National Crime Agency
A Silent Death
As I’ve revealed before, I’m a fan of Peter May’s novels. A Silent Death made me appreciate all over again the skill of a writer who manages to create such memorable three dimensional characters.
John Mackenzie (38)
Ex-Metropolitan policeman, now an investigator with the National Crime Agency.
A brilliant mind, degrees in quantum physics and mathematics, a talent for languages, and a forensic ability to read a crime scene. But so socially inept, obsessive, and pedantic that he manages to alienate almost everyone he meets – his wife, children, bosses, colleagues, neighbours.
Says what he thinks without filtering; precious little tact or discretion; unable to see why the blunt truth is not always diplomatic.
Mother was an alcoholic, father (also a policeman) died by his own hand, leaving John to be brought up by a paternal uncle and aunt in Glasgow.
Estranged from wife, Susan, and repeatedly at odds with his two children.
Jack Cleland aka Ian Templeton aka Mad Jock (36)
Also Scottish, expensively educated; a graduate of Fettes College in Edinburgh, and Oxford University.
Wealthy parents had no time for him and he was starved of affection.
Thick blond-streaked brown hair.
Fastidious in his personal hygiene and expensive dress.
Gym fit.
Early in his career, made a fortune as an investment trader, but still hankered for untold wealth and power, so turned to drug trafficking.
Hotshot with a gun, he’s already killed at pointbank range a corrupt police officer heading up a drug cartel, and an undercover cop who betrayed him.
Now top of the most wanted list, a fugitive somewhere in Spain.
Cristina Sánchez Pradell
A petite junior police officer in Spain.
Married to car salesman, Antonio, with a 10 year old son, Lucas.
Only sister, Nurita, is very ill, currently undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.
Their blind and deaf Aunt Ana is a very wise woman who has had a raw deal in life. She was very active in bringing up her two nieces, and they are devoted to her. She has a guide dog and communicates through a computer that translates conversation into braille.
Has qualities that bring out the best in people.
Plot in a nutshell
It’s a warm May night on the Costa del Sol in 2020 when Cristina answers a call about an intruder at an expensive villa in Spain. What she doesn’t know is that the villa belongs to the fugitive Cleland under the guise of Ian Templeton. He was taking a short spring holiday in Barcelona with his girlfriend, Angela, but neglected to pack certain folders, so has returned to the villa to retrieve them. A neighbour spots his silhouette and rings the police.
While her colleague is checking outside, Cristina enters the villa, gun raised. In the darkness Cleland mistakenly shoots his girlfriend, Angela, three times, fatally wounding her, ending both her life and that of the child she’s carrying. He instantly screams revenge on Cristina, vowing to kill both her and every member of her family.
He’s taken into custody (a major coup for Cristina and the Spanish police) but arrangements are made to deport him to the UK for trial. And escorting him becomes the first task the National Crime Agency asks new recruit Mackenzie to perform. However, once Mackenzie is airborne on his way to Spain, Cleland escapes custody; three guards escorting him to the airport are shot dead in the process. The fourth guard is Cristina’s brother-in-law, Paco, shot in the leg but allowed to live to reinforce the threat to Cristina and her family.
With Cleland once more at large, with nothing to lose, and with deadly intent, the race is on. Mackenzie is retained because of his fluency with both English and Spanish. And he and Cleland play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the lives of eight innocent people at stake.
Peter May does what he always does, maintaining high tension and fast pace, evoking places superbly, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat. But for me, the two chapters devoted to Aunt Ana and how she lost her sight, her hearing, and the love of her life, rather jarred, breaking the momentum of the story. However, they did serve to engage extra empathy for Ana who plays a pivotal role in the narrative line. I’d rather the facts about her had emerged either through exchanges with her nieces or during her incarceration with Cleland.
A USP for me though, was Mackenzie, who surely has the best lines. A pedant without a filter who speaks as he thinks and is uncompromising in his principles. Fabulous in fiction; a nightmare in reality!