Ali Karim was a Board Member of Bouchercon [The World Crime & Mystery Convention] and co-chaired programming for Bouchercon Raleigh, North Carolina in 2015. He is Assistant Editor of Shots eZine, British correspondent for The Rap Sheet and writes and reviews for many US magazines & Ezines.
In 2017, Crime and Thriller became publishing’s most popular fiction genre in Great Britain, so this well considered volume is essential to navigate literature’s darkest avenue. It is also apt that this reader’s guide comes from the pen of arguably one of the country’s most insightful and prolific literary commentators.
With an elegantly concise foreward by Ian Rankin, the scene is set for a detailed look at the genre. This book draws upon Forshaw’s Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, expanding upon both the themes as well authors that make the genre as exciting to the reader, as it is to the professional reviewer. Compiling such a volume is not a task for the timid, as the crime and thriller genre is as diverse as it is complex. Forshaw splits his analysis into the sub-genres, starting with pulp, hardboiled, golden age, domestic and moving toward the police procedural (aka ‘cops’), espionage (aka ‘spies’), serial killers, and the various shades of noir between (from the grey to the pitch black), highlighting work that perhaps best exemplifies those brackets.
This is a work that will appeal to both extremes of reader, for it contains a wealth of knowledge and insight for the casual reader and debating points for the advocate. It is also a labour of love, for it augments its precursor (the aforementioned ‘Rough Guide’), drawing upon an extraordinary bank of information that some of us could consider as ‘definitive’ in terms of analysis. Mixing the contemporary with what preceded, we have a well-considered and insightful reflection upon the genre; from which we can understand where the popularity for dark-fiction originates.
No longer what many considered a publishing ghetto, Forshaw examines the milestones in crime and thriller fiction that paved the trail that originated from cheap pulps, to work that stands serious critical examination. A major achievement is its accessibility, for both the casual reader as well as the more adventurous.
Thankfully, there is a detailed index that allows the reader to traverse its sections and form linkages. One aspect is that Forshaw clearly is a film buff, as he cross-references novels to their celluloid adaptations for the genre lends itself to screen, because at its crux, crime and thriller is a genre that tells a story, often a dark narrative and one that knows no geographical boundaries.
Like the genre, and the dark-side of human nature – Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide is an international work, and one that will entertain as it informs. The only drawback in this volume is that it reveals gaps in our own reading, and the need to expand upon our library. Perhaps a more apt title would have been “An Essential Guide to Crime Fiction”, because it is just that – Essential.
Hugely recommended.
