Saturday, November 7, 2009

Steve Hamilton: "Night Work"


Steve Hamilton: "Night Work"
Originally uploaded by svennevenn

"Night work" by Steve Hamilton (Orion 2008) is a quite exciting read, and an OK crime novel. Theme: "somebody is killing people around me, and is it connected to me?" What makes the book stand out for me is that the hero (Joe Trumbull) is a jazz fan, and not only that, he digs free jazz! I didn't know anything about this book until the author commented on a post over at Free Jazz! Several places in the book, Trumbull compares his own life to Albert Ayler's, before Ayler was found drowned in a river.
Quite early in the story Trumbull needs some extra energy before he leaves his appartment: "I needed something huge, so I pulled out Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun. It's a blistering assault on the ears, with eight of Europe's strongest free jazz players going at it back in 1968 like it was the end of the world. Owning this album is probably illegal in many states". It's still legal in Norway, at least I hope so.

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