rose reader 2007-03-17

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

I really liked this book, even though I felt guilty about it. Guilty because this guy is a major sinner. Throughout the entire novel, I couldn't decide if he was a good man who did bad things, or a bad man who did good things. Totally felt his loneliness, though, and the heart of a poet, albeit one who would slit your throat if he felt he had to.

Wouldn't give it to my relatives to read but I would recommend it to people who think they hate the crime/spy/detective genre. This is written more as a work of literature than pulp fiction and I think it didn't get the attention it should have.

Michael G. 2004-12-01

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Early on in this intriguing but stylistically odd book, a British cabinet officer known only as "our man" stabs a woman to death. Harry Fielding witnesses this act and has the presence of mind to photograph it as it occurs. Harry is what is known as an understrapper. That's a colloquialism for a small time crook who supplements his income by hiring himself out to the British intelligence service.
The novel's narration is provided by Harry himself and consists largely of short,choppy sentences that betray no emotion. The storyline is both interesting and engaging for approximately the first half of the book. Then any semblance of narrative coherence all but disappears. A series of subplots are introduced and individually showcased in a way that makes the book excessively disjointed. A chapter in which Harry finds himself driving a truck in war torn Bosnia seems particularly out of place.
Davison's writing style is too clever for its own good because it keeps drawing attention to itself rather than the story it's supposed to tell.
Crooked Man gets a marginal 3 stars from me because the initial plot is a good one. But, overall, I would not recommend it.

Flint McColgan 2004-04-26

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

The Crooked Man is about a man named Harry Fielding, who is an "understrapper" for a secret organization in the government of England. Harry Fielding is a spy, his boss tells him who to watch, and Harry does it. Usually these cases are just for legal or protective reasons, but one turns into a murder, and Fielding is trapped between his morals, and his job.

The Crooked Man may be, in some eyes, is a very wonderful book, in others a fairly average book. I am the latter. I actually enjoyed this book, but, in reality, it isn't that greatly written. The writer lives in Dublin, Ireland and the story is set mostly in England, so perhaps it could be just a different kind of writing, but I don't think so. This book uses long, drawn out, corny, melancholy thought descriptions, like many cheap detective novels, and this can sometimes become tedious to concentrate on. Other times there is so little description that you don't really get what, or why something is happening. Despite my many complaints I gave it 2.5 stars because it was a fun read, and I think I will read some of Philip Davison's other books, especially others featuring Harry Fielding, who was just introduced in this book, but will be a character in others.

2003-06-08

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

This novel is rather unlike anything I've ever read before. At best, I could compare it to Camus' The Stranger, as it shares the same dark, surreal quality of narrative. However, in The Crooked Man, the protagonist, Harry Fielding, does manage to make a hint of peace with his circumstances, but it's a hellish sojourn before he obtains even that much.

Fielding is employed by the M15 to do someone else's dirty work, which puts him outside of the law, more or less. Although Fielding manages to escape the legal consequences reserved for ordinary citizens, his deeds do not go unpunished. As he goes through his existence making choices according to a half-anesthetized morality, he begins to become aware that he, as an individual entity, is being eclipsed by the shady manipulations of his unscrupulous boss. That sense of powerlessness breeds in him desperation, and as he makes his slow and steady way toward damnation, he discovers that potential exits are really deceptions that lead him back to his previous course and there are no u-turns to go back and undo past deeds. He also finds a singular yet grim consolation in knowing that he is not alone in being punished far more than he deserves, and becomes a sympathetic witness to the desperation, fear and suffering of others, from incidental strangers to his neighbors, friends and family. In the end, Fielding manages to thwart fatal resignation and comes to terms with his situation, acknowledging wryly the twisted means of his survival in a world dominated by desperation, confusion and moral ambiguity.

Author Davison's pithy and direct writing style is effective in evoking the sense of desperation and confusion felt and witnessed by the narrator. It's also a notable accomplishment by the author to have been able to capture the protagonist's disorientation so effectively while making the novel so readable. Additionally, Davison has a much more profound understanding of irony then many of his contemporaries, which affords some of the novel's most quotable bits. He does an equally commendable job in creating sympathetic, believable, even haunting characters, including smaller, marginal ones such as the drunk carrying the bag of coal. These characters are disturbingly memorable, as they become as etched into the reader's mind as in the protagonist's. Overall, this is an excellent, recommendable book, providing a poignant and unforgettable narrative of a very flawed and very human individual making his 'crooked' way in a very grey world.

A. Ross 2003-02-15

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

I suppose this is one of those book you either love or hate, and while I tend to love dark and dreary stories, I sure didn't care for this one. Originally published in England some five years ago, this sparse semi-thriller is so flat one wonders why the publishers decided to revive it. The brief story tells of a freelance worker for MI5 (the British FBI), whose task it is to take incriminating photos, break into people's houses, wiretap people, and soforth�all outside the normal system, so that MI5 can never be implicated. Divorced and alienated from the world, he sleepwalks through life rather like the fellow in Camus' The Stranger, spending most of his time soaking in the tub or getting drunk. When this "understapper," Henry Fielding, witnesses a murder by a cabinet minister, he begins to question his purpose in life. This leads to some rather haphazard attempts to change his life, but he seems to be stuck within the dark government machine. Davison writes in short and sparse sentences designed to evoke a very empty and dark tone, however the result overwhelms the book and kills any interest in the actual story. It's a style that actually might work much better on film, and it just so happens a TV movie was produced for Irish TV that will apparently air in late 2003. Those who loved the book will be glad to know it continues in McKenzie's Friend and The Long Suit.