Reviewers of crime fiction are prone to attach importance to the “second novel test”, the thesis being that many authors are capable of writing one good book, but most of them fail to provide an effective follow-up. Three second novels demonstrate the test in action.
Zoë Ferraris had no problem. I would not have thought that Jeddah would make a persuasive and exciting setting for a gripping tale of passion and detection, but Ferraris has proved me wrong. Her confident debut, The Night of the Mi’raj, is followed by an even more impressive performance in City of Veils. Authenticity is assured: Ferraris lived in Saudi Arabia for several years, married into a Saudi-Beduin family. She expertly weaves an excellent whodunnit into an engrossing portrait of a vibrant society, full of sexual, religious, political and moral contradictions.
As the book title suggests, nothing in Jeddah is obvious, nothing is open. Investigating murder is not only a question of rounding up witnesses, suspects and clues. It also requires a delicate process through the prohibitions and traditions of community and family. Detective Inspector Osama Ibrahim treads warily as he seeks the killer of a young Muslim woman, an ambitious journalist found dead on a beach. He is helped by Katya, a forensic scientist battling social and professional prejudices against women, and Nayir, believer, desert guide and amateur sleuth, whom she loves. At the same time, an American bodyguard disappears soon after his wife reluctantly returns to Jeddah to be with him. Is there a connection? The plot is lively, tortuous and satisfying, but it’s the brilliant backdrop that takes the novel to a higher level.
Leigh Russell’s second book, Road Closed, confirms her promise as a writer of tight, tense police procedurals. Her troubled heroine, Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel, too wedded to her job to form lasting relationships, inquires into a gas explosion that kills a man in his own house. Could it be murder? His wife is a suspect and Steel follows a link to a local household of dysfunctional criminals. This is a well-written, soundly plotted, psycho- logically acute story with nothing and no one too flamboyant or excessive, and none the worse for that. My only gripe is that Steel needs a touch of oomph to become a truly interesting character.
Ryan David Jahn’s Acts of Violence, a wholly fictional accompaniment to a notorious real New York murder of the 1960s, attracted much praise, mine included. There is no doubt of Jahn’s writing talent, but the story he tells in Low Life doesn’t quite ignite. Simon Johnson, a social inadequate, kills an intruder who attacks him in his grim Los Angeles apartment. Tempted by their facial resemblance, he tries to enter his victim’s life, loves and career. The events and the psychological forces driving them are not meant to be convincing; it’s a journey of the mind, existentialist and surreal, more European than American. Low Life is still very readable, and even if Jahn hasn’t triumphed in the second-novel test, he is sure to succeed next time.
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City of Veils by Zoë Ferraris (Little, Brown, £11.99; Buy this book; 379pp)
Road Closed by Leigh Russell (No Exit, £7.99; Buy this book; 352pp)
Low Life by Ryan David Hahn (Macmillan, £12.99; Buy this book; 295pp)