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If you want to vote for Fifty Grand you can do so here.
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To be honest I think making the shortlist seems like a bit of a tall order. I'm up against several huge beasts of best sellers and I imagine those books will have a hard core fan base in the thousands. I suspect the five shortlisted books will also be the five books who sold the most copies. . .but you never know, do you? So I'd certainly appreciate your vote.
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Fifty Grand's always been a bit of an ugly duckling. I've gotten some barmy reviews from left wingers who say my portrayal of Cuba is fascist propaganda; I've also been attacked by right wing nuts who say that my description of immigrant life in New Mexico and Colorado is blatant commie propaganda. They can't both be right, can they? I then had to deal with some potential libel issues and a breach of copyright suit from the Church of Scientology (because I quoted from one of their rather eccentric questionnaires). Fifty Grand also seems to stir up strong passions among online reviewers (I got almost no print reviews in the US (thank you Henry Holt!)) who generally either love or hate the book. Some of the online reviews are pretty heavy but on the other hand I got a really nice review in The Guardian and Fifty Grand won the 2010 Spinetingler Award which is also voted on by the general public.
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Anyway if you hated Fifty Grand you can go to the Theakston Prize website and vote for somebody else. If you liked it you can go there and vote for me.
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The system they have in place to prevent double voting isn't the greatest one so if you want to vote Chicago style, feel free. (I voted only once and not for me.)
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And finally, for the Amazon reviewer who didn't believe Cuba could possibly be as bad as I've portrayed it and claimed that I hadn't been there at all...here's a link to an article I wrote for The Times about just one of my trips to Havana, and here's a link to the blog of Yoani Sanchez, a young Cuban woman, who despite being daily intimidated and on one occasion beaten up by Raul Castro's secret police, still bravely tells it like it is.
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Slainte and thank you for your vote!
90 comments:
I'd no idea the book had been attacked by so many. Over at The Drowning Machine, my erstwhile blogging partner, Corey Wilde, gave it a fine review as well as awarding it his inaugural Hot Dam Award, for the best work of crime fiction in 2009. And after reading it, I could only concur.
Naomi
Wow the Hot Dam Award sounds very cool. I wish someone had informed me, I would have stuck it on the paperback!
Voted! Good luck!
Voted. I decided to be fair and looked over all the titles. Hung me up a bit when I saw I could vote for either FIFTY GRAND or THE TWELVE, but not both. Pondered for a few minutes and chose FIFTY GRAND, though I hope THE TWELVE makes the short list, as well. (THE TWELVE is a much better title than GHOSTS OF BELFAST, IMO.)
Reading the slams FIFTY GRAND received from some reviewers made me go back and look at my review, written when the book first came out. Now I might have to read it again.
For what it's worth, here's my review as ti appeared in NEW MYSTERY READER: (Adrian does not know i was going to do this.)
Adrian McKinty has been a writer to be watched since his debut novel Dead I Well May Be in 2003. The anti-hero of DIWMB, Michael Forsythe, appeared in two more books (The Dead Yard and The Bloomsday Dead) before McKinty decided Forsythe had suffered enough. (No slur intended; Forsythe’s trials sometimes made The Passion of the Christ look like a Lifetime movie.) His newest book, Fifty Grand, has been much anticipated. The hype was not unjustified.
Detective Mercado (we never get her real first name) is a Havana cop whose father defected when she was a child. After Dad is killed in a Colorado hit-and-run, journalist brother and Party member Ricky sneaks away from a New York assignment to track down some information. Mercado has vengeance on her mind and a difficult trail to find it.
The book moves back and forth through time, with elements of the movie Michael Clayton; the opening scene actually takes place toward the end, and the reader is taken back in time to work up to it. It’s trick to pull off, but McKinty has it under control. He knows exactly how much to tell, and how to make it memorable enough to be anticipated two hundred pages later.
Mercado is a well defined protagonist. Tough as she has to be when, but not always so sure she wants to be. McKinty writes in a female voice unselfconsciously, never drawing the reader away from inside Mercado’s head. He takes risks, but always reveals just enough to maintain the compact of believability promised at the beginning.
