Gunner

In Gunner by Alan Parks, readers are introduced to former police investigator Joseph Gunner. It is the early 1940s, and a war-weary Gunner has returned to Glasgow after being injured by exploding ordnance during World War II. He is nursing wounds to his left eye and left leg while becoming increasingly reliant on pain medication, and he suffers from violent post-traumatic stress episodes.

Mostly, Gunner wants to return to the woman he left behind and to find the partner of a fellow soldier who was killed, hoping to offer her solace. Unfortunately, upon his arrival in Glasgow, instead of resuming his already interrupted personal life, Gunner is approached by Detective Inspector Malcolm Drummond with a request to examine a corpse bearing unusual injuries. Drummond is not only Gunner’s former boss, but also the one person he would have preferred to avoid.

Gunner’s examination reveals a body with a destroyed, unrecognizable face and cleanly removed fingertips—injuries inconsistent with the bombing raids being carried out on Glasgow.

As more is uncovered about the dead man, Gunner becomes immersed in a murky wartime world of everyday gangsters, corrupt officials, and potential spies. In this city, most people are either prey for the predators or predators feeding on the weak, and hardly anyone is who they claim to be. What begins as a suspicious death investigation quickly grows beyond a simple murder case. Gunner soon realizes that no one can be trusted—possibly not even those closest to him.

For this reader, the mental image of DI Drummond that Parks creates brings to mind Orson Welles as Police Captain Hank Quinlan in the 1958 film Touch of Evil. Though not as malevolent, Drummond is easily imagined wearing a dirty trench coat, unshaven, gliding through a crumbling city with his hands out for whatever grift comes his way.

Gunner is an enjoyable introduction to what appears to be a new series by Alan Parks, who wonderfully evokes a city in ruins, populated by people struggling to survive amid the carnage. Typically, historical crime novels rank lower on this reader’s list, but Gunner captures the best of the sub-genre in an engaging way.

One of the pleasures of Parks’ work is his ability to create a dark, gritty atmosphere that permeates his storytelling. He is equally adept at varying the layers of grit, crime, and depravity when contrasting Gunner with his Harry McCoy novels.

After reading Parks’ previous Harry McCoy detective novels and now Gunner, it’s clear that he can craft environments with different flavors of grit—some cleaner, some far dirtier. In Gunner, the grit is of a more genteel nature, despite the widespread destruction; you can picture dusty jacket lapels, rubble underfoot, and the sound of grit scraping from the soles of the shell-shocked as they walk. In the McCoy novels, the grit and stench cling and ooze, like a wet, dirty alley rather than floating in the air.

Gunner is a sprawling and ambitious start to what promises to be a series as compelling as Parks’ Harry McCoy books.

Gunner is available for purchase now.

NetGalley provided an ARC in exchange for a fair review.