Review: The Colour of Her Eyes – Conan Kennedy

Following yesterday’s article, I’ve decided to publish a review of Conan Kennedy‘s book, because it was one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had in a long time.

Amazon’s Kindle store has given the opportunity for small publishers and unpublished writers to get their books before a new and vast audience.  While many of these efforts are predictably second-rate, sometimes one comes along makes you realise how ineffective the publishing world is in missing a gem with the potential to outsell many established authors.

The Colour of Her Eyes is one such, a book which is as good as good as any you’ll find on the best-seller lists, but available in Kindle-only format at a bargain price.  I have no connection with the author whatsover but my enthusiasm for this book is my only motivation for reviewing it here.

On the face of this, the book is a straightforward detective story, but with its slow burning plot, its complexity unfolds page by page, drawing the reader in to a beguiling mystery which also envelops an obsessive love affair between two people who seem destined to be together despite the twists and turns of fate.

The book is located in Bognor Regis in Sussex, a faded seaside town, and the story is rooted in its sense of place. I always like books you can follow around on Google Earth and this one is full of local references which can be brought into focus with a few clicks of the mouse.

Kenney is very good at characterisation – Detective Inspector “Chalk” Harris thinks of himself as an ordinary copper but he is far from that.  He blends intelligence and intuition with the worldly cyncism of a police officer who has seen it all (while being open to discovering new insights into the human condition).  The book focuses on Ruth Taylor (whose eyes are referred to in the title), an enigmatic woman who despite many misfortunes in life has reserves of resilience and and strength which enable her to run rings round most of the other characters in the novel.

The book is very readable, chopping and changing between transcripts of formal police interrogation sessions and flashbacks to events in the past.  Its quite a long book, but as I read it, I found myself increasingly reluctant to put it down.

Conan Kennedy has produced some confident writing here and when it comes to ingenuity in a detective novel and some complex sub-plotting its hard to beat.   The books digresses into philosophical ground from time to time with some heart-stopping insights into human psychology.  I can only hope that this is the first of several books focusing on D I Harris and his work with the Sussex police. Watch out Peter James (of D. S. Roy Grace fame), you have some serious competition here.

I know I said I wouldn’t be writing until October – in fact I’m about to disappear for a while now – for our son’s wedding in London, and some foreign travel.  I’ll be back in two or three weeks.