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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN num: 9780312347420
ISBN number: 0312347421
Label: St. Martin's Minotaur
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: November 13, 2007
Publishing house: St. Martin's Minotaur
Release Date: November 13, 2007
Sale Popularity Level: 775015
Studio: St. Martin's Minotaur
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The naked body of a young woman is found hanging from a tree on a London roadside. Scrawled across her back are the words 'DIRTY GIRL.'
Detective Stella Mooney is faced with a murder as baffling as it is chilling. With no means to identify the victim and no apparent motive, the case is blocked, until a man is found on a bench by the river, his throat cut back to the vertebrae. And, as before, the killer has left a trademark comment: 'FILTHY COWARD.'
Stella and her team can see there's a connection--but what? One victim is a young girl, maybe one of the hookers who work the Strip; the other, a researcher for a prominent and controversial member of Parliament. More evidence is needed. And soon enough it comes: another death; another message....
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Rated by buyers 
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This is the fourth in David Lawrence's series featuring London police detective Stella Mooney. An accomplished poet, Lawrence is also a gripping writer of crime fiction. Like his previous novels, this is not for the faint of heart with graphic descriptions of the work of a serial killer and details of post-mortem examinations that verge on the unbearable. It seems, however, that the serial killer theme is becoming somewhat strained. This latest one is the least plausible. What saves the novel is Lawrence's writing ability and the fact that he is able to make his central character humanly interesting. Stella Mooney has a complicated personal life and a tendency to turn to straight vodka. The present book has new details about her origins in a London ghetto as the child of a negligent mother.
Rated by buyers 
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This is the fourth book by David Lawrence, all in the Stella Mooney series. Stella is a 33-year-old London detective sergeant, and a body found in the rough section known as Harefield Estate hits a little too close too home for her - this is where she spent her youth, an appalling neighborhood, known for its flagrant drug-dealing and prostitutes. Stella never knew her father, and hasn't seen her mother in ten years. In those early years, the author tells us, Stella spent her time "watching the weather, following the flight of birds and wishing she could do that, wishing she could find a thermal, like the city gulls, and tilt, sliding down the wind until she reached somewhere that was somewhere else. Stella keeping quiet, keeping to herself, reading her own school reports, because her mother never would, looking for a way out, taking charge of her own life."
As the book opens the naked body of a young woman, no more than 20 years old, is found hanging from a tree, the words "dirty girl" scrawled in marker across her back. When another body is found soon thereafter, a man whose neck has been nearly severed found tied to a bench near the river, the words "filthy coward" similarly written across his arms, it would appear that the police have a serial killer on their hands. But a connection between the victims is hard to discern: the girl was apparently a prostitute, the man a researcher for a prominent Member of Parliament. As to the motive for the killings, Stella finds herself thinking: "'Who are you to be judge and executioner?' She gave a little shudder and suddenly was filled with a just and intense loathing for this man, this lone vigilante, this angel of wrath, or whatever he considered himself to be." But even more than the police procedural aspect of the book, as good as it is, the pull of the writing lies in the characters, among them DI Mike Sorley, Stella's boss and her close friend; Stella's lover, John Delaney, former was correspondent but currently a features writer currently working on something called The Rich List; who misses the action, and, of course, Stella herself. Most of all the book is about "secret lives. Who could ever know everything about anyone?," as Delaney says.
The poetry evident in this author's writing evinces his background as a prize-winning English poet. The book is gripping, its characters well-drawn and though similarities may be found in the writing of Ian Rankin and TV's Prime Suspect, among others, they are nonetheless original creations. This is a haunting novel, and one I won't forget for a while. Highly recommended.
Rated by buyers -
In "Down Into Darkness," David Lawrence brings back thirty-three year old Detective Sergeant Stella Mooney, who, along with her colleagues, Pete Harriman, Maxine Hewitt, Andy Greegan, and Sue Chapman, is looking for a man who hanged a teenaged victim from a tree sixteen feet above the ground, with the words "Dirty Girl" written in grey marker across her shoulder. The members of the Area Major Investigations Pool team, led by DI Mike Sorley, set out to identify the victim and try to trace her movements in the hours leading up to her death. Since the perpetrator left little forensic evidence, the police spend countless hours sifting through clues, studying the profiler's analysis, and seeking potential witnesses. Even after the young woman is identified, the detectives' work is far from over. The murderer strikes again and again, leaving his telltale signature, a disparaging epithet written on the body. Although the reader knows who the predator is early on, we do not immediately understand his motives or how he chooses his prey.
