Review: Falling Slowly by Robert Fannin
(Hachette, £12.99)
The first few pages of Robert Fannin's second novel are slow and ponderous as he sets the scene -- Trollope-style -- in Bristol. Then the pace suddenly quickens and tension rises as protagonist Desmond Doyle finds his girlfriend, Daphne, dead in the bath, having cut her wrists. There are inconsistencies in her wounds and the devastated Doyle is arrested on suspicion of murder.
Although he is soon released, Detective Inspector Harry Kneebone remains suspicious of Doyle and the reader is inclined to agree with Kneebone as the book progresses.
Still grappling with Daphne's death and seeking a reason for her suicide, Doyle returns to work as an art curator and meets artist Gina Harding. Doyle's already tenuous grip on reality slips further when he sees Daphne's suicide depicted in Gina's paintings. But the paintings seem to point to an answer and Doyle finds it when he visits Daphne's family for the funeral. He uncovers secrets that ultimately caused Daphne's suicide and also leads to a gripping and terrifying showdown at sea.
Dubliner Fannin, now living in Bristol, has worked as a cartoonist (his late father, Bob was as a cartoonist with the Evening Herald for many years), an illustrator, radio presenter, fisherman and yacht skipper before becoming a journalist and playwright. In Falling Slowly (a barometric double entendre from his seafaring days) Fannin has executed a dark, psychological thriller with elements of New Age mysticism. While the sea drama is a tour de force, at times long descriptions distract from this otherwise gripping page-turner.
Buy 'Falling Slowly' from Eason
Irish Independent
