Paying the Ferryman

Paying the Ferryman felt like one of those memory tests you come across. You start reading and assume you’re in a psychological thriller as a girl and her baby brother escape a gunman who’s shot their parents. Then you move into a police procedural with the bear-like DI Ryan Steel and DS Sophie Willis, the only black lesbian in the village! And then there are two more cops in another part of the country, one of them invalided out on health ground. Then there’s a hitman and his best mate – and they’ve got something to do with the retired officers.

Confused? Actually, it’s not as chaotic as it sounds, although I found myself flicking back periodically or re-reading a page to try to commit new characters to memory. At the heart it is a police procedural as the cops try to find the killer of the children’s parents.

And once it settles down, it’s a very readable tale with a very gritty spine to it. Gangland families, old secrets and domestic abuse may be crime fiction stalwarts, but Adams deals with them convincingly and movingly – particularly when it comes to writing the teenage characters. Her violence is spare, but horribly convincing. And she introduces into the mix of a secretive organisation that relocates women who’ve been the victims of domestic violence.

Paying the Ferryman is set in a made-up town and I’ve still no idea what area it’s in. I thought it was East Anglia at first, but I think it may be further north. And working out where other characters are coming in from is sometimes confusing. I‘m a nosy reader and like to know exactly where things are taking place, so it may be less of an issue for other readers.

Adams has written about Naomi and Alec in the past, and in many ways this isn’t their story, although they are key players. I wasn’t convinced by Gregory the hitman, but that was partly down to the lack of back story about him and why his story is so closely entwined with that of the two former cops.

I have a vague memory of reading Adams’s The Greenway back in the dim and distant past. I’d be interested in seeking out her other books, as she’s a convincing writer. I was utterly convinced by the small-town setting (wherever it was!), but the characters are the biggest strength – particularly Steel himself and Maggie, the sane and capable mother of one of the teenage boys.

I hope there’s another outing for Steel and Willis, maybe without the distraction of Naomi and Alec and their tame assassin!