Nineteen Seventy-Four: The Red Riding Quartet, Book One

I'm so glad Vintage/Black Lizard picked these books up: I couldn't think of a better publisher for them here in the States. For it really is alongside names like Ellroy and Chandler that Peace truly belongs. His is a very distinct style of noir: highly literary and extremely gritty, more about sinning than the sin, but entirely unique. This is a wonderful series (dubbed "The Red Riding Quartet") that begins here with 1974 and ends with the book 1983, and it certainly deserves far more exposure. David Peace has received much attention lately for his book The Damned Utd.--which will soon be a somewhat unrecognizable film--but this book (and this series) is a great starting point, and I would recommend reading it before reading any of his others. Fans of both the crime-genre and/or generally moody, dark literature will find a perfect companion here. Not for the faint of heart, even difficult to read at times, I've nevertheless re-read this series three times and I keep finding more and more I like about it; it has such immense depth. I couldn't recommend it enough. I should hope more writers like Peace emerge in the near future. On a side note: how about a US reissue of GB84?

This book rips along at ninety miles an hour, from the first to the very last page. Not for the faint of heart or poorly-read, this is both a hardboiled and an erudite read, James Ellroy versus George Orwell. Peace has been singled out by the New York Times and George Pelecanos as one to watch and with good reason; this is a haunting tale of a journalist's quest to find the truth about three missing schoolgirls, written in original white-hot prose that careers between brutal and beautiful poetry, vividly recreating a bleak Britain during the strife torn Seventies. Word from the UK is that the sequel is even better. Hard to believe -buy this book.

From page one until the very end, this book literally rips along at ninety miles an hour. The plotting, characters, and attention to detail are simply superb; the brutality of the violence, corruption, and misogony is both harrowing and heart-stopping. Peace has often been compared to James Ellroy and there is undoubtedly some truth in stylistic terms, but this is a much better debut than Ellroy's Brown's Requiem ever was. This brilliant debut does not sit easily beside the usual pedestrian fare of British Crime Fiction -which is the very reason I urge readers to buy it. At last the UK has produced a writer and book capable of giving the Sceptic Tanks a run for their money.

...1974, Yorkshire, and Ed Dunford's got the job he wanted. Crime correspondent for the Evening Post. He didn't know it was going to be the season of hell.... When I first read this I really wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but the little blurbs on the back and the poem inside intrigued me, making me want to read this as soon as possible. I'm not the type of teenager who would normally pick this genre, but I'm glad I did. 1974, pulls you in by the first 10 pages, a little slow at the beginning but, well worth it. David Peace, I think captured the feeling and emotions perfectly. He has great, needed detail and description. "The whole bloody pack waiting for the main attraction, pens poised and tapes paused; hot TV lights and cigarette smoke lighting up the windowless room like a Town hall boxing ring on a Late Night Fight Night....". This is the first British book that I've read and I plan to read more, the British dialogue, was one of the really strong, emotional parts of the book, with out it the book, wouldn't be as good as it is. .1974 is the a brillant book, I know that it's word that is used a lot to describe more things that needed, But this book in one thing that truly deserves the title... Read this book, if you want to read a book, that you'll never put down, till it's over.