Silent Running

I could take or leave Pauline Rowson’s efficient but unremarkable series about a Portsmouth cop – and that’s despite knowing the patch pretty well. I can report, though, that her new book, featuring former marine Art Marvik, is distinctly more sprightly.

It sets off at a hell of a lick and rarely lets up. Art is holed up on the Isle of Wight after his injuries forced him out of the navy. A brief move into security work led to a man dying. So he’s only reluctantly doing a favour for another invalided-out serviceman, Shaun Strathen, when he agrees to check whether a missing computer expert is hiding on the island.

And then Art is visited out of the blue by former girlfriend Charlotte, a military nurse. She’s been to see a convinced murderer – a former navy chaplain – in prison to tell him that his soldier son has been killed. But she’s convinced the man is innocent. And then Charlotte disappears. Along comes a suspicious cop who wants Art to be the fall guy to lure a murderer out. This killer, though, is determined to cover his tracks at all costs.

Cue lots of rushing around the south coast, mainly by boat. Surprisingly few scenes are set at sea, though – and maybe Rowson will make even more use of this angle if the series continues.

And it would be good to see a touch more in future books on what makes Art tick – we know his parents were killed in an accident, but that’s about it. I’d like to see Shaun rounded out as well. He’s clearly dogged and a tough character, but a bit under-drawn on this outing. I rather liked Helen of the purple hair and attitude – I suspect it’s a bit much to expect her to return as well, although she’d be a great addition to any series! There were three good female characters in the book, but they all got dumped a bit too summarily for my liking.

The ending could and should have been more powerful – it was weakened considerably by a humungous information dump and the marine equivalent of getting everyone together in the drawing room. And at times it was hard to remember who all the characters were – a lot of people we never meet are mentioned and have some relevance to the plot, but if you haven’t been introduced, it’s hard for them to stick in the mind.

Silent Running kept me well entertained with its action plot and quick-fire tours of some of my old haunts in Hampshire and Dorset. It’s certainly set up a promising opening next time for Art and Shaun, who both need to rebuild their lives.