Backlash

September 10, 2001
Like everything "good" in life, a fast-paced, old-fashioned shoot-'em-up is hard to find. Fortunately, we have Oldham's (A Time for Justice) latest novel to remind us what it's all about. Actually, as this is a British police procedural, there isn't much shooting. But there's a mad Yank bomber on his way to Blackpool during party conference week, as well as a race riot, two gangs intent on exterminating one another, a psychotic junkie armed with an especially ugly knife who is likely to explode at any moment, and a well-organized neo-Nazi militia financed by a sinister official in Her Majesty's government. And to top off the evening's entertainment, we have a most original serial killer who seems able to walk through walls. Across the aisle, we have Inspector Henry Christie, just back from a nervous breakdown, reduced from detective to uniformed inspector, and assigned to a very insecure woman superior. She and Christie meet determined to hate one another, but hit it off right away. A sensible, solid professional, Christie comes across as a likable and believable character. For all the diverse hell-raising elements in the plot, the story itself never loses credibility. The knife prominently displayed on the generic dust jacket signals that the reader should be prepared for some heartless brutality more in the American than the British style. (Oct.)FYI:Oldham has been a police officer since the age of 19.