I met Sean Watkin at Stockport Noir in January this year. He’d been on a panel earlier in the day and, as things were winding down and we were getting ready to leave, we’d stopped off in the bar for a chat with a few people. Sean appeared at some point (I don’t honestly recall exactly when), and seemed to be somewhat under the influence. If not, I wish I could come across as that merry on a couple of glasses of sparkling water. Our interactions were brief, but he certainly left an impression. I doubted very much that I had done the same.
Fast forward to Harrogate Crime Festival and I went along to the Thursday night Noir at the Bar. I’d gone alone, but the chances are that you’ll meet someone you know there. One of the first people I saw was Sean and, much to my surprise – and delight – he recognised me and we were soon chatting like old friends. Over the remainder of my visit to the festival, I bumped into him a few times, each one a joy. He is good company.
Inevitably, I came away from Harrogate with a list of authors whose books I needed to try out, and Sean was on it. I finally got to his about three weeks ago. I’ve just been so busy writing stuff myself I hadn’t got around to doing a review until now. Anyway, here we go…
Black Water Rising is the first of the DCI de Silva series. The third book, No Place Left, was released less than two weeks ago, so I won’t have any problem finding more to read going forward. That said, I was a little hesitant about the book going in. Those who know me and my reading preferences, will probably understand why when I say it’s a police procedural.
In fairness, I don’t have a massive issue with police procedurals per se, it’s just that there are a lot of them out there and they can be a bit samey (that is a word, isn’t it?). On the plus side, this was set in Liverpool. I’m not particularly familiar with the city, but it has been good to see the trend for books set in the north of England.
If I’m brutally honest, the opening didn’t fill me with optimism. A body’s been found, a copper’s been called to the scene, it’s the second one they’ve found so it might be serial killer… So far, so same. Admittedly, there was something odd about this de Silva woman. She didn’t want to be there, something traumatic had happened in the not too distant past (okay, maybe that felt a bit samey as well), and she wasn’t enthusiastic about the job.
It turned out, though, that, although it’s billed as a de Silva book, there’s another main character as well: Ben Barclay. As a DS working with de Silva, you’d instinctively think that he’s her sidekick. In practice, their relationship is a lot more complicated than that. And maybe that’s where I started to sway away from my preconceived ideas. Unfortunately for you, dear reader, that’s as much as I can say on that front. No spoilers. But the nature of their relationship alone raises this a notch above the standard police procedural.
Then, of course, there is the crime itself. Inevitably, things are not straightforward. It wouldn’t be much of a read if they were. But, again, there are some extra layers in there that lift things up at least another couple of notches.
With a strong sense of place, and the stakes rising in ways I didn’t expect, Sean converted me. I have a few other books in front of it, but I will be picking up book two in the series, Better off Dead, before too long. It’ll be good to see what’s in store for de Silva and Barclay, especially after that ending.
If you enjoy police procedurals, you won’t have any of my hang-ups, so will probably enjoy it anyway. If you like them with a different edge, you’ll love it.
If I have piqued your interest and you want to know more, click on the image below
