Critical Mick

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The Judas Heart
by Ingrid Black
Penguin Books, 2007

Tough-Talking from an Actual Pain-in-the-Ass American

"Diminutive, abrasive, tenacious, tough-talking… OK, so a pain in the ass basically, but in a good way," is how Irish journalist Ingrid Black describes Saxon, the sleuth who narrates her Dublin-based crime novels. Black swiftly adds: "Oh, and she was obviously American."

Saxon is fictitious. I, Critical Mick, am an actual pain-in-the-ass American who's been beading an eye on Dublin crime the last ten years. So: does Saxon- and Black- pull it off?

Let's break open The Judas Heart- third in the Saxon series- to find out.

Potted plot:

Strolling to a summer evening of Shakespeare, Saxon spots a colleague she almost shot when they were both in the FBI. "Hey JJ!" she shouts.

The man drops the second-hand copy of Saxon's book on criminal profiling and bolts.

"Hey, JJ! Don't you want to talk about how we pursued The White Monk and The Night Hunter and other serial killers with supervillainicious names?"

No, he doesn't.

For the rest of The Judas Heart Saxon chases JJ, chats with him, then chases him some more. Meanwhile, Saxon's girlfriend, Detective Chief Superintendent Grace Fitzgerald of Murder Squad, asks for Saxon's help with a steamy, mysterious sex crime.

"A beautiful rich young actress killed during kinky sex! I'll bet my Profiling skills that the two investigations will cross paths and tie in together."

Potted Pickiness:

But, does Black pull off a tone with "atmosphere, pace, tension"? In short: is the writing convincing?

I found the narrative too ruminative, too moody. That solemnity Black stretched for was then broken by lapses too jokey:

The Irish capital is, admittedly, invitingly invoked:

Truth and beauty is captured in both those passages, though I am unfamiliar with rest of the Dublin portrait that Black paints. Her city is peopled with ex-FBI agents who are now right-wing Matt Scudders, ex-US Marines who are now Communist bookstore owners, ex-Gardai who are now locksmiths, ex-prison guards who are now suspected serial killers. This former Florida resident doesn't recognize that Dublin at all.

The strongest distinguishing characteristic of the narration is Saxon's political outlook. Unlike almost all American voices in Dublin, Saxon is a poker-playing, cigar-smoking Conservative. This is plausible: many of my former colleagues across the US subscribe to such a point of view, and would not change when relocated. It's legit and different enough to be interesting in the Irish Crime scene.

The Judas What?

This crit's pickiness ends with a skeptical blink that the title has nothing to do with Ingrid Black's novel. Stab a dagger into The Collected Works of William Shakespeare and whatever random quote from Othello was thus chosen would be more suitable.

Critical Mick says: Ingrid Black's earlier novel, The Dark Eye, waits patiently on my shelf. Perhaps the details I criticize The Judas Heart for lacking have already been displayed there.

Check out Declan Burke's interview with Ingrid Black on Crime Always Pays.

Always dazzled by flashy new writing, Critical Mick just did not find enough truth, action or wowzerism in The Judas Heart! Don't fret. Tommorrow is another headline.

Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2007 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 30 December, 2007.