The follow blog will have Spoilers and a plot outline for the book Once a Crooked Man by David McCallum leave now if don’t want to know what has been go on.
The Book so far- Harry stops Rocco from killing Colonel Villers who is holding on to a lot money, belonging to the three brothers. After the failed killing Villers thinkings that Harry is working for the three brothers so lets him take the money and run.
Back in New York Max tells Rocco to kill Eddie which he does by starting a small fire and dressing up as a doctor, Villers also rings Max, and Max tells not worry about it, he will look into it could be the other side. To his brothers he say ‘tell the guy have the money just stick to the plan’
Harry runs off the English contryside and buries the money but just as he’s about walk away safe and happy Colonel Villers catchs up with him, so Harry does the only thing he can do and tells the turth Villers rection is to kill his but just as he’s about to shot, Harry is saved by someone who been following Harry for the past few days. A policman of a kind called Ivan
Chapter Thirty- Max goes to see his brother Sal and his sister-in-law, Sal wife Furella (three pages of how her and Sal meet) She knows everything, one of her two sons lives on the west coast and has nothing to do with the family.
Sal wakes up from his nap, they talk and think that Eddie is the leak and that’s how Harry knows. Sal wants Rocco to come home but if can take care of Villers do that then come home, worst case the feds try to use Carters paper work to link them but is air tight. As for Harry they still don’t know want to do.
Chapter ThirtyOne- Harry is woke up and asked to give a statement to Ivan which he dose a tells him everything, then Ivan comes back with Dectective Sergeant Elizabeth Carswell who ask Harry to go over the story agian but use the threat of violence to get him to talk.
She then tells him he’s own life story and that the woman he tired to pick in the bar one night was policewoman Susan Banks who was following Villiers. She tells Harry she thinks he’s making extra money by being a courier on the side.
Harry gets her to take him back to his hotel room were he shows her his iphone with notes he made on it a prove he’s not lieing. She belives him and Harry tells her not somke because she will smell bad, but she’s smells bad because she been on Villiers’s tail for three days.
He asks if he can buy her breakfast as he now free to go, she says yes and as he calls room service she goes and has a shower when she done she asks Harry if knows about the Real/Ture IRA as they talk Susan asks Harry to wash her hair she tells him about the work her and Ivan do trying to stop the flow of moeny to the Real/Ture IRA.
The food comes and they let it go cold as they have sex, she leaves him in bed after telling she work something out.
Later that same day Ivan rings to tell him to go a meet Lizzie in a pub the village,they talk Lizzie has come up with a plan Harry is drive to a address droping off the money there and then go to a second and meet her again. As for Villers she gave him An ultimatum either tell her everything or they will find out themselves, but so far Villers has said nothing.
So Harry takes the car keys and leaves.
Frist off sorry its only two chapters but a lot has happend and not all of it easy and simple so that’s why only two.
So here’s what I think- I don’t mind we have female policewoman in fact its welcome change from overly aggressive men, what I do mind is that four pages in she comes off as vulgar, aggressive and down right odd, she’s ment to be a cockney so every four line is swear word or other word Mr McCallum think people still use. There are few sentences of broken english to emphasize the point she is a Cockney ‘we is’ not ‘we are’. And the fact that she actually smokes an american cigarette not an English one if he’s going to do the poverty stricken english detective it would be a cheap brand like silk cut. And the middle bit of the chapter reads like a scene out of James Bond, only with the role reversed
But I really do welcome the female characters because so far we’ve had Allinson his wife who supposedly to wrapped up in the hospital to see much of anything and his daughter who is a typical teenage child, and the Sal sister-in-law who early life read like the plot of the godfather.
I have seen that the next chapter is about Dectective Sergeant Elizabeth Carswell (Lizzie) back story so they maybe answers there. So until the next time thank you for reading.
By the way I hope the new layout works better.
Inside my head 