"Snakeskin" Courttia Newland

I'm reading back over this thread and I want to apologise over my negativity, David. I'm reading only detective novels at the moment, for distraction and pure enjoyment and because I don't want anything too heavy. Can I recommend Michael Connelly who writes about the LAPD and the Homocide Detective Bosch. Excellent writing, loads of detail and real page turners. Also Jonathan Kellerman, Peter Robinson and the bloke, whose name escapes me, who writes the Pascoe and Daziel stories.

Please help me find Courttia Newlands.

You didn't like the book then, Mark. Courrtia Newland is a friend of a friend mine so I have to declare an interest. But aside from the fact that I like him personality, I also think he's a very good writer. His previous book Society Within is one of the best I've ever read and, in that, his prose is brilliant. Snakeskin doesn't show Newland at his best but it's nowhere near as bad as Mark makes out. People don't bend over backwards to reveal there secrets, in fact, for me, several questions remianed unanswered at the end, espcially regarding the detective himelf. I don't think the plot is any less believable that your average detective story. Mark seems to be labouring under the illusion that black people are only allowed to write gritty realism about their experience as an ethnic minorty. These issues are explored in Snakeskin but above all it's a page-turning detective story and for me, works very well in that context. When compared to Conan-Doyle and Agatha Christie I reckon Snakeskin comes out pretty favourably. The fact is there are loads of mediocre writers getting publishing deals and media profile for reasons other than literary merit. The vast, vast, majority are white. This Life creator Amy Jenkins is just one example. The prose in her debut novel, 'Honeymoon' is utterly dismal. Given the realities of capitalism, I don't have a problem if a few black people benefit from a bit of undeserved hype as well but in the case of Courttia Newland, I strongly dispute that this is the case. I suggest Mark and anyone else, reads some more of his work before making a judgement.

Hi David!! I don't think black writers only have to write about those type of issues, but this was the blurb that was selling him as a writer. My main problem, more than an unbelievable plot, is that his writing ,in this book anyway, is not good. It's bad literature. His style is amateurish, there are a lot of quite embarrassing passages that just don't work. All of us in the group who had read the book, and normally we are never unanamous, were concerned and baffled at how it had got any good reviews, let alone being praised so highly. If it was wholly to do with characterization or plot that wouldn't be such a problem, it's the actually writing technique which is so so poor. Finally, David, as Courttia Newlands is a friend of yours I must add that this is not a `personal` attack. I was just concerned that writing of this calibre could be associated with someone who was judged, by a `quality` paper as being one of the top thirty young writers in the country.

Anyone else who's read it?

Mark, I can't claim to be an expert on writing technique but I think Courttia Newland's is generally pretty good. From what I remember, all the reviews I read of the particular book were fairly critical. I would, again, argue that lots of detective stories are bad literature. The point, for me, is that the stories are exciting and you want to finish them quickly. In that sense, Snakeskin worked for me. I agree that it could perhaps have done with a bit more editing but I don't think that means Newland is a bad writer. The book which, I think, led to Newland being touted by the Independent was Society Within, which is a very different type of book altogether and did focus, in my view very sucessfully, on the sort of issues you talk about.

Looked Newland up on Amazon. Most of the reader comments seem to say that as a detective fiction writer he's not that successful but the comments on his other two books are far more positive. In terms of stars (not a good barometer but I've not read the books) his first gets five, the second four and the third, Snakeskin, three.