Book Review : Neil Cross - The Calling (2011)
''Do you know what happens in prison?'' says Bixby. ''To men like me?''
''I don't know. Poetic justice?''
''I see. So rape's all right as long as you hate the victim.''
Cult British television show Luther gained a dedicated, borderline obsessive following since it first aired in 2010. It's difficult to pinpoint what makes it more compelling than other cop shows : victims often die, bad guys are seldom brought to justice and cops often get criticized even if they courageously risk their lives to solve cases over and over again. It's a thoroughly unsatisfying fiction, but it is so unlike every cop show you've ever seen, you end up loving it for its dark, yet profoundly original take on human nature. Author Neil Cross has been writing novels long before he was writing the Luther series.
He published The Calling in 2011 as a prequel to season 1 and as a side project of a Luther mystery series that has yet to see a second volume. I'm sure you didn't need the validation, but I need to say it: it's wonderful.
If you've watched the first season of Luther, you must remember the gripping, visceral first scene where DCI John Luther chases a madman into an abandoned building. The Calling is actually about what leads to that scene and the events of season 1, so I would recommend you at least watch this episode before reading the novel. Like the series, the novel focuses on a couple of cases John Luther has to juggle with, while trying to maintain some kind of mental health. But when he is challenged by a psychopath obsessed with couples who successfully underwent fertility treatment, the real John Luther surfaces and there is nothing those who love him can do to save him from himself. There is nothing more threatening for a psychopath than someone willing to match his level of obsession and violence. That's just how we like our Luther.
So, is The Calling different from the series and if it is, how so and how much? It's fairly different in the sense Neil Cross uses the novel to go inside the mind of Luther the way television just can't allow him to. There are several depictions of how ridiculously tired John Luther is in the novel and how his boss Rose Teller manipulates him into staying on the clock. It doesn't show in the series, but Teller is one cold-hearted woman who doesn't seem to care her best detective's marriage is going up in flames. I would say The Callingwears the psychological thriller title better than most fiction of this genre does because it focuses on the psychological implications of horrible crimes on the investigator's lives without wreching useless emotion out of it. It's not exactly an introduction point to the Luther series, but it's a good way to heighten the enjoyment. I'd rewatch some episodes after reading The Calling.
''We're in a rush'' Luther says. ''So do me a favour, put down the bouquet and come with us.''
''Why?'' says Tonga. ''Where we going?''
''To the woods. We're going to beat you shitless, shoot you in the head and throw you in the river.'' He shows his teeth''; you wouldn't call it a smile. ''Only joking.''
Neil Cross is a talented writer. Very talented even, but there are a couple of holes in his game I could notice in The Calling. He tends to go overboard with metaphor at times. The first time I've read ''is heart is a furnace'', I had a powerful image in my mind right away, but Cross keeps using this transcendant imagery over and over again, so that it loses its potency and becomes mildly annoying by the end of the novel, like he's using it as a crutch. That and violence made to dogs. It's kind of a shortcut to elicit a reaction from your reader and there is an unnatural amount of violence made to dogs in that novel. I think there is like three or four occurrence. It made my dog-owner heart sink a little, but I'm aware it's just a device to engineer emotion.DCI John Lutheris a fantastic creation. He is a man with values of dedication and courage I understand and look up to. Luther is a series I morally agree with. I think that is where my enjoyment stems from.
The Calling is a wonderful novel, a taut psychological thriller that would make the toughest reader feel nervous. Most of the cop stories you've ever seen/read are moral dramas, but Luther surfs the grey line between law and justice that the most hardboiled of readers will appreciate. If you're not a fan of Luther yet, watch the series first. pick up The Calling and prepare for some serious Luther overtime action.
