The Crooked Man

It was one of those spur of the moment purchases. It's quite obvious by now that where there are book bargains I go to them. I was browsing the buy-1-take-1 aisle as Expressions and bought 2 books that caught my attention. The Crooked Man by Philip Davison and Microchip: An Idea, Its Genesis, And The Revolution It Created by Jeffrey Zygmont. Both are quite dated, but they seemed interesting. I took on The Crooked Man 1st.

The story revolves around Harry Fielding, an understrapper. He does jobs for the spooks at the MI5, stuff they wouldn't want to be traced back to them. Anything from assassinations to snooping on their own people. The story starts with Fielding's confession. He witnessed a murder committed by hist next door neighbor. It was his testimony that got her convicted. Though the only witness, he was supposed to be implicated in the murder. However, he was extricated from jail by his handler.  He was needed on a job and the timing of his jail time couldn't have been worse. So they pulled strings to get him sprung.

He was paid to spy on a mistress. He followed the young lady for a day and while spying on her home he finds out her lover is a minister of parliament. He then witnesses a heated argument, one where she ends up dead. He's able to capture it all on his old camera. He then recovers from his shock and manages to sneak the politician out of the house and calls his handler. Unwittingly, he had to go along and erase all evidence of the murder with his handler.

The story then takes a few twists when he is tasked to kill the reporter ex-lover of the now 'missing' woman who's snooping around and getting dangerously close to exposing his ex's love affair with the politician. After 2 murders, Fielding suddenly develops a conscience and doesn't kill the man. He entraps him, takes the evidence and warns him to get out of the country. Fielding decides to quit his job.

Well, it turned out it he couldn't simply leave his handler. His handler needs someone like him. And he was determined to get Fielding back. Fielding had no choice but to go back after he finds out his young niece went missing one school day. The day he gets back to London to console his brother who was desperately attempting to find the missing girl, he gets news that his friend's hotel that he hid out in was burned to the ground. All the while, he was trying to desperately contact his handler. When his handler knew his message was understood, Fielding's niece turns up in a random police station.

Having been broken, his handler gives him his next job. One drunken night though, he killed a foreigner. That lands him in jail. This time though, he is sprung by his handler's boss. A surprising turn of events, he is contracted by this higher level spook to be his man.

The story ends with Fielding finally extracting his revenge on his handler, managing to make an unwilling accomplice out of the politician whose hide he saved previously.

The twists in this story are quite interesting. It's not your usual spook novel. It's a lot more darker and moody than anything I've read so far. I guess that why I liked it. And I guess the only logical thing to do now is to buy another Philip Davison book.