Cages - David Mark

If you read a lot of David Mark’s writing (I'm counting 17 reviews so far on this blog), you'll notice that there are some common features that crop up now and again. There are a few here in Cages, notably a rather seedy but talented writer or journalist who has hit hard times (Still Waters, Darkness Falls) seeking another shot at success (which sounds like it is based not so much on a self-deprecating self-image as self-flagellating one). Pit this journalist or similar flawed character up against a criminal who exhibits the worst impulses of humanity and you have a very dark and volatile situation, the kind that David Mark revels in, but without repeating himself, just plunging deeper. Which doesn't make his crime thrillers an easy read, but there are still few to match his insights into those dark places.

A flawed but inquisitive character running up against a rather disturbing killer is there in Cages and the balance is a good one, with a slight variation on the theme that gives it an extra bit of an edge, but most importantly it has those thriller elements that make this a compelling read. The tension is built around a highly educated and intelligent serial killer, Griffin Cox, who is maybe not as clever as he thinks he is, since he is currently residing in prison at HMP Holderness. He thinks however that it's about time he let himself out before the authorities, acting on a tip-off, get wind of the whereabouts of some of his suspected victims. The unfortunate person unwittingly enlisted to help him achieve his escape is talented but off the boil "mid-list" author Rufus Orton who just happens to have been invited to give a creative writing class to the inmates at the same prison where Cox is currently caged.

That would be enough for any regular thriller writer to craft a tense thriller, but David Mark has another victim to throw into the mix. As a teenager, Annabeth Harris suffered at the hands of a man who abducted and abused her, making her escape after taking the opportunity to kill him. She has been trying to keep her past secret and put it behind her, keeping on the move with her son, working now as a prison warder. Which just happens to be HMP Holderness, where she has just organised the creative writing class with Orton. No-one is particularly keen on a dangerous sex offender like Cox being in the class, least of all Annabeth when it becomes sickeningly apparent that Cox has found a way into her head and her past in his "creative" writing.

There is another familiar and distinctive feature in David Mark's books, something that also sets him apart as a great writer, and that's his interest in people, what makes them tick and how they react when placed under severe pressure. In Cages Mark even gives us all a free lesson in the craft of such creative writing through Rufus Orton, who poses to his unlikely pupils the dilemma of exploring human beings. "Are we made or do circumstances change us? Can bad acts be compensated? Can a good person be brought low by circumstances?" That's a recurrent theme in his books and it's in how he chooses to delve into his characters, feel for them, authentically identify how people react and behave in the dark situations in which he places them, "to ask the question without the need for an answer” that makes Mark's work involving and thrilling.

No matter how vicious, nasty and murderous some of his characters may be - and we have a truly repellent example in Cox - Mark always relates this to real human flaws and weaknesses, to unfortunate circumstances that have determined the direction of their lives to some extent. Not that this makes the reader feel any sympathy for these often irredeemable monsters who are incapable of being human in any likeable or relatable sense, but like DS Billy Dean in Twist of Fate for example, they are there as a challenge to others, a stone thrown into a pool of water to see what ripples and waves they send out. "This is going to be fun", Rufus Orton thinks as he sets to work inspiring such situations and interaction between the budding writers (and at least one certified psychopath) in his creative writing class, and you sense that the writer in Mark also enjoys the similar thrill at the tasty menu of mayhem he has served up. 

Fortunately, the reader is also invited to the party. Lest you think that writing is a game for David Mark, an exercise in showing off his ability with a juicy description here and a clever phrase there, such as a throwaway description of how Annabeth “moves her meat and veg around the chips as if playing culinary Tetris”, while he also slots his rough edged characters into similar positions in his plot with all the hallmarks of an experienced game player, all of those little observations are just ways of exploring how people act and behave. That's of interest to anyone who reads books. The main reason, surely. Mind you, if all you are looking for from a thriller is superb pacing, a plot of rapidly escalating violence and a shocking conclusion, fortunately David Mark is unmatched in those areas as well.

Reading notes: Cages by David Mark is published by Severn House. I read a Kindle edition. As much as I thought this was another exceptional book from David Mark, I thought the ending was a little ...too much. I didn't think this worth mentioning in the main review, as everyone reacts differently to how they view twists. It's not so much that this one felt unnecessary for me, as unconvincing on the human level. I would have been quite happy (not sure 'happy' is the word when Mark's revelations about the fate of Cox's victims is made known) with a more 'conventional' ending, but I think a twist is almost obligatory now for a thriller otherwise some readers will feel cheated. Still, blocking out that final scene from my mind - partly involuntary as it is so gruesome - this is another great thriller from one of my favourite writers in the genre.