“26 years ago. The Juvenile Court in the Southwark Crown Court building was in session.”
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Number of Pages: 345
Date of Publication: 5 March 2021
Publisher: BSA Publishing
Rated: 5/5
My Review Summary: So much seemed to happen in a short space of time. It was a gripping tale!
📖PLOT SUMMARY📖
Ben Nevis gets a Contract to kill a lady client’s husband, then a few days later he receives another one from the husband asking him to kill his wife. Ben is very suspicious and ends up uncovering illegal international arms dealing!
💭THOUGHTS💭
I love a thriller and so when this came up on Random Things Blog Tour I was there! I haven’t read about arms and international dealings so this was a new and interesting storyline for me to read about.
This book was well written and made what is a complicated storyline involving politics and international dealings into a clear, understandable story for a novice of this type of genre like me.
I was gripped from the beginning and liked the fact that so much seemed to happen in such a short space of time. From that respect it was well paced and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Firstly, the chapters were fairly short which meant that nothing lingered. There was just enough information to keep you engaged throughout. What I also particularly enjoyed was the level of detail. It was all there and yet somehow it didn’t overbear you. For example you were told what the characters were eating and yet it didn’t detract or slow down the telling of the story.
I also liked the narrative of the story. It was told via the main character and at times he spoke directly to you as the reader. I have seen that before, but nothing quite as direct. I really enjoyed that and felt more immersed in the story.
Next the characters. I loved them! I liked the introduction to Ben at the beginning and then how you were gradually introduced to Gold. It was clever in the way that her life was gradually told to you and then weaved in to meet up with Ben. Like Ben you felt safe when you knew she was in your life. She seemed to have everything sorted and to have every eventuality covered. Something which I really admired in her! Sometimes together their actions were a bit cold hearted, but you were so taken in by their way of thinking that you weren’t as horrified by their actions as you otherwise could have been.
Lastly the settings. I loved the political setting and travelling round Turkey, hitting the borders and traversing the international waters. It got a bit hairy at times, but I really enjoyed it. I particularly liked the descriptions of places and even though they were brief (because we were focussing on what Ben was doing at that particular moment in time) they were enough to create a good backdrop.
Overall I loved this book and highly recommend it to fans of Thriller and Political genres. Definitely a 5 star plus from me!
⭐Rated 5/5⭐
About the Author
An Amazon Best Selling Author of the DCS Palmer Detective books. Eight out, number nine coming soon.
Faulkner was born into a family of petty criminals in Herne Hill, South London, his father, uncle and elder brothers running with the notorious Richardson gang in the 60s-80s, and at this point we must point out that he did not follow in that family tradition although the characters he met and their escapades he witnessed have added a certain authenticity to his books. He attended the first ever comprehensive school in the UK, William Penn in Peckham and East Dulwich, where he attained no academic qualifications other than GCE ‘O’ level in Art and English and a Prefect’s badge (though some say he stole all three!)
His mother was a fashion model and had great theatrical aspirations for young Faulkner and pushed him into auditioning for the Morley Academy of Dramatic Art at the Elephant and Castle, where he was accepted but only lasted three months before being asked to leave as no visible talent had surfaced. Mind you, during his time at the Academy he was called to audition for the National Youth Theatre by Trevor Nunn – fifty years later, he’s still waiting for the call back!
His early writing career was as a copywriter with the major US advertising agency Erwin Wasey Ruthrauff & Ryan in Paddington during which time he got lucky with some light entertainment scripts sent to the BBC and Independent Television and became a script editor and writer on a freelance basis. He worked on most of the LE shows of the 1980-90s and as personal writer to Bob Monkhouse, Tom O’Connor and others. During that period, while living out of a suitcase in UK hotels for a lot of the time, he filled many notebooks with DCS Palmer case plots and in 2016 he finally found time to start putting them in order and into book form. Eight are finished and published so far, with number 9 at the editors.
Faulkner is a popular speaker and often to be found on Crime Panels at Literary Festivals which he embraces and supports wholeheartedly.
He has recently been seen on screen in the Channel 5 Narcos UK series, Episode 2 The London Gangs and his Palmer book ‘I’m With The Band’ has just been serialised in 16 parts by BBC Radio Bristol. He has been a subject of Corinium Radio’s Writer’s Room programme, Manchester FM’s Hannah Kate Book show, Hawkesbury Upton Lit. Festival ‘Best of British’ panel chairman, Evesham Festival of Words Crime Panel and Bristol Crime Fest Indie Author Panel amongst others.
