Mortal Coil
by Anthony McGowan
Hodder & Stoughton, HK$112
Anthony McGowan's novel borrows its title from Hamlet and the 1980s pop group founded by Ivo Watts-Russell: protagonist Matthew Moriarty bids farewell to a friend by playing This Mortal Coil's version of Song to the Siren. His mate, a musician called Ju, is dead because he went into business with local thug Bernie Mueller. Moriarty, a night-school teacher who doubles as a bouncer, is already familiar with the modus operandi of the gangster, who had him beaten nearly to death because he refused Mueller entry to a fancy bar. Then there was the unwise move by Moriarty of having sex with the brute's wife, and the monetary decision to track down Ju, who vanished half way through recording an album. One bad decision leads to another and violence feeds on itself. McGowan (who made an impressive debut with Stag Hunt) shows London at its grimiest and its people in an unflattering, forbidding condition. His narrative rarely relaxes its grip, clutching the reader all the way to the well-thought-out ending.