Kevin Sampson is the
author of eight critically acclaimed novels, and although much of his work is
concerned with the themes and issues, you would find in a crime novel, “The Killing Pool” marks his first
full-on excursion into the genre. Kevin
talks to Hull crime writer, Nick Quantrill about it:
Nick – “The
Killing Pool” is your new novel and introduces readers to DCI McCartney. What is it all about?
Kevin – It is the first in a series of crime
thrillers featuring drug liaison officer DCI Billy McCartney. McCartney is in his 50s now and has spent his
career chasing major drug traffickers. In
The Killing Pool, he is 24 hours away
from nailing the Rozaki brothers, a Liverpool-based heroin gang, when a
decapitated corpse turns up on his patch.
McCartney’s search for the killers peels back the layers of a
drug-dealing dynasty and takes Mac closer and closer to a nemesis he has been
tracking for decades.
Nick - McCartney (interesting choice of
name…) is a complex man and the heart of the story. What do you think makes him different to
other the cops on the block?
Kevin – It is an interesting choice of name,
isn’t it? McCartney is not unlike many
cops in that he’s a loner who is, seemingly, married to the job. Yet what becomes apparent, as the tale
unfolds, is Mac’s perception of himself as a modern-day Lone Ranger – a caped
crusader, of sorts. There’s a degree of
performance about his way of operating, almost as though he dons a mask and
goes out into the night to rattle the Bad Guys.
He’s a highly conflicted individual who seems incapable of forming
relationships; we’re never entirely sure, right up until the final few pages,
who Mac really is and what is driving his obsession with smack – his obsessive
desire to nail the kingpins of the heroin world. Yet there’s innocence there, too. This is Book 1 and I’d say we’ll only know
McCartney properly after the next instalment.
We’ll know, by then, a little more about his name, too.
Nick – The city of Liverpool makes for a very
effective backdrop to the complex web of crime and corruption, but there’s also
hope and heart in there, too. It becomes
a character in its own right. Is a sense
of place important to the novel, to you as a writer?
Kevin – Definitely. Liverpool is up there with Baltimore or
Naples or Marseille as a ports city that lends itself to fable and that strong
sense of place is, I think, a major asset to a great crime thriller. Whether you’re talking Chandler or Phillip
Kerr or Jo Nesbo, the setting is absolutely pungent. It goes beyond the basic function of
providing a backdrop and becomes a vital, vivid element of the story in its own
right. In The Killing Pool, it’s
important that Liverpool comes alive for the reader as a historic,
international seaport whose docks have borne witness to terrible things, over
the years. This makes the figure and the
persona of McCartney all the more poignant, somehow.
Nick - The format of the novel, as it
alternates between the protagonists all in the first person, gives it a very
claustrophobic feel. Was it a deliberate
stylistic decision? Did it make it a
more difficult novel to write, than say if you were utilising the third person
voice?
Kevin – I thought long and hard before
settling upon that narrative device. With
a thriller, plot, story, and pace are all paramount; but this is Book 1 in a
series, and I felt it just as important to establish the characters, too. I wanted readers to have a strong sense of
who McCartney is by the end of the book.
It’s not just McCartney, either – all the characters have to make an
impact, quickly. Misha, the Somali girl
who witnessed the slaying; Shakespeare, the hapless career criminal; Alfie
Manners, the seemingly bent cop; Terence Connolly, fixer to the international
drug cartels; WPC Lucinda Smithson, the idealistic uniform-cop – these
characters all have varying ‘stage time’ in the book. Some of them only appear for a page or two,
yet their role is pivotal. It’s
important that the reader gets a real sense of who they are, in the time they
have available. For me, the first person
narrative is a hugely effective way of doing that – it is, literally, character
building.
Nick – Do you see “The Killing Pool” as being a logical progression from your previous
work? Has the police procedural proved a
better vehicle for exploring the issues that are important to you as a writer?
Kevin – It’s complimentary to, but quite
distinctive from my previous novels. Readers
could draw comparisons with two earlier crime novels of mine, Outlaws and Clubland (in fact I’m hoping that some eagle-eyed readers will spot
one or two of the characters from those books hiding away in The Killing Pool!) Some of the things that have always
interested me include politics, subcultures, gangs, the inner city, corruption,
drugs, sex, identity, organised crime…and I’m fascinated by the concept of
regeneration as a physical entity and as a more abstract notion. I think the crime genre gives you the freedom
to explore all those themes in interesting ways, while still keeping you in
check with its emphasis on plot and pace.
I’ve always been quite gritty, and there’s a certain cinematic quality
to some of my writing. Having said that,
I’m by no means assuming that the crime community are going to embrace me with wide-open
arms! It’s going to be interesting to
see what people think.
Nick – What’s next for DCI McCartney?
Kevin – Next up is another historic case that
comes rearing back to life when a teenage runaway turns up in London, having
fled a compound in the Rif Mountains of Morocco. The story she tells the police brings
McCartney back to one of the very few cases he didn’t fully close – a drug-ring
on the island of Ibiza, led by a gang of wealthy playboys from Morocco.
The book trailer is
available for viewing below:
You can follow Kevin on Twitter - @ksampsonwriter or on Facebook
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