When the Bough Breaks - David Mark
To set the scene for what is to come, Mark describes the abstract regaining of consciousness of PC Wulfric Hagman who, it has to be said, may be a policeman, but by his own admission can be a bad man. The scene before him is one that appears to be far worse than anything he has ever done before, as he wakes up beside his former girlfriend Trina Delaney whose throat has been cut and his glasses lodged there in the gash. He has apparently tried to hang himself, but the cord has been broken by his huge bulk. I say appears and apparently, and that's because although he turned up with murder on his mind, while pleading to be taken back after the relationship ruptured, Wulf has no actual memory of what has occurred.
That scene is followed by a testimony of sorts, one of a kind that was not admitted to the court in the trial of PC Hagman. It's by the daughter of the murdered woman, describing the hell of living with her and the brief happiness she and her siblings had when Uncle Wulf was around. That’s Sal writing, short for Salome, who with the tireless help of Dagmara and the social services has ...well, survived more than thrived really, the current testimony a plea for admission or scholarship to university that exposes her state of mind. Twenty three years later, she's now a police officer herself, a Collision Investigation Officer, with Uncle Wulf now released from prison living with her and her brother. There will soon be an accident close to where she lives, one that is also close to home in other ways.
There's are a few more short fragmentary scenes to collect before you can start to put together the puzzle of what happened 23 years ago and what happened in the intervening years. So when the Hagman case is coming up for review, looking at whether there has been a potential unsafe conviction, his appeal assisted by the testimony of the dead woman's children, you can be sure that there are interested and potentially guilty parties wanting to make sure they can find enough evidence of further crimes to pin on him and put him back inside.
David Mark certainly challenges the reader with some dark and brutal fragmentary scenes, but there is enough light and shade and enough of a connection to keep you intrigued. It helps that writing itself is so enthralling, Mark finding the most effective way of putting this information out there in prose that is dazzling, human and insightful, capturing all the horror that life can throw at people and how they react, or choose to react to situations of intense mental distress. And, as the author of his own memoir of struggling with mental illness, Piece of Mind, Mark knows what he is talking about.
Mark might have no qualms about describing torture and dismemberment, the aftermath of a victim who has had acid poured down his mouth and he is fearless about confronting his own mental health problems, but When the Bough Breaks is still not a conventional thriller study of the dark side, about psychotics who commit unspeakable crimes - though of course there's a good chance you'll run across one or two here. The focus is wider than that and, as you will often find often in his works, there is an element of concern for social justice, for the victims and the innocent bystanders caught up in these horrors, for those trampled on by the authorities. Those with power in authority can cause needless deaths and inflict misery on a greater scale than the average serial killer. There are worse horrors you can inflict upon people and especially children that they have to live with for the rest of their lives.
If I have one minor criticism of When the Bough Breaks, it's that I thought the author gave too many clues too early on as to what the revelation might be at the end of the book. That's only a minor niggle really, perhaps just a personal one and it might even be intended to give the reader a sporting chance to take in those wider implications. Mark’s characterisation, writing and dramatic progress of the situation is otherwise flawless, and even if you think you know what direction it's pointing towards, you can be sure there's more to it than you think when you get there. Nothing is that simple when it comes to David Mark's thrillers because life, crime, its motivations and impact aren't that simple either. This is a powerful opening and background story for further Sal Delaney mysteries.
Reading notes: When the Bough Breaks, a Sal Delaney mystery, Book 1 is published in hardcover and eBook editions by Severn House on the 4th June 2024. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the preview copy. The beginning of a new series this is a good jumping on point for this author. There have been a few other series promised in the past though that haven't been developed, but hopefully there are more Sal Delaney books to come. I confess that I haven't read or reviewed the last few David Mark novels in the DS McAvoy series, partly because of the usual 'too many books so little time' excuse colliding with the fact that David Mark is so prolific, but I'm sure it also gets dull and repetitive raving about how brilliant a writer David Mark is after every book. I couldn't pass up the opportunity of a new fresh series though, and very glad to see that Mark has lost none of his ability to write impressive, dark, original thrillers.
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