Lawrence adds depth to his narrative by providing a window into the private lives of his characters. Stella is romantically involved with reporter John Delaney, whose previous assignments covering bloody war zones in Sarajevo, Rwanda, and the Persian Gulf left him traumatized. He is currently writing a feature on London's "Rich List," a boring task that makes him miss the adrenaline rush of battle. Stella is a sharp and tenacious detective who often resorts to a few drinks of vodka at night to deaden the pain of her job. She is nauseated by the terrible damage that human beings routinely inflict on one another. Although Stella has enough grit and skill to survive in the urban jungle, one wonders if she could get through each night without a few drinks to anesthetize her. Adding to her unhappiness are the bitter memories of a wretched childhood with her promiscuous and abusive mother on the Harefield Estate, a forbidding place where merely taking a stroll requires courage. One day, Stella spies her mother, Tina, whom she has seen for ten years. The two women have an awkward reunion that leaves Stella tearful and badly shaken.
Although there are a few welcome bits of sardonic humour to occasionally lighten the proceedings, the world of David Lawrence is emotionally and morally dark. Lawrence is a master of descriptive writing, and his vivid account of the squalid, violent, and drug-infested housing projects where the London poor are forced to live evokes pity and disgust. There is an unforgettable scene of a no-holds barred fight held in a sixteen-foot-square cage. The spectators place illegal wagers as the two male combatants proceed to pummel each other to a bloody pulp.
As always, the author meticulously portrays the intricacies of police procedure and the camaraderie between the police officers. The hard-working and stressed-out cops are engaged in a frustrating and never-ending struggle against an army of malefactors. The many villains include corrupt politicians with numbered bank accounts who use their position and influence to line their pockets; shady entrepreneurs earning ill-gotten gains in a variety of ways, including money laundering and weapons sales; brutal enforcers using grisly torture techniques as an abject lesson, a method of persuasion, or a form of payback; pimps selling women on the street for profit; and men routinely cheating on their wives without a hint of remorse.
The plot of "Down into Darkness" is not entirely believable. Once revealed, the reasons for the crimes seem a bit far-fetched, and the perpetrator's tender relationship with a needy married woman is difficult to accept. In addition, two of the men whom Delaney interviews for his series on the filthy rich have a connection to Stella's investigation--not terribly likely. Still, this novel is worth a look, especially if you have followed DS Mooney's exploits from the beginning. Stella has uncanny instincts, takes no guff from anyone, and pursues her quarry with relentless determination. Her endeavor to make her relationship with the restless Delaney succeed shows a new maturity in a woman who used to cut and run at the very first sign of trouble. The most compelling reason to read this thriller is to revel in the dangerous world of London's scoundrels and to root for those who have the unenviable task of bringing them to justice.
Rated by buyers -
In London, the naked body of a murdered female is left hanging from a tree with the words "DIRTY GIRL" engraved on her back. Police Detective Stella Mooney of the Area Major Investigation Pool is assigned to investigate this brutal killing.
However, she and her AMIP team make no progress as the motive remains unknown. Not long afterward, a naked male corpse of a researcher whose neck was sliced to near decapitation with another etched message "FILTHY COWARD" is found on a bench. Anxious that a serial killer is on the loose although the two homicides have not been linked, Mooney and her AMIP team desperately work to uncover the motives behind the crime before a third victim surfaces.
The forth Mooney English police procedural is a fabulous cat and mouse investigative thriller. The story line is action-packed from the moment the very first message appears and never slows down as the cops struggle with solving a case that terrorizes the city (similar to what Son of Sam did to New Yorkers in 1977). Sub-genre fans will appreciate David Lawrence's latest masterful Mooney tale as this is a gripping winner; just like its predecessors (see COLD KILL, NOTHING LIKE THE NIGHT and THE DEAD SIT AROUND IN A RING).
Harriet Klausner
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