and Harvey are very similar. Craftsmen all the way.

Another solid one

Another solid entry in the Charlie Resnick series, this one mostly about the search for a missing woman after a New Year's party. The mystery is a little less tricky than others in the series, and instead is a little more interesting in the personal realm.