Double Jeopardy, Stef Harris

Stef Harris is an award winning indie filmmaker and policeman in his native New Zealand, so it's probably not surprising that he's had a bit on, making it longer than I can remember since his earlier releases. DOUBLE JEOPARDY is worth the wait though, as a good solid crime fiction thriller, inspired, it would seem, by time spent in Boston, where it's set. 

Frank Winter is a retired county sheriff and Boston police detective whose daughter was murdered many years before. Bruno Krupke was acquitted of Evelyn's death, but found guilty of others, and at the time of the verdicts, Winter drunkenly made a courthouse steps vow to kill the man if he was ever released from jail. Since then his life has spiralled, now working as a janitor, his main companion is his faithful dog Dolly, and the person he spends most time with is his ex-wife Mary, in a care home suffering from dementia.  

Before we go any further, as always, when an important dog appears in the narrative, I get heartburn. The dog's fine. Given that, there is something seriously rollercoaster about DOUBLE JEOPARDY which made it one of those high-paced, thrill riding reads, where one of the standout characters is the cop who ends up as Krupke's police assigned minder, Nunzio Arabito. A timid man, more comfortable in the paperwork jungle of policing than on the streets, he's an American cop who rarely, if ever has used a gun (and hates doing so), preferring a computer and technology to confrontation and the deployment of shoe leather. The exact opposite of Winter in other words. And Krupke for that matter, but nonetheless he's responsible for ensuring a multiple times murderer reintegrates into society, and maybe ensuring that Winter doesn't make good on his threat along the way. Krupke, on the other hand, is busy with a fast developing online business which specialises in equipment, skills and structure for far-right militias.

There's a lot of interesting dynamics going on in this novel. Winter, who you'd think was the "hero" of the piece, is frankly pretty awful, whereas Arabito is hopeless but well-intentioned, and a good person. Krupke, needless to say, is a horrible piece of work, but fortunately there's something vaguely reminiscent of The Blues Brothers about those far-right militias that he's busily building up, definitely on the thick as planks side / although considerably more dangerous than the idiots in cars in the movie. You can also clearly see this novel is written by a cop, there's glimpses of personal experience of the harder bits of the job dotted throughout the narrative.

DOUBLE JEOPARDY is action laden reading, with good non-stereotypical characters, and a plot that's delivered with realism and touches of dark humour, and an ending that will make readers sit up and pay attention. Now we just have to hope that the next novel shows up before we're all too old to remember this one coming out!