Violence
Wolves in sheep’s clothing
To study international politics since the turn of the century has been, in large part, to study the changing nature…
Enough to make anyone weep
When it comes to education, I’m in two minds, maybe three. I was sent to private schools, including, for my…
Sweden’s gun crime epidemic is spiralling out of control
The shots were fired at 1pm on a Sunday, in spite of a heavy police presence at the scene. A…
The good die young
In the two generations since Watergate, the image of the journalist has gone from that of plucky truth-seeker to sensationalist…
Cycle of violence: Blood, by Maggie Gee, reviewed
Maggie Gee has written 14 novels including The White Family, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s…
When does a murderer become a madman?
There was no reason for Edward Drummond to believe this January day was going to be different to any other…
What does the commonplace cruelty of Red Dead Redemption say about our times?
Every era has its western. For 30 years, from The Big Trail through to The Searchers, John Wayne reigned supreme…
The Spanish artist who is more gruesome even than Caravaggio
Last year my wife and I were wandering around the backstreets of Salamanca when we were confronted by a minor…
An odd new feeling has crept up on me – sympathy for the police
Spring has come to my local park in its usual way. First the magnolias, then the cherry blossom, then the…
‘Sorted’ has always had connotations of menace
My heart leapt up on Newport station, an unusual place for that to happen, when I heard a recorded announcement:…
Despite everything, America is beautiful — especially at West Point
What is left to say after the church shooting in the Home of the Depraved? Those killed in Texas included…
On the waterfront
Much has been made of the American novelist Jennifer Egan’s mutation, in her latest novel, from purveyor of metafiction and…
Recent crime fiction
Gabriel Tallent’s My Absolute Darling (4th Estate, £12.99) has the word masterpiece emblazoned on the cover, alongside quotes from several…
The search for meaning
He’s not what you’d call prolific, Bernard MacLaverty. Midwinter Break is his fifth novel in 40 years, and his first…
A clash of creeds
This is a very modern novel. Terrorist atrocity sits side by side with the familiar and the mundane. Where better…
Nostalgia and nihilism
‘Gilded doorknobs,’ spits a Party diehard as she contemplates the blessings of the Soviet Union’s collapse. ‘Is this freedom?’ Dozens…
Gods and monsters
Although Nepal’s earthquake last April visited our television screens with images of seismic devastation, the disaster has probably had little…
Save our Helen!
Archers listeners are so obsessed with the soap’s domestic abuse storyline that they have set up a real-life charity appeal
Throw away the Valium and start bragging instead
This is not a book to be read in solitude. Not for the obvious reason that it’s frightening, but because…
See how clever
Two men walk into an ice cream parlour in Austin, Texas, order the three teenage girls working there to undress,…
Staring into the abyss
The first interaction between two men recorded in the Bible involves a murder. In the earliest classic of English literature,…
Madness in the ghetto
There are many more than seven killings in this ironically titled novel — in fact very long — that starts…
Ukraine vs Sparta
As rebels, terrorists, fascists, foreign forces, activists, separatists, militants, militias, nationalist groups, Neo-Nazis, Right Sector forces — take your pick — spread…
Powerful punch lines
Vernon Scannell was a thief, a liar, a deserter, a bigamist, a fraud, an alcoholic, a woman-beater and a coward.…
More Grand Theft Auto, less crime
It was about a week ago, at 8 p.m., when our blackout happened. In the 1980s people would have headed…
