David Peace, clever or annoying?

For Christmas I was bought the the first two parts of David Peace's Tokyo series. I'm a fan after the Ridings series. I'm a about a third of the way through the first part Tokyo Year Zero. The novel is set in post war Tokyo and superbly conveys the hardship, poverty and lawlessness of a city all but destroyed by war. This is a crime novel that begins with the discovery of two bodies.

The story is excellent but Peace's writing style is very idiosyncratic, with the thoughts of the main character interrupting the flow of the story and sometimes the dialogue as well. The book is to hard read and sometimes you want Peace to be less clever and to just get on with his marvelous tale. Anyway I'll stick with it for now and hope that the journey is worth the effort.

Books I've read this autumn/winter - Larsson, Indridason, Theorin and Cotterill

i got a bit behind with my reading of Scandinavian crime fiction. So this autumn and winter I've been playing catch up. The highlight was the last installment of the Millennium series by Steig Larsson The Girl who kicked the Hornets' Nest. As good if not better than the first two books, a real pleasure to read. The third book continues immediately after the conclusion of The Girl who Played with Fire. Lisbeth is in hospital recovering from her injuries and Kalle finds himself having to save her from powers within the Swedish secret service who need her dead. The plot , more so than the previous books in the series, reflects Larsson's life long interest in politics and in particular how the establishment exploits power. An excellent series that every crime fiction fan should read.

Theorin's second novel "The Darkest Room" is set on the Baltic island of Oland. The plot is too complex to explain in a paragraph, but Theorin is a superb writer. His novels are full of atmosphere, menace and suspense. Cleverly playing on everybody's fear of isolation and the unknown. Place is extremely important in these novels, Oland is wild, beautiful, isolated and extremely dangerous when the weather turns. When things go wrong help is a long way away. Highly recommended.

Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason continues the series featuring the Icelandic Inspector Erlendur. Since the stunning debut Jar City the series has got better and better and Arnaldur more than anybody can be compared to Mankell for the quality of his writing and story telling. This novel revolves around the death of a woman who everybody, except Erlendur , believes to have committed suicide. A novel that explores the idea that a crime can be psychological not just physical. Simply brilliant.

Finally and away from Scandinavia. The Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill, set in Laos, is a much lighter crime novel with wonderful characters. Less twee than MacCall-Smith and a good choice if you want something that is well written but not too taxing or disturbing. An excellent series