| Michael Slade’s new thriller, Swastika, is the 11th entry in the Special X series, a blend of horror and true crime that began nearly 30 years ago with his first novels, Headhunter and Ghoul. This time around, the RCMP’s Special X squad is on the trail of a brutal serial killer in Vancouver, who, among other gory details, likes to carve a swastika in the forehead of his victims.
But that’s only part of it. There’s also the story of SS Gen. Ernst Streicher, who is dragged down into Hitler’s bunker towards the end of the Third Reich to develop secret weapons in a last ditch attempt to strike back. Throw in some shady CIA activities and the crash in Roswell, New Mexico, and you have the makings of another bloody and twisty thriller of the kind that fans of Slade’s work have come to love.
But this book has a special personal connection for author Jay Clarke (who, if you don’t know, is half of the pseudonymous "Michael Slade," along with Clarke’s daughter, Rebecca). Jay Clarke’s father, Jack, was a flight lieutenant during the Second World War who saw some of the bloodiest battles in North Africa and El Alamein. Despite the odds, he made it home, only to die while flying a routine flight over the Cascade Mountains in British Columbia.
"Everything went wrong," says Clarke. "There was a cascading effect (weather, mechanical problems) that caused the crash."
Clarke was told by the government that his father was "atomized" during the crash, and that there was nothing left of him. But in a creepy turn of events that wouldn’t seem out of place in one of his novels, "some ghoul had gotten a hold of the body," he says. "An investigator found the body, kept the medals and buttons, and the parts went into a mass grave."
After Clarke’s mother died two years ago, he found a book behind a hidden shelf in a closet containing records and sketches his father had made during the war – detailed notes about combat missions, including the first bombing attack on Nuremberg on the eve of the war. As he became immersed in the journal, Clarke also gathered research into that era of war history. After a trip back to the Cascade Mountains, where he scattered his mother’s ashes, he returned with the plot of Swastika ready. "It’s the sort of catharsis you expect for your first book," he says.
Clarke is known for his gruesome plots, inspired by his love of the horror genre, but also influenced by some first-hand experience. Aside from writing fiction, he’s spent his life practising criminal law, specializing in insanity cases. However, with the sensitive matter of Swastika, he knew he had to take a different tack from his previous books.
"It’s a delicate balance," he says. "While some details (in the earlier books) might seem gratuitous, I’ve done over 100 murder trials. Here, there are real tragedies – the concentration camps, Auschwitz. The content is tuned down to bring out the historical context. You’ll notice that the murders, which make the story, stay off the page."
Still, the attention to detail in Swastika makes for an unsettling read. Clarke knows his trade well, and is able to get inside the head of a grizzled cop and psychotic neo-Nazi with equal skill. Fans of the author’s hardboiled style and CSI-style technicalities won’t be disappointed.
On the book-reading front, there are two events at Pages on Kensington this week, the first on Thursday, November 24 at 7:30 p.m., when author Jeffrey Alford presents Mangoes and Curry Leaves, a slide show on the tasty delights of Indian cooking tied in with the book of the same title. On Saturday, November 26 at 7:30 p.m., local poet Derek Beaulieu and his collaborator, composer Gary Barwin, launch their new collection of poetry, Frogments From the Frag Pool: Haiku After Basho. It’s a collection of translations and new inspirations taken from (and taking on) Basho’s frog-loving haiku.
On the McNally Robinson roster: Friday, November 25 at 7 p.m., William Sampson presents Confessions of an Innocent Man, his tale of torture and imprisonment in Saudi Arabia, where he was sentenced to death for crimes he didn’t commit. Note that the event is being held at the W.R. Castell Central Library downtown. Tickets are available at McNally Robinson and proceeds will go to the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. Monday, November 28 at 7 p.m., Jack Whyte reads from his new novel, The Eagle, the last instalment in his Arthurian series. And Wednesday, November 30 at 7 p.m., journalist J. Timothy Hunt is in town with The Politics of Bones: Dr. Owens Wiwa and the Struggle for Nigeria’s Oil, the story of executed writer-activist Ken Saro-Wiwa told through the eyes of his brother, Owens.
The winner of the Write Stuff talent-scouting contest will be announced at the Chapters on Macleod Trail at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30. The prize is a publishing contract worth $35,000.
Bestsellers for November 14 to 20 at Pages on Kensington
Fiction and Poetry
1. This Side of Bonkers
by Laura Cutler
2. Running
by Keith Maillard
3. Visiting Hours
by Shane Koyczan
4. The Lighthouse
by P. D. James
5. The Time in Between
by David Bergen
6. The Lizard Cage
by Karen Connelly
7. Memories of My Melancholy Whores
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
8. Limbo
by Jacqueline Honnet
9. Guests of Chance
by Colleen Curran
10. The Penultimate Peril
by Lemony Snicket
Non-fiction
1. Race Against Time
by Stephen Lewis
2. Ideas
edited by Bernie Lucht
3. Two Lives
by Vikram Seth
4. Outside of Ordinary
edited by Lynn Cecil & Catherine Bancroft
5. Hitching Rides with Buddha
by Will Ferguson
6. Freakonomics
by Steven Levitt
7. A Crack in the Edge of the World
by Simon Winchester
8. Mao
by Jung Chang & Jon Halliday
9. With Every Mistake
by Gwynne Dyer
10. Struck by Lightning
by Jeffrey S. Rosenthal |
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