Faulkner is a member of ALLI (Alliance of Independent Authors) and publishes a blog about the ‘geezers’ of his youth, the criminals and their heists. It goes in depth about the Krays, Brinks Mat, Hatton Garden ‘Nipper’ Read and all the other major heists and who ‘dun ‘em’. Take a look at geezers2016.wordpress.com
He also speaks about that era in illustrated talks for social clubs, WI and others.
As a crime writer Faulkner is quite particular about ‘getting it right’ and as well as his own Facebook page he publishes a page called ‘UK Crime Readers and Writers Page’ which has lots of information about the forensic crime detection methods, police procedurals and other facts of use to both reader and writer of crime and detective books.
Faulkner now lives in the glorious Forest of Dean with his wife and three dogs.
THE PALMER CASES by B.L.Faulkner
Justin Palmer started off on the beat as a London policeman in 1964 and is now Detective Chief Superintendent Palmer running the Serial Murder Squad from New Scotland Yard.
Not one to pull punches or give a hoot for political correctness if it hinders his inquiries Palmer has gone as far as he will go in the Met. and he knows it. Master of the one line put down and slave to his sciatica he can be as nasty or as nice as he likes.
The mid 1990’s was a time of re-awakening for Palmer as the Information Technology revolution turned forensic science, communication and information gathering skills upside down. Realising the value of this revolution to crime solving Palmer co-opted Detective Sergeant Gheeta Singh, a British Asian WPC onto his team. DS Singh has a degree in IT and was given the go ahead to update Palmer’s IT with all the computer hard and software she needed to do the job. Most of which she wrote herself and some of which is, shall we say, of a grey area when it comes to privacy laws and accessing certain restricted databases!
Together with their small team of officers and Claire, a civilian computer clerk nicknamed ‘JCB’ by the team because she keeps on digging for clues, they take on the serial killers of the UK.
On the personal front Palmer has been married to his ‘princess’, or Mrs P. as she is known to everybody for nearly thirty years . The romance blossomed after the young DC Palmer arrested most of her family who were a bunch of South London petty villains in the 1960’s. They have four children and eight grandchildren, a nice house in Dulwich and a faithful dog called Daisy who Palmer dotes on. They also have a neighbour called Benji who Palmer doesn’t dote on. Benji is a gay retired advertising executive in his late 50’s with a big pension and nothing to do with it except take Cruises round the world and top up his fake tan. He has also taken over the mantle of the local WI ladies favourite from Palmer since arriving in the area. Palmer is not happy about that.
Gheeta Singh lives alone in a fourth floor Barbican apartment having arrived on these shores as part of a refugee family fleeing from Idi Amin’s Uganda. Her father and brothers have built up a good computer parts supply company in which it was assumed Gheeta would take an active role on graduating from University. She had other ideas on this, and also on the arranged marriage her mother and aunts still try to coerce her into. Gheeta has two loves, police work and technology, and thanks to Palmer she has her dream job.
Combining the old ‘coppers nose’ and ‘gut feelings’ of Palmer with the modern IT skills of DS Singh the two make an unlikely but successful team.
The books have been described as ‘NCIS meets the Sweeney’ which seems to sum them up well. All the cases involve multiple killings and twist and turn through red herrings and hidden clues alike keeping the reader in suspense until the very end. All this is lightened by Palmer’s ‘no nonsense’ jibes and put-downs. The books are set in the current era.
YOU CAN ALSO BOOK BARRY FAULKNER TO GIVE YOUR CLUB AN ILLUSTRATED TALK ON THE BIGGEST ROBBERIES OF THE 60S-90S AND THE ‘GEEZERS’ WHAT DUN ‘EM!!
With his father, elder siblings and uncle playing a part in that scene his is well versed to know the inside story and tells it with no holds barred.
His talk takes you through the early post war criminals who spurned the Krays and the Richardsons, the inter ‘firm’ warfare, the characters, the murders, who did what and why. The Brinks Mat heist through to the Hatton Garden robbery and the present day criminal families. Where is the missing gold from Brinks Mat, where is Lord Lucan, who shot John Palmer and why?
Faulkner’s talks are always laced with humour and light hearted.
CONTACT DETAILS
By email (preferred option as immediate response)
barryfaulkner1@btopenworld.com
By Facebook (use message option)
Barry Faulkner
By twitter (only checked occasionally)
@crimewriter1
By Skype
Barryfaulkner1@btopenworld.com
Books On Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00ND8R6OO
blog geezers2016.wordpress.com
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