Mik lives in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, but travels the length and breadth of the UK as a Project Manager. He's a long-time crime fiction fan, with bookshelves groaning under the weight of signed copies from some of the greats of the genre. He's also a reviewer, and an aspiring crime writer, with hopes of joining his literary heroes on a shelf near you in the not too distant future.
Jason Ginaff is a geek. He spends his life on the internet either pretending to be someone else or vetting people for jobs. He’s the guy that will find the drunken pictures of you that you thought you’d deleted or that rant on a blog post that might put off a future employer.
In between doing this he has also been looking for someone else on the internet – his father, a former cop. When he finally tracks him down, Jason discovers that he is not the only person looking for him, a guy named Rudy Alamein wants his father dead. And isn’t about to let Jason’s desire for a family reunion get in the way.
Black Teeth is only the 2nd novel by Australian writer Zane Lovitt but you’d think he’s been writing his whole life, I read a lot these days and it takes a lot to surprise me but Black Teeth did exactly that.
It is a sharp, darkly funny novel that has been cleverly written. You will often find yourself laughing away while reading the unpredictable events that unfold. There is a huge amount in this book that is not expected, but it never feels out of place or unrealistic.
There are a lot of unusual characters that feature and I often found myself disliking them and all their baggage, they are often not as they seem and could polarise opinions. The dialogue between characters is direct and to the point which I really liked.
I found myself making lots of assumptions throughout the book that were all way off, Lovitt has a knack for revealing one more piece of the puzzle that I never knew was missing but filled in the gaps. My only niggle had with this book was the uses of modern slang. Rather than saying, he laughs, chuckles etc. Lovitt would use “he lols “which might not be to everyone’s taste. That apart he has delivered a fantastic read. I definitely did not see the ending coming and it left me wanting a little more.