The Forsythe books were known for violent and complex endings, and McKinty does not disappoint. The climax on a frozen lake in Wyoming is properly graphic and bloody. Never gratuitous, McKinty has a knack for allowing the reader to feel not only Mercado’s terror, but her determination to get out of the situation. It’s the kind of scene that will look great in a movie, but still won’t be as good as the book, as the movie can’t get inside her head like McKinty does.
The writing style can be described as how James Ellroy might write if Ellroy hadn’t decided he alone was God’s gift to crime fiction. Tight narration and dialog. Short sentences and paragraphs, using white space to pull the reader’s along almost hypnotically. No word is wasted, yet descriptions and emotions are not slighted. Take this excerpt from Page 172:
For all of recorded history and for the million years before that humans have taken vengeance into their own hands. A simple code. Kill one of ours, we’ll kill one of yours. The simplest code there is. Only in the last century or two have people given this job to outsiders. To police, lawyers, courts. And no one really buys into that 100 percent. Certainly not in Cuba, where the old ways walk the streets of Cerro and Vedado. This is what Ricky doesn’t understand. He’s never walked those streets. Cops and the rule of law are a blip in deep time.
No, we don’t completely believe in them and some part of us remembers revenge isn’t just a right—it’s a sacred obligation.
There are too many memorable scenes to recount here. Mercado’s unorthodox acquisition of a gun from a dealer stands out, as does, of course, the scene on the lake. Like Ellroy, McKinty sometimes uses real people in his stories. Raul Castro plays a small, but pivotal part.
Fifty Grand isn’t for everyone. Those who like bloodless murders solved by doddering old ladies or adorable felines will be upset by the language and manners of death. So it goes. If you enjoy tightly written yet colorful prose used to tell a story that always seems to have one more layer, then Fifty Grand should go onto your To Be Read pile immediately. Just don’t leave it there too long.
That's a very nice review, Dana.
I was a bit afraid in Santa Cruz that the lefty stance on Cuba would work against it, but I sold quite a few copies of it, and never heard that complaint.Or any complaint, actually.In fact, there were four or five people on staff who ended up reading it,and quite unusually everybody really liked it. And its not the kind of place where people tone down their opinions.
I thought the climactic scene on the ice postively sang.
And looking at the long list, it really is an honor to be nominated. Those beer brewers really know how to pick 'em.
Is 50 Grand your favourite book cover design? I think it looks great.
I voted.
Mike
Thanks man, I appreciate it!
Sorry about Stoke.
Dana
I remember that and I REALLY appreciate it. That was a very thoughtful review unlike the slams which are all pretty knee jerk arent they? I mean not that I cant take criticism. I do read ALL the reviews, and the ones that make me think do have an impact. The silly ones I just ignore.
It would be great if all 4 Irish writers on the long list made the short list! Somehow though that looks VERY unlikely.
Seana
I just called it as I saw it. And as a regular reader of Yoani's blog you'll appreciate that, if anything, I underplayed some of the elements at work there. I really didnt have an axe to grind, I just wanted to tell a story...
Frankie
I do like that cover, but I'm also a big fan of the audio cover of Falling Glass and the original Dead I Well May Be from Scribner.
I've never been to Cuba but I have a friend who's a location manager/production manager in the movie business. For about ten years he has worked in the summers in Alberta and in the winters in Cuba, mostly in TV commercials (those Corona commercials on the beach) and now he's moving his winter business to Medellin, Colombia because he finds it a safer, easier place to do business.
So, the Cuba of Fifty Grand seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
John
Well thats the way I saw it and certainly the people I interviewed felt the same.
But even if its not reasonable, the point of a novel isnt to be 100percent mimetic is it? Its to tell a good tale and that was my main focus in Fifty Grand.
I think I did at least temporarily clue one person in to Yoani's blog after Fifty Grand. It's well worth reading in any case, though I have long since stopped reading the comments.
Seana
I still read the comments on Yoani's blog and boy they depress the hell out of me. The Chomsky/Sean Penn wing of the North American public seem to think that she is a CIA agent spouting evil propaganda against the Castro brothers and their personal island utopia.
