A Slow Burning Book

Stanley Pottinger's The Fourth Procedure created a considerable stir with its headlong pace and trenchant plotting. An outrageous narrative was carried off with maximum élan; a feat confidently brought off again in his new book A Slow Burning. In a remarkable narrative of race, sex and violence, Pottinger presents us with New York police detective Nat Hennessy, who witnessed his father being beaten to death by a looter during the New York power failure of 1977. Similarly, Dr. Cush Walker watched his father being lynched by the Ku Klux Klan on the eve of Kennedy's assassination. Both men love the charismatic Camilla, who has become engaged to Hennessy after leaving Walker. In a twist of fate, the killer of Hennessy's father brutally wounds Camilla with a shot intended for him. Dr. Walker repairs Camilla's brain in an astonishing piece of neurosurgery and the plot takes a remarkable turn--one that would be criminal to reveal. The revenge motif, embodied in the two protagonists, is seamlessly integrated into a novel that is both rich in characterisation and plausible even when it deals with mind-stretching concepts. Pottinger remains a writer for those who like their thrillers written in a graphic and uncompromising style; his treatment of death remains highly distinctive: "Lying on the floor on the left side was the form of a woman, late twenties, early thirties, white skin, one hand extended over the toilet bowl, the other tucked under her cheek like a sleeping child. A splay of thick, blonde hair obscured her face except for a pair of lips that were open in a relaxed gasp like the mouth of an asthmatic child." --Barry ForshawRead More