The detail is in the devil
- Back to the Devil by Christoph John
The Jon Drago series - book 3
Jon Drago, a successful writer, accepts a free holiday on the island of Crete. His only task is to review the luxury Blue Lotus Hotel and gather an interview with the owner Peter Conrad. When a dead body turns up in Conrad's apartment, Drago realises there is more to the Blue Lotus than first class service.
Along with Amy Porter, the beautiful concierge, Drago begins to uncover a chain of secrets and lies which lead into the murky underworld of gangsters, drug runners and the corrupt 'Old Families' of Crete. A sun blasted summer of shock and suspense awaits Drago - but how will he survive to tell the tale?
From the first page, the writing is immediately good, very good. The description is top-notch with an abundance of beautiful, poetic phrasing. A villa overlooking the Cretan coastline is described as ‘staring out over the oil slick darkness of Mirabello. The neon seafront cast glittering sinful colours on the black bay’. It offers ‘a spectacular view of temptation.’ The language is at times sublime. Instead of just wearing them, John’s character’s feet are ‘wrapped in sandals’. It’s a tiny detail but an example of how well the writer attends to them. A character, smoking, speaks ‘through a window in the fumes’, and the spread of a garden is restricted by it eventually being ‘eaten by the wilderness’. I could go on quoting more examples. I won’t though; it might spoil it for you because you really need to read this book for yourself.
A sense of something sinister lurking amongst the packaged holiday façade is subtly conveyed before it pounces, suddenly brutal. Great writing already and this is only the first chapter. The set-up in Crete presents some excellent characterisation with very good natural dialogue. There is really good scene setting here; I could sense the dazzling brightness of the Mediterranean sunshine and the oppressive heat is superbly conveyed in the writing, simply by a table fan ‘which shovelled the hot air around’.
The main female character’s lack of height is described by her lover-to-be as being made up for by her possessing ‘poise and authority and tits.’ The language here is knowingly crude – and extremely effective. A simmering sexiness is latent in her character, and a well-presented disharmony develops later between her and the other key female character in this story.
Some early scenes stood out for me: the nightclub is very good, both well rendered and populated. The scene setting here is particularly good and feels very real. Drago’s trip to Sitia is also well told, and I enjoyed the rich descriptive writing of an underwater snorkeling excursion, reminiscent of Fleming’s ‘The Hildebrand Rarity’ or ‘Octopussy’. The author’s uniquely creative style provides gems such as a police captain’s facial features being described from the point of view of a bead of sweat progressing from his hairline, down over his face. Forget using mirrors, it’s an inventive and highly original way in which to build a picture of a character.
Violence is well handled in this book, and the transitions to it from something else are carried out masterfully. The angles the author takes in the description of both violence and sex are uniquely creative. The action scenes too, are accomplished. The plot is revealed in a measured way, but the writing is so enjoyable it almost doesn’t need one. The descriptive writing is that good. In all, this is highly accomplished writing – high praise but due.
The mistreatment of women which was so boldly addressed in Steel Wolf is again present here. These scenes are handled very well with a young female innocence carefully portrayed, and male desire being presented objectively and without judgment through John’s beautiful, signature poetic writing. What stands out here again is the author’s bravery to focus on the pleasure of the act, rather than allowing revulsion to simply ignore or dismiss it – and instead get caught up only with issues of morality, wrong-doing, and the damage left behind. It’s a precarious line to take and it’s admirable to dare to approach a sensitive subject with such candour.
The narrative is presented in a non-linear fashion and this style works well to help build a sense of mystery. At times it can feel a little overdone but I get why it’s employed: the technique allows for key scenes to be revealed only towards the end where they achieve a greater dramatic impact. I also like the way some scenes are introduced, with a scene starting near the end, and then the narrative quickly backtracking to the beginning to follow the story forward again to where that scene had started. It’s an effective method that draws the reader in.
The central character, Jon Drago is a writer, and halfway through this story he describes his novel writing as being semi-autobiographical, ‘The elaborated truth. That’s what I write. You get a good impression of my life from my books.’ This line feels personal and I wonder how much of Drago’s adventures and character are based upon the excursions and the personality of the real author behind this book series. It’s evident from the level of detail in Back to the Devil that the author has spent some time in Crete. Every author draws on their personal experience and certainly, John has done so at least a bit, but maybe it’s more than that. Might Drago represent the author’s alter ego?
This is the third novel I’ve read in the John Drago series and I’ve enjoyed them all tremendously. A writer, caught up in dangerous situations, unflinchingly choosing to pursue a mystery or to seek out the cause of wrongdoing, Drago makes for an interesting protagonist. His character has been continually developed and deepened across the books. From this strong central pillar, the author has strung credible and engaging stories, ever populated with a believable cast of fresh supporting characters.
I look forward to reading and reviewing John’s latest release, Night of the Taranta, this time set in Puglia, Italy.
About the author
Christoph John lives, works and writes in south London. After a long career in retail management, he took a step back to fulfil his ambition of publishing a novel. The result was the first Jon Drago novel, Steel Wolf. A follow up, Gilgamesh, promptly followed. Both titles were available through Troubadour. Subsequently Chris won a Koestler Award for a poetry pamphlet The Silence of Butterflies. Chris is currently an Arts and Humanities student with the Open University. He enjoys the cinema, literature, music, history, European culture, wine and gastronomy – but not necessarily in that order. Back to the Devil is the third Jon Drago thriller.