Dirty Tricks

I encountered Michael Dibdin relatively recently after having spent many years in the company of more classical exponents of the murder mystery genre. His Aurelio Zen series therefore evoked gentle pleasure rather than the more satisfying cerebral stimulation that classicists such as PD James or Elizabeth George invariably provoke. Dirty Tricks, however, is entirely a different kettle of fish. Imagine James M. Cain and Jim Thompson transported from the gritty American urban world to genteel English suburbia. Crime noir at its finest. You get the typical story of a loser who is caught up in a whirlpool of misfortune that is almost completely of his own making and who cannot make a single decision that does not break some law or moral ethic with the finality of a femur cracking in a dozen places. You also get sparkling wit, wicked satire and a fine English sensibility brought to bear on social situations that, let's face it, most have encountered at some time or the other. Mr Dibdin's unnamed 40-something protagonist is urbane, suave, sophisticated, erudite. He is also completely amoral, cynical, selfish and quite vicious. Oh, and he's also a loser. His first-person narrative is sandwiched between a set of correspondence that appears to be between two diplomats seeking his extradition from an anonymous banana republic to stand trial. The mail makes for an obscure start to the book as one desperately tries to figure out the allusions and just what is going on. However, as it lasts a mere two pages, it isn't long before Michael - I shall call him Michael, for want of a name - starts his story. And it is a tale exceedingly well told. By the way, a couple of reviewers have referred to the central character as "Tim", which just goes to prove my point that the opening correspondence in the book is obscure and confusing. That correspondence is signed "Tim" but it is quite evidently not from the main narrator who remains nameless, as far as I can remember. Nameless, Michael may be, but unmemorable he certainly isn't. The true test of a first-person narrative by a despicable cad is if the author can contrive to make the reader identify with the cad in some way. I don't mean sympathize, for one obviously doesn't sympathize with someone as deplorably deficient in morality as Michael, dear me, no. That would be quite the wrong thing to do, and we readers most certainly don't want to get caught doing the wrong thing. That's why we need characters like Michael to do them for us. So we don't sympathize with Michael, but we do something else. We cheer him on as he slides his sharp, often self-deprecating stiletto into the fussy and hypocritical mores we take for granted in our lives even as we tut-tut over his inevitable slide into the pit he has dug for himself. Michael's lampooning of the people he meets and the social situations he encounters is, of course, symptomatic of his selfishness and his view of himself as the center of the universe. But it is so d

Very often when a book is described as derivative or is almost a different version of a previous work, the reader should expect very little. "Dirty Tricks", by Mr. Michael Dibdin is very similar to, "The Book Of Evidence" by Mr. John Banville. The latter of the mentioned books was published first. The work was excellent and I commented on the book recently. I knew nothing of the similarity prior to my reading Mr. Dibdin's work, however there was no disappointment at all.These are both very fine albeit different writers stylistically. Mr. Dibdin tends to be more straightforward; the reader knows where they stand when the work comes to the end. Mr. Banville's writing has been categorized as post modern. The latter label sounds a bit pretentious to me, however without denigrating the work of Mr. Dibdin Mr. Banville's work is more contemplative, he sets a more serious tone and asks more from his readers. I have read both Authors extensively and would say that Mr. Dibdin would appeal to a larger audience on the first reading while Mr. Banville is a more acquired taste. The extra effort is time exceedingly well spent.Both works are almost entirely first person narratives that are conversationally directed at a group that will pass Judgement on the Narrator. Mr. Banville has commented that Narrators by definition are not to be trusted because of their view, so his character is confused and what is truth and what is fantasy is unclear. Mr. Dibdin's character is guilty of similar behavior in the eyes of the law but to a lesser degree. However Tim in, "Dirty Tricks", is by far the more repulsive.Tim calculates everything, will exploit anyone, and is planning how to move from one conquest to the next before finishing with the first. Mr. Dibdin does a wonderful job of getting the reader to despise the individual in Tim's way, only to make you feel sympathetic for them when Tim gets his wish. Tim travels from a fairly witty academic trading pretentious comments about wine into a social climbing goldigger you will grow to hate.The book is filled with great portraits of characters like Clive who spouts such spectacular nonsense about wine until you learn he has memorized, or once having imbibed a bit will refer to the notes that come with the wine he gets every month from the club to which he subscribes. The book is great fun even as it darkens. Mr. Dibdin does a remarkable job of taking Tim from a wannabee social climber; to one you want nothing more to do with in a fairly brief but wonderfully written tale. Please read both Authors as each has written a great book. Their structure may be alarmingly similar, but the reading experience is completely unique in each.

A beautifully written book by a brilliant writer. Black humour is not everyone's cup of tea but this is well worth a read. Totally unlike most of Dibdin's books in style, this one shows him for the flexible talented genuis is is.