Critical Mick

Reviews Free of Rules.

Reviews by the Clown that All Other Critics Want to Strangle with a Black Turtleneck

The Rule Book
by Rob Kitchin
Pen Press, 2009

This Book Rules

Evil bastard Critical Mick, a big fan of Irish Crime Fiction, is always delighted to find a new author to rave about or to slam. Rob Kitchin's debut novel, The Rule Book arrived through the letterbox, seeming to be something about Irish serial killers- generally a disappointing premise. Will The Raven fly more convincingly than The Mercury Man?

Author of academic texts such as The Cognition of Geographic Space, Maynooth-based Rob Kitchin demonstrates with The Rule Book that can also write fiction convincingly. His debut novel opens with the discovery of a woman's body at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, murdered by a sword in what appears to be a bizarre sacrifice. Nearby is a typed note, headed "The Rules: Chapter One M: Choosing a victim R" and business cards which read "The Rule Book: A Self-Help Guide to would-be serial killers. In all good bookshops soon."

A killer- soon to be known in the media as The Raven- vows to deliver his rule book one chapter, one victim per day over the course of a week. To catch him and save six lives, a recently-widowed member of An Garda Síochána named Detective Superintendent Colm McEvoy must find the strength and smarts to identify the boldest serial killer Ireland has ever seen. The novel is structured into eight chapters, each of which corresponds to one day. These chapters are then divided into smaller scenes, each just a page or two. As with Declan Burke's The Big O, the pages keep turning and turning. Praise is very much due for breaking the mystery genre's cornier rules. In almost every crime film or feature, for example, the baddie turns out to be a character with whom the detective has been acquainted all along. The murderer in 1980's courtroom drama Suspect, for instance, turning out to be the judge trying Cher's case. Ugh! That might be a twist that conforms to literary convention, but it's about as likely in reality as mega-hottie Paulina Porizkova developing a deep sexual fixation with an irreverent online reviewer.

Not this kind of Rule book!

Another rule that Kitchin breaks is the obligatory love interest. McEvoy, single and lonely, at one stage meets a single woman with whom he has much in common. Hollywood would have insisted on a romantic subplot- as if cops who are focused for 20 hours a day on preventing the next murder would have time for a big wet snog. Tom Bale's Skin and Bones lost credibility for abiding by that rule.

The Rule Book deserves praise for breaking one other golden diktat of detective fiction, but for that readers have to wait for Kitchin's Epilogue. Nothing is predictable.

Reality- providing a true demonstration of setting, procedure, and human reaction- is one of the literary virtues most highly prized her at criticalmick.com. Irish crime fiction should reflect an actual Ireland, not some made-up landscape. In this Rob Kitchin overcomes one of the failings of Gene Kerrigan and Declan Hughes. The Rule Book takes place against the backdrop of The White Horse pub, Donabate Strand, Lucan Village- real places in the Greater Dublin area. This is brilliant – I know these spots, and will imagine Kitchin's crime scenes the next time I visit each.

Rob Kitchin has put a lot of himself into this novel

Critical Mick says: The Rule Book puts Rob Kitchin on the Irish Crime map. It's gripping, gruesome, and a hell of a fun puzzle. It shows careful research (right down to the latitude and longitude of various points around Dublin's Phoenix Park) and digs deep into an interesting character. I was kept guessing until the end, desperately hoping that this novel would not go the crappy Hollywood route. There is a town called Hollywood in Ireland, but this serial killer's spree gives it a wide berth.

Chapter 9: Do Not Piss Off Serial Killers

Critical Mick recommends Rob Kitchin's May 2009 interview on Crime Always Pays.

Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2009 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

Irate, huh? Managed to piss off another one? Direct your hatemail to mick @ mickhalpin dot com.

This Page Was Last Updated On 24 June, 2009.