Did you read the blog post she wrote when she met Jimmy Carter? The comments on that one were particularly thick.
I didn't but I will look for it.
I don't know exactly why it is, but although I find the comments on most of the blogs I read interesting and entertaining, I find almost every other comment forum tedious as hell.
Seana
And scary. I read the comments on stories in The Daily Telegraph (UK)and my god they are batty. The Daily Telegraph is one of the better quality broadsheets but from the comments it seems to be read only by wacko conspiracy theorists.
Anon
Why didn't you vote for yourself?!!!!!
Anon
Dont you think there's something a bit creepy about voting for yourself?
The Daily (Hate) Mail has the strangest comment threads which isn't unusual considering the poisonous bile it spews day after day.
I'm loathe to direct anyone there but it's worth a visit just to see the complete idiocy of some of the commenters.
p.s. Voted
Rob
Shockingly copyedited is the Mail. For a paper with such a high circ and readership, it feels like its been edited by monkeys on work experience.
Thanks for the vote.
Speaking of strange reviews, about a year ago I referenced Fifty Grand in my honours thesis and one of the markers found the portrayal of Detective Mercado to be rather misogynistic. I received a high distinction for the thesis, so I'm guessing they didn't understand the character. That, or violence + knife + woman (and ignoring the context these elements found themselves in in your fine novel) = academic finger waggling and cries of misogyny.
Either way, I loved Fifty Grand and have voted for it.
JS--
It makes you wonder what they would have made of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Yeah, the scary part of comments is probably what I'm in denial about when I only notice their derivative qualities.
JS
Misogynist? I thought she was a smart, spunky heroine who used her brains, could handle herself in a fight and was a beacon of morality in a morass of corruption, but what do I know?
JS
And thanks for the vote!
Seana
I just pity the poor bastard doing a PhD 100 years from now who has to trawl through all the comments on say the Royal Wedding coverage in the Daily Mail so they can understand our culture.
What's sad to me is that even I have to know that Pippa stole the show.
Voted.
I believe you can vote more than once...if so, I am guilty but I sincerely loved the book. I liked how we get to know Mercado's past in flashbacks throughout the book. Each tidbit of info about her makes her quest more understandable. I loved the twist at the end,totally unexpected by me. The ending made me sad and being not so ambiguous I had to accept it.
Being an audiobook ho, I can tell you that Paula Christensen was an excellent narrator...one of the best I've heard. I didn't want the book to end. Some of the reviews I have read state they couldn't get into it. I find that so hard to relate to because I liked it instantly.
Dana, thank you for copying your review...I enjoyed it. I agree with the layers....there were many. I like that.
I had a hard tome choosing between Fifty Grand and The Twelve as well. I also enjoyed Alan Glynn's Winterland quite a lot.
I picked Fifty because Mercado was ultimately the most fully fleshed character.
Congratulations!
Thats funny as I just decided today that the Daily Telegraph is my preferred paper. Its politics dont annoy me like the other papers. Maybe thats because im one of those wacko conspiracy theorists.
I read The Daily Telegraph because I read Dark Moon: Apollo and the Whistle-Blowers. Good book.
Seana
Fell for the wrong sister he did.
Shulla
Thank you for your vote!
Trudy
Yeah that one vote system isnt so brilliant is it?
I'm glad you liked the audio. Some of the more unpleasant reviews have been on audible.
And thank you for your vote!
Frankie
Oh I read the Daily Telegraph every day. Except for their constant Obama Is Doomed meme I think its fine. Its the comments that are filled with the wacko conspiracy theorists. Pretty much under every article.
Frankly, I'm not really getting the whole Pippa fascination. In any case, I'd think she'd be more Harry's type of gal.
Ok I had to change the link to the Theakston site because I got several emails from people telling me they tried to vote and it said that they had already voted when they hadnt.
I've now linked to the main Theakson web page where you can find the VOTE tab on the top right.
This system seems deeply flawed to me. If you vote and then click the "back" button it seems you can vote as many times as you want.
