Here's my translation of a book review I wrote in French. I'd appreciate any help... :-)
SAM MILLAR’S DEAD OF WINTER
New readers, beware : you should read Bloodstorm and The dark place before venturing in Dead of Winter !
I had just finished Millar’s Redemption Factory when I tackled Dead of Winter. It is the third episode of the Karl Kane series (after Bloodstorm and the dark place). It all begins with Private detective Kane discovering a severed hand on his porch, one morning. As you can guess, our good detective is shocked… as I was. Caught in a crossfire of personal projects I set the book aside and eventually resumed my reading yesterday. And you know what ? the severed hand Kane had discovered never quite left my mind meanwhile. I guess that means the opening was good.
WHAT THE HELL IS IT ABOUT, YOU FOOL ?
Calm the fuck down ! Karl Kane is an old-style, hard-boiled private detective. He’d rather smirk and wisecrack instead of bowing and accepting his fate. He can also be quite mean under the right circumstances. He lives in Belfast, where, as he finds out, tourists wear t-shirts showing Donald Duck saying « don’t shoot me, I’m only a tourist, quack-quack ». And now that severed hands are discovered scattered in the city, the atmosphere’s less and less joyful. Some businessman offers a juicy reward for anyone who sheds light on the crime… on top of that, a femme fatale-like client wants Kane to find her dear uncle. Here we go.
GROPING IN THE DARK
Kane subsequently explores the Irish underworld just like one would explore the hidden depths of the human psyche. Dead of Winter is close to Redemption Factory in the sense that it is also inhabited by grotesque, too made-up and overly wretched creatures. Kane is groping in the dark and yet manages to make progress. Yet the secret he exhumes might cost him a lot…
Millar’s writing is still a blast. Anyone who has a liking for Chandler, Goodis or Thompson should read the novel. The pacing is quick and the humor is as dry as it needs to be. I embarrassed myself when I laughed several times in the café I was (don’t worry, miss, I’m not crazy ! Kane definitely is, though !). I found the descriptions more thorough and convincing than in Millar’s other books, too.
At the very core of Millar’s writing (both generally and in the present novel) is the grey palette. As Kane says, he « understands the darkness of grey » (not sure of the translation, the French version says « Je comprends l’obscurité du gris »). Nothing here is black and white. Actually this whole damn world looks like a giant slaughterhouse.
Still, what struck me most was Karl Kane’s deep humanity. Sure he can be violent, and of course his humor is corrosive, but hey, beyond all that he’s a real human being. Whether when having tender moments with his companion, Naomi, or when he’s dealing with poor wretches, Kane exudes a profound kindness which contrasts sharply with an otherwise gruesome painting. Kane seems to me damn close to Chandler’s quote in chapter 1 « down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man ».
Tl ; dr
Well, in summary, Sam Millar strikes me not as much as dark writer than as a writer of radiance. Oh, andgo buy and read Dead of Winter.