Published by Head of Zeus in paperback,
15 May 2014.
ISBN: 978-1781853986
Cosmic justice invariably triumphs in crime fiction, and with it often
comes another theme which is so familiar that it’s almost become a cliché: rule
of law is not necessarily a route to justice.
In Angel
of Death, one of the two protagonists, a jaded detective approaching the
end of a demoralizing career, is all too aware that the law is used as a tool
by the rich and powerful. The other has neither love nor use for the law; it
has done nothing to prevent her downward spiral into the gutter, and seems
intent on keeping her there.
The
consequence is a series of killings, mainly of the kind of complacent low-lifes
who have that money and power and don’t hesitate to use it: a real-life
scenario all too familiar from news bulletins at the moment. Are the killings
murder? Or natural justice?
It
takes place mostly in Sheffield, a city whose grim, gritty and grey reputation
goes before it. The story of Angel, abused teenage runaway turned heroin addict
and prostitute, is not for the fainthearted, but more power to Ben Cheetham for
making the reader – this one at least – root for her and cheer her on towards
fulfilling her objective of revenge on her abusers as the tunnel vision of the
law lumbers along ten paces behind.
The
path taken by D I Jim Monahan is almost as thorny. Playing by the rules has
meant Jim has lost everything that mattered to him; when his path crosses
Angel’s through his uncovering of a crime far more heinous than the suspected
arson which he is sent to investigate, the difficult questions at the back of
his mind spring forward and refuse to be pushed down any longer.
The
story is every bit as grim, gritty and grey as the well-drawn city, and the
characters are just as convoluted as its streets. It’s Ben Cheetham’s second
‘steel city’ novel; the first was that rare but well-publicized phenomenon, the
self-published bestseller subsequently taken up by a conventional publisher.
Cheetham
seems to be specializing in the kind of moral dilemma which fiction deals with
far more effectively than the legal system, though in Angel of Death the
fickle finger of fate points at the innocent along with the guilty, and no one
escapes undamaged.
For
fans of the down and dirty style of mystery fiction, with plenty of gore and
grime, Ben Cheetham is a name well worth seeking out.
------
Reviewer: Lynne Patrick
Ben Cheetham is an award-winning writer and Pushcart
Prize nominee. His writing spans the genres, from horror and sci-fi to literary
fiction, but he has a passion for dark, gritty crime fiction. His short stories
have been widely published in magazines in the UK, US and Australia. Ben lives
in Sheffield, UK
bencheetham.blogspot.com
Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen,
and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but
never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher
for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now
burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with
books, about half of them crime fiction.
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