Review of “Nowhere to Run” by Jack Slater
Most of the British detective novels I read feature a Detective Inspector as their main character (and occasionally a Detective Chief Inspector). I am a big fan of British police procedurals, including those by Ian Rankin (John Rebus), Elizabeth George (Tommy Lynley), Mark Billingham (Tom Thorne), and Graham Hurley (Joe Faraday), among others, all of whose main characters are DIs. I also enjoy Stuart MacBride’s gritty series set in Glasgow, which has as its lead Detective Sergeant Logan McRae. MacBride and Slater are consistent in their presentation of the lot of the Detective Sergeant; like McRae, DS Peter Gayle is charged with the practical, day-to-day tasks of the investigation, reporting back to a DI who is likely occupied with more than one case. The DS works at the coal face: dealing with leads, interviewing witnesses, trudging through fields. He is focused on the procedure, the proven steps that generate results. As a result, Nowhere to Run gives you the dogsbody view of