Book Review The Dying Place

The
Dying Place

Luca
Veste

(Avon,
2014)

The
badly beaten body of a young man is found on the steps of a church in
West Derby, Liverpool. Another act of mindless cruelty in a city
riven by economic problems for DI Murphy and Ds Rossi to investigate,
this killing though has links to the disappearance of other young men
known to the police. Is there a pattern forming; has someone decided
to take drastic action to clean up the city’s streets?

The
existence of a section of the nation’s youth who are out of control
and out on the streets causing trouble is one of the most durable
tropes in British popular culture. It’s a source of moral panic
that has been around in one form or another since at least the middle
ages, as has the call for something to be done about the issue.

Something
must be done, is probably the most dangerous phrase in the English
language, under the cover of a thriller Luca Veste reminds us of just
why that is. Inside every vigilante there is a tyrant waiting to come
to the fore, usually with horrific consequences.

Veste
also demonstrates an impressive sensitivity to the social and
economic tensions that exist in his home city. As Liverpool slowly
emerges from the shadow of decades of decline whole neighbourhoods
are being left to sink or swim; most of the time they sink.

He
also does all the things a good thriller writer should, creating a
cast of strong characters with well -developed back stories and
placing them in a convincingly conceived high tension situation. His
work here shows, as if a demonstration were really needed, that
taking the thriller genre out of its London centric comfort zone is a
rewarding experience for author and audience alike.