Review: I'm Special, So Special
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 18, 2013
'Cause I gonna make you seeThere's nobody else hereNo one like meI'm special so specialI gotta have some of your attention give it to me''Brass In Pocket'. LyricsWritten by Chrissie Hynde and James Honeyman-ScottIt is rare for me to give a 5 star review, this novel deserves it.1979, do you remember what you were doing that year, what was going on in the world?  In North Wales, a land of breathtaking scenery and mountains, someone was fixated on that year. So fixated, that he kills. This is the home of Detective Inspector Ian Drake, and his colleagues who are called upon to find this murderer and bring this part of Wales back to it's norm.In the early morning hours two traffic policemen are called to a road incident on the Crimea pass above Blaenau Ffestiniog in the mountains of Snowdonia. They are found sometime later by a passing motorist, shot by a crossbow, one dead on the side of the road and the other dead in the seat of the car. DI Drake is called out, as is his team, to this lonely stretch of the road. A message of sorts is left with the bodies, and then back at the station Drake finds a photograph and lines from a song written on the back.  This is the beginning of the murders.The author, Stephen Puleston has written such a clever mystery/police procedural, that I was taken off guard. It is written with a style that captivates the reader. The character of DI Ian Drake is at once a man so full of obsessive behaviors that you wonder how he functions so brilliantly. His personality is such that order and precision are the rule of the day. The slurping of tea by his colleague, Caren, irritates him no end, and is mentioned many times. Those characteristics seem to work in his favor, and his team, even though they find him strange at times, will work ceaselessly to do his bidding. An intelligent and likable man, and we become privy to some of his secrets.This novel has the feel of energy, I could sense the necessity of working tirelessly to tie the clues together, to figure out what all the song lyrics that accompany each murder mean. The numerous characters all intertwined very carefully to bring the clues closer to discovery. We are treated to the scenes of North Wales as the police find the bodies on Snowden Mountain, the Crimera Pass, the old family farm and the rolling fields. The final discovery may catch you unaware, but read carefully to uncover all the clues.The author has an exciting series with DI Ian Drake, and there is a mention of another series following, Detective Marco. I am an aficionado of mystery/police procedurals and this is one of the best I have read, this year.This book was given to me for review.Highly Recommended. prisrob 09-18-13