Bluebottle

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Excellent, atmospheric, tightly-written crime novel - Rated
I first came across the writing of James Sallis in 'Time's Hammers', the collection of his shorter fiction. It contained a variety of pieces, written over a few decades, and concerning a variety of subjects and themes. One element that was consistent throughout, however, was the intense atmosphere that Sallis creates with his writing, even in the space of a couple of thousand words. This is something that he has carried into 'Bluebottle' and used to great effect.

'Bluebottle' is the first I have read of the series of Lew Griffin novels, but it will definitely not be the last. It begins with Griffin waking up in hospital having lost a year of his life following a shooting. The rest of the novel is concerned with him trying to put his life back together, and to find out what happened to him and why. Like Ellroy, Sallis weaves together two or three different strands of the plot with ease, so that Griffin is working on more than one case, and having to struggle with the backdrop of his private life alongside this, coping (or trying to) with pressures brought upon him from all angles. The writing throughout is superb, with hardly a wasted word, and some intensely atmospheric sections which draw the reader into the text, and make this novel one that is exceptionally difficult to put down.

Griffin's, and by extension Sallis', literariness is evident right throughout this novel, with many references to other writers and works of literature. This is something that is used to great effect in the closing paragraph of the novel, with a quote from Chandler (which I'm obviously not going to reveal) placed brilliantly as the finale to an excellent piece of writing. From start to finish, unconventional yet superb. Well worth a read.