Tag Archives: W. H.. Clark

Fiction, Reviews

‘Made in Blood,’ by W. H. Clark

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Way back in 2015, I found W. H. Clark’s first novel, and praised it in these words:

The book under consideration here is an example of a type of novel I like very much. It’s a “small” mystery, localized and character-driven. No international conspiracies; no shadowy government agents. 

In 2022, I reviewed his second novel positively, though I complained that it was rather dark.

My imagination suggests to me that author Clark must have seen my 2015 review and hated it, because he seems to have designed his third novel, Made in Blood, to counter almost everything I said in praise in my first review. Made in Blood is a far-flung mystery, covering a lot of territory. It concentrates on international conspiracies and shadowy government agents. (I’ll concede that it was pretty character-driven, though.)

“Ward,” (he never explains whether it’s his first or last name), our continuing hero, was once a sniper in the Afghanistan war. Later he was a Texas Ranger, and now he’s a cop in Montana. He’s still recovering from the trauma of his last case when he gets cryptic phone call from a stranger. He immediately understands the message. His old friend, his one-time Army spotter Randall, has been killed. It will now be Ward’s job to avenge him.

The story that follows ranges episodically over a lot of country and time. Periods of inactivity will be punctuated with violence, abductions, and torture. Long flashbacks will tell us what happened to him in Afghanistan. Ward will kill men. Women will flirt with him, but he’ll brush them off. He will uncover an ugly story of war profiteering, political corruption, and ruthless terrorism.

I found Made in Blood a little implausible. The character of Randall was so extreme as to challenge belief. The fact that the author strayed into politics did not charm me, though I stayed with the story to the ending – an ending which I found just creepy.

On the plus side, the writing, as always before, was quite good. Though the author is English, he handles American idiom extremely well – except that he seems not to know that what he calls a “catapult” is known as a slingshot over here.

I’m done with W. H. Clark. He’s a good writer, but I’m not interested in what he’s selling these days.

Fiction, Reviews

‘If I Scream,’ by W. H. Clark

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I was wandering through some of the old reviews on this site, and I found a review of An End to a Silence, by W. H. Clark. I liked the book quite a lot and noted that I wished the sequel were available (it’s intended as a trilogy). I checked again now, and found that the second book, If I Scream, is out, so I bought it. It has most of the virtues of the first book, and engaged me deeply. Except for one thing…

A young woman, pale and emaciated, appears along a Montana highway. A kindly man stops to help her, and seeing her condition and hearing her say something about being held a prisoner, he heads for the police station. But on the way she distracts him, and he smashes into a car in an intersection. They are both rushed to a hospital, where the young woman quickly dies.

This is a case for Ward, the mysterious, taciturn former Texas Ranger, now a Montana policeman. Kidnapping and the abuse of children are things he obsesses about. But his bosses won’t devote a lot of resources to the case, because a serial killer has started working in the area. The murderer kills in various ways, and it’s hard to see what connects the men he’s murdering. So Ward is left to work the case as he can, with the help of a cop named Mallory, a victim of child abuse himself and a pariah on the force because of the things he once did at the bidding of his abuser.

Stories about child abuse chill and fascinate me, and If I Scream did the same. It’s very well-written and bears the marks of deep compassion.

My main complaint is how dark the book is. When you’re writing about as grim and tragic a subject as this, I think it’s a good idea to offer the reader a little hope. There isn’t much hope in If I Scream. It troubles me to think what a serious abuse victim might conclude from reading this story.

I do look forward to the next volume, if there is one (this book came out in 2017). If the final volume appears, I hope it has a more uplifting ending.

Fiction, Reviews

‘An End to a Silence,’ by W. H. Clark

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The book under consideration here is an example of a type of novel I like very much. It’s a “small” mystery, localized and character-driven. No international conspiracies; no shadowy government agents. An End to a Silence is the sort of mystery that’s produced more in England than in America nowadays, and as it happens the author is English, though the story is set in America, in a small town in Montana, and seems right at home.

Detective Newton is a burnt-out case, a cop whose career stalled long ago. Now he’s just marking time until retirement. But he’s called to a local nursing home, where an old man’s death has been identified as murder. When Newton sees the victim, he’s suddenly galvanized. This man, Bill O’Donnell, is a suspect in 25 year old case, the disappearance of O’Donnell’s own grandson. Newton is certain that O’Donnell killed the boy and hid the body, despite the fact that he was a kindly man, loved in the community and active in his church.

A new policeman has come to help. His name is Ward (he never explains whether it’s his first or last name), and he’s straight out of a Hollywood western. He’s from Texas, he’s tall and lean and taciturn, he wears a cowboy hat, and he has secrets. Along with investigating the murder, he gets involved in protecting a local woman from her abusive, junkie ex-husband.

The story is all about secrets, and what people do to protect themselves and those they love. There’s a surprising reversal at the end, giving us a resolution that’s not entirely satisfying, but true to life as we know it.

I enjoyed An End to a Silence very much, and regret that this is the author’s first novel. I fear I’ll forget his name before there’s another. Sex, language, and violence are relatively mild, and on top of that the Christians in the book are treated respectfully.

Recommended.