Sunday, April 05, 2009

Nineteen Eighty-Three, by David Peace

(hb; 2002: Book Four of the Yorkshire Quartet, aka the Riding Red Quartet)

From the back cover:

"Nineteen Eighty-Three's three intertwining storylines see the quartet's central themes of corruption and perversion of justice come to a head: BJ the rent boy from 1974, the lawyer Big John Pigott, who's as near as you get to a hero in Peace's world, and Maurice Jobson, the senior cop whose career of corruption and brutality has set all this in motion, find themselves on a collision course that can only end in a terrible vengeance. . ."

Review:

Compelling, noir- and series-veracious completion of the Yorkshire puzzle: Peace fills in the murder-mystery blanks, with surprising and logical a-ha-from-the-reader-inducing connections, and characters who once again are seen in different lights. The finish, as always is (mostly) a self-destructive go-out-with-a-shotgun-blast affair, with distinctive, newer elements thrown into the end-mix.

Superb conclusion to a superb series. Check these novels out.

Red Riding: 1983, the resulting movie, is set for stateside release in 2009. Anand Tucker directed, from a script by Tony Grisoni (who also penned the first two Red Riding films).

David Morrissey reprised his role of Maurice Jobson. Robert Sheehan reprised his role of BJ (aka, Barry James Anderson). Mark Addy played John Piggott. Lisa Howard played Judith Jobson. Shaun Dooley once again played Dick Alderman. Warren Clarke reprised his role of Bill "Badger" Molloy. Sean Bean reprised his role of John Dawson (from Red Riding: 1974). Steven Robertson once again played Bob Fraser. Michelle Dockery reprised her role of Kathryn Tyler (from Red Riding: 1974). Sean Harris reprised his role of Bob Craven.

No comments: