Remain Silent by Susie Steiner

published 2020



There are many people writing about the lives of women in their 40s and over: in newspaper columns and novels. These are the women juggling childcare and jobs, parents and children, marriages and old and new relationships, their appearance and clothes and fitness regimes, solidarity with their contemporaries with their own problems.

I recognize all this, and enjoy the teasing out of the issues, and particularly like it when writers are funny about these problems. I still wasn’t really expecting that the best description I’ve read of these times would come in a police procedural about a completely different subject…

This book is absolutely wonderful, but it is very strange: a book of two interleaved, and very different, halves.

The crime story it tells is horrendous: partly because it is not a crime novel staple – serial killers and revenge tragedies and killing sprees can be hard to read about, but they don’t happen very much in real life, you don't worry that they are happening outside your door. Susie Steiner’s subject is people-trafficking, and Eastern European immigrants brought into the UK (and of course elsewhere) and in effect working as slaves, doing dirty, unsafe jobs no-one else wants to do. They are entirely at the mercy of the gangmasters, living in squalid houses, their pitiful wages stolen from them. It is totally convincing, and absolutely horrible. I am often wary of real-life topics in novels: I spend my whole time saying ‘but is it true? Which bits are true? Is there novelistic licence, can I rely on the facts or are they exaggerated?’ But in Remain Silent I didn’t doubt for a second that Steiner had done her research and everything she wrote about these lives was true and authentic, and totally appalling. She also looks at the responses of some people who strongly object to immigration, and want to make their feelings known. The whole tricky question gets a good going over.



One of the immigrant workers has died, in strange circumstances, and DI Manon Bradshaw, our series heroine, comes to investigate. And this is where the other half kicks in: while conducting her engrossing careful investigation, we also follow her thoughts about her complicated life, her friends and children and relationships. And it is hilarious and absolutely spot on. One reviewer said there are ‘many underlying truths spoken lightly’, and that is exactly right.

There is a tour de force scene where Manon warns someone about what will happen if he breaks up his marriage: It’s not a major part of the plot, but her lecture is amazing – wince-making, totally ringing with truth, and laugh out loud funny. Similarly, she ponders elsewhere on  appearances, feminism, 
partnerships, with throwaway lines such as ‘the truth is, ill people are annoying. They don’t help much about the house.’

She is spit-out-your-coffee funny, like a superb standup, and all this is sewn into her very sad story. I could quote from her all day, but I wouldn't know where to stop.




I said this about a previous book, Persons Unknown
The book contains many features that sometimes concern me: multiple POVs, use of the present tense, and a lot of detail about personal lives and relationships of the series characters. But I loved the book, raced through it, enjoying every moment of the complex investigation, Manon’s sometimes foolish moves, and the fears and mysteries in her own home.
--you do have to keep an eye on the headings of the sections, to check which character we are following, and whether this is a flashback or not. But it was very much worth the effort.

I would have liked a little more detail about the ultimate fates of a couple of the characters, but what I really want is some hope for them...

Susie Steiner herself has been ill, and  we can only hope that the deservedly-rapturous reception for this book has been some consolation after the year she has had.

Pictures of the Port of Klaipeda, the Lithuanian city where several of the main characters have come from, and where the investigation takes the police. Steiner herself explains at the end how she visited there herself in pursuit of her story.











Comments

  1. You make such an interesting point, Moira, about the realism in a crime story. Some things are all the more appalling because we know they go on, or that they could very easily go on. It takes skill to weave a harrowing story in with a story that explores lives, relationships, and so on with wit. I give Steiner a lot of credit for that, and I hope she's well soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Margot, I had to work it out for myself and make that distinction between different kinds of crimes, but was satisfied I had found a valid mode of reasoning...
      And yes, Steiner is an admirable writer on several levels.

      Delete
  2. You have convinced me, I will have to try this author. Not now, but sometime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes do - her earlier ones might turn up at the book sale!

      Delete
  3. It does sound very, very good, Moira. Though perhaps not an easy read. Maybe something to buy and put aside for when I come out of my comfort reading phase.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am impressed by the way she did NOT make it seem strange to have the funny observational bits alternating with the horrible lives of the immigrants - I don't know how she achieved the changes of tone, she is a clever writer. And yes, not quite a comfort read...

      Delete
  4. i loved this book, bought it quickly and already loaned it to one friend and am pushing it to other friends, in England and the U.S. All of what's said above is true about the main plot. The information about Eastern European immigrant exploitation is true, I'm afraid. Eva Dolan wrote about this in her first Zigic and Ferrira Hate Crimes Unit story. Same horrible circumstances, many men to a room, little food, terrible jobs in agriculture, physical and mental abuse. Very low pay, if any. Passports taken. But Susie Steiner does a terrific job here of combining the backdrop of immigrant exploitation, good characters and the wonderfulness of Manon Bradshaw, with all of her foibles and family disorganization. We love her. She even makes fun of a women's magazine focused on women's weight and appearance, which I howled at. Such a good book. I also hope that the author gets satisfaction of knowing how cherished in her character and this book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I agree totally Kathy, and I do also send you a hat-tip and a thank you, because I think it was you who initially told me I must read Steiner, and I am very grateful. Let's hope she can continue informing and entertaining us.

      Delete
  5. Great review, and one with which I totally agree. It's not often that a police procedural contains a description of a family coat-rack which is not only completely accurate, but blisteringly funny; I read it out to anyone who would listen!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, her family life is so recognizable, it is very heart-warming. I could quote from it all day.

      Delete
  6. I'm worried about Susie Steiner, as nothing has appeared on Twitter since Sept. 14 and she has glioblastoma.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, I think she is very ill. I don't know more than you.

      Delete

Post a Comment