Still Waters

by Nigel McCrery

Book Overview

A visceral thriller from the creator of the hit BBC drama Silent Witness, introducing synaesthetic detective DCI Mark Lapslie. I've looked into the eyes of women who have banged nine-inch nails into... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307377032
• ISBN13: 9780307377036
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Same book as "Silent Witness" with a different title

"Core of Evil" is the same as the author's novel "Silent Witness," so don't buy it if you have read "Silent Witness." Apparently, one version was released in England, the other in the U.S., under different titles, which happens sometimes. Nonetheless, the book is very clever and well written. Not for the squeamish! You'll know in the first few pages whether or not this is the book for you. Hitchcock would have loved this novel!

"Oh...Sylvia said gratefully, you're just killing me with kindness."

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie of the Essex PD is a solitary man, but not by choice. Living with a rare condition known as synaesthesia, he can literally taste sound: "Part of him had expected a call. He'd been tasting strawberries very faintly all day." Married and the father of twins, Mark has seen his marriage disintegrate, the birth of twins accelerating the already disturbing confluence of tastes/sounds, the children exacerbating a strained relationship. Called to investigate an unusual case after six months on leave, Lapslie is once more assaulted by the overwhelming flavors of a busy department. Add to his dilemma an interesting pathologist, a young, attractive detective Sergeant, Emma Bradbury and a putative serial killer preying on lonely elderly women and the plot yields an unusual thriller defined as much by its characters as the facts. The author's penchant for unusual description adds to the flavor of the novel, "hidden behind the impressive new façade the same way the ladies of Baudelaire's time used to hide their pox-ridden faces behind caked layers of makeup". Granted, the prologue is off-putting, an extremely grisly passage that is deeply disturbing, but the tale settles thereafter into a more sedate, albeit deceptive, "Arsenic and Old Lace" ambiance that belies the shocking motive at the heart of the crime. Tapping into the vulnerability of very lonely elderly women, London villages are sprinkled with those time has forgotten, living out their final days in obscurity, vague ailments intruding on the quietude of late-afternoon tea, carefully-tended gardens and early bedtimes. Such women fall easy prey to a particular predator, a kindly helper who offers assistance but delivers death. Eerily seductive, the novel mixes the extraordinary- a vicious, patient killer- with the minutiae of days lived past the prime of life, old photographs and memories the closest friends of those with no family to care for them. One could almost be lulled into a false sense of security. But that would be foolish. Embedded in this story of a detective in search of an elusive murderer is a mysterious agency's hidden agenda, one that eventually threatens Lapslie's career should he not cooperate. In layer upon layer of provocative prose, the author lends a philosophical bent to nature's aberrations, whether the mind of a murderer or the tormented senses of the detective in "a bizarre mélange of flavors... matched in real life by a child mixing their dinner and dessert up on the same plate". McCrery constructs a compelling house of cards built on murder, treachery and the random acts of fate. Luan Gaines.

Same book, different title

I loved this book. Yes it is gruesome and if that bugs ya, look for a cosy to read instead. But if a detailed, baffling mystery with a sensitive detective with issues of his own--but not of his own making--is your cup of tea, well, look no further. Please be informed,however, that "Core of Evil" and "Still Waters" are the same book with a different title. Probably a US verse UK thing...but a little annoying nonetheless. (Why publishers think we need two different titles for two different countries always annoys me! Harry Potter anyone? I rest my case.)

A world where you can taste sound...

It takes a lot for a new writer to break into the crowded genre of British police procedurals. Even a good story may not be enough. But a good story with a badly damaged-but-redeemable Detective Chief Inspector might just do the trick. In this case, the damage is a doozie! DCI Mark Lapslie has just been called back from "indefinite sick leave" because he has a form of synaesthesia that causes him to taste sounds, e.g., his sergeant's voice tastes to him like lemon with a hint of grapefruit, but the voices of his children made him sick. And the voices of his colleagues at the busy station house taste like uncooked meat. Thus, he lives alone in as much silence as he can manage. He is called back to work in a last-ditch attempt to see if there is any way to create a useful place for him on the force before putting him on permanent leave. And he lands in the middle of a strange series of deaths of lonely old women. Coincidence? Murder? Serial killer? One leads to another and Lapslie and his sergeant always seem to be just a step behind. And the question nags: "Could a woman really visit so many horrors on these sweet, abandoned souls?" It makes you want to call up your elderly aunts and grandmothers to make sure they're OK and haven't been befriended by any overly solicitous do-gooders! I really like Lapslie and Co. and the writing is crisp, with a fine pace. Make no mistakes, though. This is also a tough murder mystery and not-so-nice things happen to presumably undeserving people. This is a good first mystery in what looks like a promising series.

Keep the Lights on while reading!

"Books about digging up dead bodies and finding clues have become popular. This time the clues are shears used to clip the fingertips and household plants. McCreary is on the cutting edge."