‘Marked’ by David Jackson

Published by Macmillan,
3 January 2013. 
ISBN: 978-0-230-76049-3

When the body parts of a teenage girl are found scattered throughout the city, troubled New York detective Callum Doyle lands the case.

Convinced from the outset that he knows who the killer is, Doyle sets out on a mission to prove it. Leaving his rookie partner behind and without the support of his superiors, Doyle is isolated and unchecked - just the way he likes it. But with the suspect, local tattoo artist Stanley Proust, protesting his innocence - and prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to get Doyle off the case - is the policeman's intuition right, or way off track?

Obsessed to the point of mania, Doyle neglects his wife and daughter, and comes under even more pressure when a local thug blackmails him for previous misdeeds, which poses the implicit questions to the reader: are the lines between hero and anti-hero always clear? And does the end always justify the means?

Cleverly tied together by an unexpected thread that is only revealed at the end of the narrative, Doyle's greatest help comes from a relative of the deceased who has hidden depths beyond anyone's expectations.

This is an easy read - no great cerebral processes involved - so anyone looking for simple escapism will enjoy this fast-paced, focused novel with a well-described back story that ensures that readers who have not encountered Doyle before still understand what's going on.

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Reviewer: Joanna Leigh

David Jackson is the author of a series of crime thrillers featuring New York detective Callum Doyle. His debut novel, Pariah, was Highly Commended in the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Awards, and translation rights have been sold. 'Marked' is the third book in the series.

 

Joanna Leigh studied French and German at university. She works in the aerospace industry and is a chartered marketer in the UK. She describes herself as a voracious reader, enjoying genres as varied as crime thrillers, historical fiction and autobiographies. Joanna lives in London. She is the daughter of crime thriller writer Leigh Russell.