Whats to stop unscrupulous publishers from getting one of their staffers to do precisely that a thousand times a day? Is that really the best system for picking the short list for one of the major crime writing awards in Europe?
And of course it makes me feel like a bit of a schmuck for voting only one time and for someone else (allbeit someone who is a friend of mine).
But only A BIT of a schmuck because to be honest I never thought I'd make the shortlist anyway.
Vote submitted.
How long has Theakston's Old Peculier sponsored a writing award? And what a great combination: lethally strong beer and crime writing.
David
I think its been going about seven or eight years. I too like Theakstons Old P. Esp on draft, in Yorkshire, in the Slaughtered Lamb.
Maybe they were drinking a bit too much of their own brew when they come up with that voting procedure.
Seana,
Ha!
Yeah they might well have been.
Did you ever vote any of the Spinetingler prizes? They had a pretty good system.
I did. I just can't remember anything about how they set up the voting. But then, I'm not running a contest, am I?
I was just reading a goddSlate has a good if piece on Slate about the Five Stages of Star Wars Grief for anyone who might find it therapeutic...
Seana
I read that. I found it strange that he didnt mention Redlettermedia's 4 hour video deconstruction of the prequels. Thats petty much the Bible now amongst recovering Star Wars fans.
I also thought it was weird that Hitchens has released his fighting words column as an Amazon ebook and not on Slate. I cant really afford to spend money on journalism no matter how good.
You're right, it is strange about RedLetterMedia now that I think about it. The commenters got right on it, though.
It seems fine to me to sell the collected journalism as an ebook, if people want to pay a bit more to have it all together instead of doing the work to find it themselves on line. If that's what it is, I mean.
I read your article on Cuba. Very interesting. In your opinion has America's relationship with Cuba contributed to the corruption and explotation that you found in the country? I mean in terms of people being desperate for money. If the people weren't, would the country be like that?
I meant to say that Sex Tourists should have their passports taken off them so they cant travel. If they cant behave like decent human beings. Failing that- just shot em i guess.
Frankie
The embargo doesnt help and it should be ended because the Castro brothers use it as an excuse. I mean Cuba is allowed to trade with every other country in the world but they get free gas from Venezuela but they still blame all their problems on the embargo with America.
Cuba's main problem of course is disastrous economic mismanagement. No family even the Einstein family should govern a country for fifty years and the Castros are not geniuses.
That first link now takes one to a Theakston's site that offers no apparent place to vote.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Aha. Let me try again.
Nope, no vote tab that I can see.
I don't know what link you're using, but if you go here and click on the Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, it should take you to the contestants. At least it just worked for me.
That link does not exist, according to the message I get.
Oops, forgot to test the link.
Voted.
I was happy to see the list as I'm always on the lookout for a good read or listen.
Hope you win.
Seana, that's the page I got, but there's no "vote" tab on it.
Peter
Click the first link. Wait a moment while the Theakston page loads and the Crime Writing Link page is in the top right of the screen.
Steve
thank you and I'm glad the list gave you some other ideas of books to read!
It doesn't say vote here, right under the big red fingerprint?
I see what your saying. You know what I love? The diesel trains that are still going strong in Cuba, were made in Derbyshire. England sold trains to Cuba. Thats so cool.
Peter
Your browser must be fucked. I tested Seana's link and it worked fine. The voting button is on the top right of the screen. To test my double vote theory I voted for Winterland hit the back browser and lo and behold Winterland was unclicked and I could vote again.
Insane system!
Frankie
Except that the trains are shite. It took me 18 hours to travel from Havana to Santiago at an average speed of about 10 MPH.
Hey we didnt build the tracks. Well stick with your democracy and Bullet trains then..see where that gets you.
I'll try again on a different computer.
Got it. I am so given by nature to following instructions to the letter and doing exactly what is asked of me that I looked at the top right and found nothing. Now that I look a little below that, for the fingerprint, I found the link.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
Its a good list isnt it? And you can see why I am making no plans to go to Harrogate.
I keep wondering if there is some implicit instruction here to stay up day and night and keep clicking on, uh, whatever book we're voting for.
