Critical Mick

Reviews Free of Rules.

Reviews by the Clown that All Other Critics Want to Strangle with a Black Turtleneck

If you're good at it, it will show.

In March 2006, up-and-coming crime writer Alex Barclay fell victim to Dublin-based serial interviewer Critical Mick. What follows is an unedited transcript of their e-mailed exchange.

Critical Mick: Congratulations on the success of Darkhouse! The novel has been prominently displayed on reviewingtheevidence.com and gatewaymonthly.com, as well as the media attention from The Tubridy Show on RTE Radio One. But did you ever dream that you'd be translated into Czech?

Alex Barclay: Thank you! I've been thrilled with the reaction. You have no idea how people are going to react to your work, so it's wonderful to hear nice things. As to the Czech translation, it is quite surreal. You start off writing and your sole aim is simply to finish the story you've set out to tell. Next thing you're told you're being published all over the place, then translated into loads of different languages.

CM: OK, OK. Tell us a little about Darkhouse.

AB: Darkhouse is a story of vengeance and loyalty, but a twisted loyalty that has its roots on the dark side. Detective Joe Lucchesi witnesses the hideous end to a kidnapping, drops out of the NYPD for a break, moves to a quiet village in Ireland with his family and that's when the nightmare really begins. As a reader, you're given an insight that the hero is deprived of, because woven throughout the plot, is the story of the evolution of a killer.

CM: You've been described as the female John Connolly.

AB: Only because we both set our work in the States. John is a superb writer, much more hardboiled than I am. It's interesting, though, because readers of mine say they love John Connolly's books and apparently readers of his do the same for me. Which was nice.

CM: How much time have you spent in Texas? New York?

AB: I have spent months at a time in New York over the past ten years. Stinger's Creek is fictitious, so I haven't been there, although I carried out a lot of research on North Central Texas.

CM: I'm not giving too much away here - there's an episode in the novel where the investigators highlight a rash of vicious murders and disappearances of women. This rings the bell of Barry Cummins' Missing: Missing Without a Trace in Ireland and John MacKenna's play Breathless. Are you writing to raise awareness of an issue, as mystery author Francine Biere does?

AB: As a new writer, I wouldn't be so bold as to think I was in a position to raise awareness of anything. Really, I couldn't write about a missing girl while ignoring the fact that women have gone missing in this country before. I think everyone in Ireland has been deeply affected by their disappearance. We know their faces so well. I can not imagine what it must be like for the families.

CM: Duke Rawlins- now there's a baddie. Where the hell did he come from?!

AB: I would say I completely got inside Duke's head, but in fact, he got inside mine. Someone in hell used me as a channel. Writing Duke was a joy, the easiest, yet darkest part of working on the book.

CM: The State Pathologist character, Lara McClatchie, rocks.

AB: This is a weird thing to say and I don't even know why, but I really feel people get me when they say Lara McClatchie rocks. So thank you. I love strong women, but not the type who have to be pushy and bitchy and intense. Just do your job. If you're good at it, it will show. If you're constantly trying to prove you're wonderful and accomplished or superior to men, borrrring. I like that Lara just is who she is. She can laugh, she can flirt and she's still a great pathologist.

CM: I also noted a couple of gratuitous mentions of Apple Macs. Any comment?

AB: A Mac owner is a Mac lover. I have a 12" PowerBook that I can not be without. So it was a shout out to my baby. And I've noticed lots of other writers do the same. You can't help yourself.

CM: What are your favourite websites? Are there any blogs or other online resources that you'd like to recommend?

AB: Have you checked out www.mickhalpin.com? Inspired. Also, Stuart McBride, fabulous Scottish crime writer has one of the funniest blogs ever. I hesitate slightly to recommend it, because he details nights out with all of us and reminds us of things we'd rather forget. It's www.halfhead.com. You've already mentioned www.gatewaymonthly.com. I really love the way Paul Norman reviews. Also, www.courttv.com. Then, because I love music and um, singing along, www.lyricsfreak.com and www.azlyrics.com.

CM: What's on your nightstand at the moment?

AB: Mission Flats by William Landay, Mr Clarinet by Nick Stone, loads of researchy books. (And a bottle of Evian water and a Bodyclock alarm that mimics sunrise, so I'm woken up cheery by light instead of a cranky by a hideous beeping alarm.)

CM: What contemporary Irish writers deserve a shout-out?

AB: I mainly read American writers. Of the Irish I've read and loved - Colin Bateman, Una Brankin.

CM: What crime writers?

AB: If you mean Irish: John Connolly. And I'm dying to read Declan Hughes' debut, The Wrong Kind of Blood, because I've heard wonderful things about it.

AB: If you mean in general: Dennis Lehane, Henning Mankell, Greg Iles, Jeffrey Deaver.

CM: What are you working on now?

AB: Finishing up The Caller, the sequel to Darkhouse.

CM: When will The Caller be available?

AB: In hardback in April 2007.

CM: According to your website, you're currently doing signing and making appearances promoting Darkhouse. How are you taking to the road? Is touring around with killer-cool dudes like Mark Billingham and Michael Marshall Smith as much fun as it sounds?

AB: I met Mark Billingham and Michael Marshall for the first time at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival last year, along with a further crowd of messers. Great bunch of people, very welcoming and encouraging and a really good laugh. Late nights all round. Most recently, I've done two readers' events in the UK with Michael Marshall and James McGee, followed by the Left Coast Crime Festival in Bristol, which was brilliant. March 30th, I'm in No Alibis in Belfast for a reading and over the next few months off to various countries for readings/signings/festivals. It's taken a bit of getting used to, but luckily, it's always interesting and you'll always find some reprobate to hang out with.

CM: I'm bummed I won't be able to attend the Dublin Writers Week this year. (That's where I got the opportunity to meet Erin Hart, Ken Bruen, and Claire Kilroy. That's also where I first heard Michael Dibdin.) Congrats on being invited to read there! It's quite a big event.

AB: I'm really honoured to be reading at Dublin Writers Week. I'll be on with John Boyne and Maria Hyland, which is fantastic. I'm looking forward to doing something at home!

See Alex Barclay at her home on the Internet at http://www.alexbarclay.co.uk/

Yo! This interview transcript and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2006 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

Irate, huh? Managed to piss off another one? Direct your hatemail to mick @ mickhalpin dot com.

This Page Was Last Updated On 21 March, 2006.