cover image The Ravenglass Line

The Ravenglass Line

David Crackanthorpe. Review, $17.99 (279pp) ISBN 978-0-7472-7045-4

Jerky, hard-boiled prose spells out the story of a smalltime Mediterranean shipping family in The Ravenglass Line by David Crackanthorpe (Stolen Marches). Bailed out of a Marseilles prison by his younger brother, Hugo, Jason Ricardo finds himself assigned to guard duty of his own mother, who is associating with a shady Hungarian refugee-smuggler and putting Hugo and Jason's inheritance at risk. If interfering in his mother's life weren't enough, Jason can't seem to help putting the moves on his brother's beautiful wife. This salt-cured thriller is broodingly atmospheric, but too choppy to be entirely enjoyable.