The Herald - The Herald Magazine
A haunting
better represented within the Met, she says that the women officers she knows say sexism still exists, only it’s more covert.
“Sexism, as well as competitiveness [exist], but women have broken through, you can’t keep them down. It’s just that they are learning how to deal with it. Plus, in a team of officers, you daren’t have any form of discrimination or sexual harassment on show, but it is there, it’s just underneath.”
What would DCI Tennison make of the world today? “I think she’d take it
LOKI: WHERE MISCHIEF LIES
Mackenzi Lee
Disney, £6.20
What is the book about?
It’s focused around the Marvel character Loki, who regularly walks the line between villain and hero, and looks at his life from a new perspective: his. The character is immediately more relatable as it focuses on him in his youth, only just finding out who he is and the true power that his magic holds. It deals with themes of family and identity with the perfect amount of action.
GEMMA McLAUGHLIN
Who is it aimed at
in her stride,” La Plante reflects.
And then we’re back to the possibility of Mirren returning to the role that made her a household name. “I keep in touch with Helen Mirren, mostly on a congratulatory basis. She might be tempted to come back, you never know. And if it’s a good enough and strong enough storyline, maybe she would be interested.”
Blunt Force by Lynda La Plante is out on March 4, priced £8.99. Judas Horse, publishes on April 1, priced £14.99 and Prime Suspect is available priced £7.99.
I recommend this to anyone within the Young Adult category, to all teenagers and to those a couple years younger or older.
What was your favourite part?
Having read books by Mackenzi Lee before such as The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice and Virtue, I wasn’t disappointed. What I came to love about this novel is that it strikes the perfect balance between the effortlessly appealing writing style of an established young adult author and the perspective of Loki’s character and his personality.
What was your least favourite?
Occasionally twists and developments felt forced and certainly some parts were more gripping than others.
Which character would you most like to meet?
Long before reading this book, Loki had been a favourite of mine.
Why should someone buy this book?
It’s perfect for young fans of Marvel and Loki in particular, who want to develop a further understanding of a fascinating character. (Pan, £8.99)
In 1939, Hetty Cartwright is assigned to evacuating the Natural History Museum’s stuffed mammals collection to Lockwood Manor for the duration of the war, where she will look after them. Hetty hopes this job will propel her to greater things, but Lockwood Manor turns out to be quite the ordeal. Widower Lord Lockwood is cantankerous and lascivious, the staff are disdainful and animals start to go missing or move around the reputedly haunted mansion. The one bright point is that she’s growing closer to Lockwood’s daughter, the fragile and somewhat disturbed Lucy, who has suffered tragedy in her past. Jane Healey was, apparently, named after Jane Eyre, and she recreates the foreboding of a gothic melodrama, sinister housekeeper and all. If it clings too closely to the tropes of its gothic predecessors to stake out its own territory, it’s an absorbing, atmospheric effort.
APEIROGON Colum McCann
(Bloomsbury, £8.99)
The acclaimed Colum McCann has turned out his most significant book yet. The title, Apeirogon, refers to a mathematical object with an infinite number of sides – McCann’s way of rejecting binary, oppositional thinking. It’s inspired by the real-life friendship between a Palestinian, Bassam Aramin, and an Israeli, Rami Elhanan. Both lost their daughters in the conflict between their peoples and have since campaigned for its peaceful resolution. Divided into 1,001 microchapters, Apeirogon is based on interviews with the duo, around which McCann has moulded his “hybrid novel”, intermingling the bereaved men’s stories with many other strands. This powerful, compassionate book does justice to the story of two men from the opposing sides of a bitter conflict, whose friendship and mutual understanding stand as a model for the future.
DEITY
Matt Wesolowski
(Orenda, £8.99)
Deity is the latest of the Six Stories series, books Wesolowski has been turning out every winter since 2016. Set out like transcriptions of truecrime podcasts, their one constant is presenter Scott King, who re-examines old criminal cases by talking to six interviewees. In Deity, the subject is singer Zach Crystal, who died in a fire at his Highlands mansion and whose reputation has since been tarnished by allegations that he acted inappropriately with teenage fans. While King’s interviewees keep us shifting back and forth on Crystal’s guilt or innocence, stories surface about Crystal’s dealings with an otherworldly creature known as the Frithghast, a local legend. The supernatural aspect and unsavoury nature of the allegations create a chilling creepiness that Wesolowski spins into a compelling narrative that keeps surprises up its sleeve right to the end.
ALASTAIR MABBOTT