The CWA Dagger in the Library

I've written many times on this blog, and elsewhere, about my lifelong love of libraries. I vividly remember being, at the age of ten, allowed to become the smallest member of the adult section of Northwich Library, in order to feed my addiction to Agatha Christie, and then to many other crime writers. And in recent years, in recent weeks even, I've enjoyed doing a range of library events up and down the country, as well as hosting Alibis in the Archives at Gladstone's Library.

So you can imagine that I'm as pleased as Punch to find my name on the shortlist for the CWA Dagger in the Library, along with such luminaries as Nicci French, Peter May, Simon Kernick, Rebecca Tope, and Keith Miles (aka Edward Marston). This is an award where the nominees are selected by librarians throughout Britain, and I'm duly honoured.

There are some truly wonderful libraries in this country. It's been a privilege for me, over the past few years, to become quite closely associated with the British Library, and that relationship, in particular with Rob Davies and his team in the publications department, has brought me enormous pleasure. The same goes for Louisa Yates and her colleagues at Gladstone's, a very different place, an independent library run as a charity, and rich in history, atmosphere and charm.

And then there are the public libraries which mean so much to the communities of which they form part. I've enjoyed working, for instance, with local and area librarians, and also a Friends Group in Stockton Heath which aims to support the professional staff in a variety of ways.

Hard to believe, but it's almost two years since I wrote about the threat posed to Lymm Library, a short walk away from my home. Like other local people, I was deeply worried about its future, but I'm thrilled to be able to report that it's just been announced that the library is not only to be saved, the empty space in the building is to be utilised for the benefit of the community: the detail is here.

So there is a great deal of room for optimism about libraries, despite the undoubted financial pressures they face, if all of us who believe in libraries pull together. I look forward very much to trying to play a part, in the coming months and years, to trying to play a small part in helping their almost limitless potential to be realised for the benefit of communities not just in my neck of the woods, but further afield as well.

Target

Simon Kernick’s action thrillers have earned him a massive readership, and it’s easy to see why. He specialises in placing his characters in extreme jeopardy right from the outset – and keeping them there all the way to a dramatic finale. The pace is fast, there is plenty of violence and the stakes are invariably high.

Target is his latest, and it features a psychopathic villain, a nasty criminal mastermind, and a kidnapping with a clever financial motive that turns out to be very different from the conventional ransom demand. I gulped it down very quickly, and was reminded, as with previous Kernick books, of my old favourite Francis Durbridge.

Kernick and Durbridge are writers of different generations, but both specialists in the cliffhanger chapter ending – and they are very good at building suspense in a manner that is genuinely thrilling. Both are unpretentious writers who share a real commitment to lively entertainment that deserves respect.

Target reads like a book that has been written quickly, and writing at speed is a method which has much to commend it when working on a thriller, because it helps to enhance the sheer relentlessness of the twists and turns of the narrative. The dictates of the story mean that there isn’t much scope for character development (although, as usual, we have the trusted character who turns out not to be what he or she seems) and there isn’t much in the way of atmospheric setting – but you get what you pay for, and readers who like an exciting roller coaster ride will be well satisfied. .