The Lock-Up: John Banville

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When you want something dark in which even the "good guys" are problematic figures, in which justice is never quite fully achieved, turn to Banville and Quirke. There was, as you would expect from Banville and Quirke, a very complicated plot with many twists and turns. To be honest, with this one I found my credibility stretched to the point where I was pulled out of the book and started to question, something that rarely happens with this series. I felt that he was trying too hard to pull in too many historical elements, and it would have been better (for me at any rate) if he'd left it less complicated. What I was interested in was the people, the relationships, Strafford, and how Quirke was dealing with life after Spain. Yes, I was happy to see some familiar vile faces from past books, but I didn't think it needed to pull in so many strands.

Banville also falls prey to the affliction that affects lots of modern Irish writers in that he seems to believe that simply naming a Dublin street or restaurant will conjure up an ambiance or set a scene. It just doesn’t work. I’m a Dubliner and grew up there in the 60s and 70s and I’m longing for someone to capture the atmosphere well, but this didn’t.Booker Prize winner and “Irish master” ( The New Yorker) John Banville ’s most ambitious crime novel yet brings two detectives together to solve a globe-spanning mystery Drily funny/odd detail: Banville, especially in his mysteries, likes to have fun with names, a kind of pulpy crime tradition, for example, Quirke is quirky. The joke with Strafford’s name is that almost everyone--including we readers--gets it wrong; he’s either Stratford or Stafford. Just messin’ with us. I began with the prototype novel that first created the character, Detective St. John Strafford. Although it was a very unique WWII story, a sort of quasi-thriller, it was not an actual police procedural, or a true mystery, but drew an amusing and bumbling portrait of top secret wartime efforts at V.I.P. protection, while cleverly illuminating the centuries-long resentment and mistrust of the Irish for the British contrasted against the British conqueror’s withering distain and a sclerotic aristocracy. All while they attempted to cooperate -- uncomfortably -- against the common Nazi threat. It was an out-of-left-field espionage romp. John Banville provides a well written literary slow-burn mystery. As red herrings and clues mount up, intrigue and suspense slowly ratchet up to a satisfying denouement. This is not a barn burner, but an enjoyable and intriguing mystery, set in an interesting time in history, with exploration of political and religious differences of this time period.

Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up in Wexford.

Whether you like Banville’s writing style depends greatly on your preference for plot or character-driven crime fiction. Some sections reminded me of Sebastian Barry’s Old God’s Time, but Barry inserts a lightness through humour into his work which is mostly absent here. Maybe it’s time Banville gets his main character out of his own head and onto the streets of Dublin. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.