Peter, I guess I should think about my revamped career being in tech support and not in anything that requires typing links.
Yep, lots of Edgar winners and Dagger winners and prestigious names. I know that respect and a couple of bucks will get you on the subway, but you should be proud to be in that company.
Off topic, I'm about to finish my first book by your man David Corbett. Man, is that guy good.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Seana
You can stay up all night clicking for Fifty Grand if you want but I certainly wont be doing that. Point of principle now that I wont vote for myself even one time.
Its an absurd system though. Absurd. Spinetingler did it much better.
Seana, you'd do fine on tech support. It's our host, Adrian, who ought to cancel any plans to move to Bangalore.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
He's great isnt he? And a great bloke too.
Frankie
At one point on that long trip to Santiago, out of sheer boredom I got out the back of the train and ran behind it for a bit before jumping back on again.
Peter
The only one on the list I actively dont like is 61 Hours which I thought was very pedestrian, but I've read half a dozen of the others and enjoyed them all.
Of course 61 Hours will probably win the whole thing.
David Corbett is the author of this statement from Bouchercon 2010. I don’t remember if he and I were introduced at Noircon in Philadelphia a couple of months later, but we did share a table and a bit of chat at one of the conference’s beer-and-sausage outings. Yep, he seems like a nice guy. And now, I can add, one of the highlights of my crime-fiction reading. He’s a hell of a writer.
I think Andrew Taylor was on that list, winner of I believe four CWA Daggers including one for lifetime achievement. That's big competition.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I tell you what, it was a bit Sophie's Choice between you and Stuart Neville but I found his latest a bit melodramatic at the end so you swung it.
What about Liz visiting the South?
Rob, apparently you could have voted for one each.
Adrian, who said I was going to spend my 50,000 votes on 50 Grand?
Actually, the failed system means you can't feel that bad about losing, or really, that great about winning.
It reminds me a bit of what cheating does in the high school and college systems, when your fellow students might be paying someone like this.
Hey Seana, why buy a term paper when you can pick up the whole degree?
The really troubling thing about the scam is how few people with fake degrees did their jobs just fine.
Well, right after I cast my 50,000 votes, I am going to get myself an MFA.
I know--probably not worth the 4000 dollars I'll spend on it, but it will look nice on my wall. That advice to get a frame towards the end is good. I wouldn't have thought of that.
Come on--an MFA. Who could I hurt?
Peter
I'll bet the name Foucault was in the original question somewhere wasnt it?
John
I worry about the fake surgeons.
You mean the question that led to Corbett's reply? It wasn't a question, it was the moderator's introduction to a panel on San Francisco Noir, so Foucault probably did not come up. Given how long the introduction was, though, maybe he did. I remember one word I wrote in my notebook: "LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG introduction."
==========================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter
I've only ever done one convention or festival and that was the Perth Writers Festival. I was so giddy with excitement that I told the truth to every question I was asked. I've never been invited to a convention since.
Well, Anthony Neil Smith, on panels at Noircon, would make a point of saying, "Fuck you!" when someone asked him his definition of noir.
You should come to Noircon 2012 and see if he does in again.
==========================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I would have said that its the masculine singular for the word black in French.
Voted!
Ahem condolences for the 0-5 trashing
Marco
Dude.
Where ya bin?
The most shocking part of the 5:0 was the fact that I stayed up to watch it. All of it.
Go Barca.
It's too bad the latest cover has a
woman holding a pistol. When I read
the book I was surprised that the main
character was female. That kind of
gives it away. I really liked it though and
it lead me to read all of your books (even the teen fantasy). Anyway, I
follow your blog, thanks for that, I highly respect your opinions on
books et.
Marky
Yeah the cover ruins the suspense of chapter 1 a little doesnt it?
Yes, to me it ruins it more than
a little. The author has little or no
control over the dust jacket right?
Like those strong female protagonists
though. Have you seen "Hanna"? The star, Saorise Ronan was raised in
County Carlow. The film is nothing like the trailer, kinda quirky and
brutal.
retract comment
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