A smiling corpse in an empty Hotel

first set
It all began-as so often with a Knock at the door.

The book
police officers are not always brave and law-abiding citizens, at least in the crime literature. Inappropriate types of exciting characters of the novel are, of course. That you create with your supervisor, has long been commonplace. But, above all, from the UK books, where police officers not only against the ignorant heads or to be a little bit rough will come again and again, but often far beyond the laws move. A dramatic example of this is Harry McCoy by the police in Glasgow in a new Noir novel series by Alan Parks, I have presented here already is: He drinks, takes drugs, messing with crooks. A similar type Aidan Waits by the police in Manchester, the Man "now has in" Smiling, Joseph Knox, his second appearance.

Detective Constable Waits, who has just overcome a drug addiction, is in favor with his superiors in disgrace and must now push with Detective Inspector Peter "Sutty" Suttcliffe, the puke from the service, the night shift, in a largely gloomy and degenerate-described city. "Drugs were on every corner here, so the Junkies were not far. As the Zombies shuffled, somewhere between reality and insanity, on the streets. Economic downturn, the drug business is booming, because if the people can't afford their normal alignment, find another way to Forget."

The fingertip of the mysterious smile of the dead have been surgically altered.

The young author, Knox weaves together early 30's, in "Smiling Man" sent several stories. In the main plot deals with a mysterious smile of the dead, found in an abandoned Grand hotel. Clues to his identity, there is not, even his finger surgeon have been changed with the pads of Japanese. In addition, Waits takes care of unofficially, but more efficient, a sleazy right-wing populists, the young women being blackmailed.

An additional level of disturbing stories to a nine year old boy, used by the boyfriend of his mother as a door-opener for brutal raids to form. In this context, it is also a threatening figure from Waits’ past, suddenly appears and he is stalking is.

"the Smiling Man" by Joseph Knox is a little less conventional than the detective stories of his Scottish colleagues in Parks. It is a cleverly constructed, multi-layered Noir Thriller. Hard and grim, but also with a dry sense of Humor. Powerfully told. And with a hero, or rather anti-hero, you like to read more. In England, appeared in the summer of the third novel in the series.

scoring

author
Joseph Knox was born in the second half of the 1980s (he calls his year of birth anywhere) under the name of Joseph Knobbs in Stoke-on-Trent in the English Midlands. He studied English and then worked in Manchester and in Nottingham as a bookseller at Waterstones. Later, he moved to London, where he was for the same book trading companies until 2018 as a buyer for crime fiction while he wrote his first two novels, and published. His own book projects he had since graduating with.

Eight years, he worked on his debut album, "Sirens" (English: "Dirty snow", 2018), which appeared in 2017 and has been in the UK a best-seller. He led the young Detective Aidan Waits by the police in Manchester, as the main character. 2018 is now available in German, published title of "The Smiling Man" followed, and this year followed as the third English volume of the series "The Sleepwalker". In addition to his Passion for the Noir-crime fiction – not only as writers but also as readers – is Joseph Knox, a passionate runners. He lives in London.

< i> Joseph Knox: "Smiling Man – The Smile of death" (Original: "The Smiling Man", Doubleday, London in 2018). From the English by Andrea O'brien. Knaur, Munich, 2019. 445 p., about 23 Fr.

All of the other meetings you will find in the Collection "crime of the week".

Created: 27.11.2019, at 14:05