This is another Echo FFB, which was originally covered by Cullen Gallagher over at his blog this past May (http://www.pulpserenade.com/2011/05/what-of-terry-conniston-by-brian.html).
What of Terry Conniston? is a masterfully told story of a kidnapping, a ransom and the disintegration of parallel ad hoc families. Told in a non-linear format, the book is fast and furiously paced with tough smart driving prose. We start with a pair of men surveying the spot where the kidnappee was held; they mention finding two bodies and wonder what has happened to the rest of the gang and what happened to our Kidnappee.
As plots go the Kidnapping thriller is one of the more common, and what makes this book stand out is how Garfield tells the story and what he adds to the mix with the group dynamics of the two afore mentioned ‘Families’. I don’t want to go into too much detail, only because I do highly recommend this book, and I think it would make a great Hard Case Crime or Stark House Reprint. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the recent UK film The Disappearance of Alice Creed, which shares some elements with the book, but is not an adaptation as far as I can tell.
Thanks to Cullen Gallagher for the heads up on not only this book, but Brian Garfield, whose work I had not heard of, but will check out further in the future.
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