Black Out

By John Lawton

Book Overview

John Lawton's debut novel-first published by Viking in 1995, and now being reissued by Grove Press--is a stunning, war-time thriller that cements his place among the greatest crime writers of our era. The first of the Inspector Troy novels, Black Out singularly captures the realities of wartime London, weaving them into a riveting drama that encapsulates the uncertainty of Europe at the dawn of the postwar era.

London, 1944. While the Luftwaffe makes its final assault on the already battered British capital, Londoners rush through the streets, seeking underground shelter in the midst of the city's black out. When the panic subsides, other things begin to surface along with London's war-worn citizens. A severed arm is discovered by a group of children playing at an East End bomb site, and when Scotland Yard's Dective Sergeant Frederick Troy arrives at the scene, it becomes apparent that the dismembered body is not the work of a V-1 rocket. After Troy manages to link the severed arm to the disappearance of a refugee scientist form Nazi Germany, America's newest intelligence agency, the OSS, decides to get involved. The son of a titled Russian eacute;migr , Troy is forced to leave the London he knows and enter a corrupt world of bloody consequences, stateless refugees, and mysterious women as he unearths a chain of secrets leading straight to the Allied high command.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802145566
• ISBN13: 9780802145567
• Release Date: May 2011
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Good read

The chapter explaining his uncle was a little long and hard to read given that the uncle doesn't play much of a part throughout the remainder of the book. Some of the plot twists were well written and had me guessing the wrong person.

Great thriller

I originally bought this book for my dad - he served as a GI in London from 1943-46 and is a real history buff. He was crazy about it, said it's the most convincing depiction of the place and the time he's ever read. So I pointed out the 'big mistake' over the WAC, and he said it was dumb but minor, after all Lawton had the clothes, the music, the food all right - even had the name of the head waiter at a London night club right, and that was amazing - how does anyone dig up stuff like that? So, atmospheric? sure, detailed? sure, but it's also a classy thriller, a plot that just rips along. So I read it too, and more than that I read the two sequels and the good news is they get better and better. This guy is good. They don't come much better. B Clark, Carthage.

Excellent stuff!!

Lawton elegantly captures the essence of War time London and uses it as a backdrop to a solid thriller. The story itself is unspectacular, nowhere near as complex as a Robert Harris tale, but Lawton effortlessly brings the reader into the world of war time depravation. An extremely well written book and very enjoyable.

On My All-Time Great List

The Booklist review excerpt is right on. If you love dark (but wryly humorous), tightly written, historical thrillers, this is for you. I can't imagine why this didn't make a much bigger splash in the US. The story and writing are absolute top rank. It is no exaggeration to compare John Lawton's writing skill to John Le Carre's.