Adam Colclough lives and works in the West Midlands, he writes regularly for a number of websites, one day he will get round to writing a book for someone else to review.
The body of cabaret performer Geraldine Driver washes up on the banks of the Thames. To Inspector Matthew Merry and his sergeant Julie Lukula it is clearly a crime motivated by extreme hatred. Is it though a shocking one-off or part of a series of violent attacks; as their investigation develops it starts to look like Geraldine might have allowed the act she performed so skilfully on stage to stray into the messier realm of reality.
This is a police procedural in the tradition of Ruth Rendell and Dorothy Simpson. One that combines a satisfyingly tangled mystery with an examination of a serious social issue.
In this instance the issue is the way gender is a more fluid concept than conventional thinking always recognises. The crime itself has its origins in the hate that arises when difference, prejudice and personal disappointments collide.
Mead approached the complex issues bubbling under the surface of the book's plot in a way that informs and challenges his readers, without being needlessly didactic. He also refuses playing safe by finding guilt in the areas the audience might expect him to.
Merry and Laluka make for an engaging and fully rounded duo of central characters with realistic flaws and back stories. One of which provides a sub-plot that explores the family tensions surrounding a sexual assault.
This is a book that skilfully pulls off the double task of informing and entertaining its readers. It might even change a few minds too.
