posted on 19 Jul 2023

Vengeance by Benjamin Black

Benjamin Black is the pen-name of the great Irish novelist, John Banville. Born in 1945, Banville’s fans will tell you that he’s one of the consummate stylists writing today – his prose is precise, his creation of atmosphere always beautifully judged and his exploration of the psychology of historical and contemporary characters is always deeply perceptive. But clearly, Banville also bubbles with a desire to be playful, to write with the brakes off and to kick-back and just enjoy himself and, as a result, his alter-ego, Benjamin Black has emerged.

Banville/Black writes in the crime genre and we now have nine books in this series that kicked off in 2006. Black’s books feature – as all good crime series must – a central character who investigates the mysteries on our behalf and here it’s a pathologist called Quirk, working in Dublin in the 1950s. And, as he must be, Quirk is a flawed hero – smoking, drinking, haunted by failed relationships, an unconventional approach to his work – characteristics that will be recognisable to all addicts of modern-day crime literature.

But it would be a mistake to imagine that the Benjamin Black novels allow Banville to compromise on the quality of his writing – these books are still high-class pieces of literature. They are, though, peppered with small knowing jokes at the expense of the crime genre itself – this is, you can’t help but feel, a writer with his tongue firmly in his cheek every now and then. You’re enjoying reading this almost as much as he’s enjoying writing it.

Vengeance (2012) is the fifth of the Quirke books and sees the pathologist getting involved in the investigation of the inner workings of two of Dublin’s prominent families who have risen to wealth and power through the creation of a joint business. The story opens with the sudden and unexpected suicide of the head of the business, Victor Delahaye who shoots himself in front of Davy Clancy, the son of his business partner, Jack Clancy. The suicide is doubly unexpected because it takes place when the two are on a sailing boat when they are out alone and with no suggestion that Victor was planning any such thing.

Although Davy survives his ordeal, soon Jack Clancy is dead too and his murder is dressed up as another boating tragedy – but the whack on the back of his head tells another story. Soon Quirk is up to his ears in the politics and privilege of the two families – the arrogant and dominant Delahayes and the subservient Clancys. 

It’s virtually impossible to tell you much of the plot without filling the review with spoilers. But it has to be said that this is not really much of a mystery here to protect because it won’t take you long to figure out what’s going on and who did what. The strength of the book lies in the way Black enjoys the creation of his characters and the way his key investigator, Quirk interacts with this nest of vipers. The sinister Delahaye twins are suitable villains – entitled, arrogant and unscrupulous; the widow and second wife of Victor, Mona, is a siren; Victor’s sister, Maggie, a neurotic bomb waiting to explode and Jack Clancy a handsome, chiselled rogue, gambler and womaniser.

Quirk meanwhile rather stumbles his way to the solution of the murder and the reason for the suicide, complicating his own life as he goes.

This is most certainly a book for a train ride or for a holiday – entertaining without being overly demanding. What it does have however is the guarantee of superb writing because whether it’s under the name of Benjamin Black or John Banville, this is a writer who would find it impossible to accept the presence of a clumsy sentence or an ill-chosen metaphor. 

 

Paperback and hardback copies are not hard to find on the second hand market and you wont pay more than a few pounds for one.

 

Terry Potter

July 2023