Lonely Hearts - John Harvey

A rather formulaic 1980s police procedures detective story featuring Nottingham Inspector Charlie Resnick - a single man of Polish extraction. Something that struck me is the problem that writers have when there is a rapid development in technology. The introduction of mobile phones made an incredible difference to both police and criminal communication speed and reaction. This was also the time before effective use of DNA evidence. Both these changes gave the impression of an almost clunky slowness to the plot. John Harvey is a good detective story writer, but I don't find his Resnick character especially loveable and I don't get the connection I get with a lot of the 'stars' of detective stories. I also don't know a lot about Nottingham either. Anyway this volume is about a murderer who is meeting and killing women he meets through the local paper's personal ads - and that is another change that has happened in recent years - no one writes letters to personal ads columns any longer - it is all done by texts and voicemail messages, not through box numbers. Harvey is a author who develops character sufficiently and the narrative is well paced, but it is all fairly average and competent not exciting and full of suspense. Rating 6/10