DENISE DANKS – Phreak.

Orion, UK, paperback reprint, 1999; reissued 2001. Hardcover edition: Gollancz, UK, 1998. No US edition.

   Big cities in England in today’s mass computer and telecommunication age are no longer very much like what they were like in Agatha Christie’s day (to pick an obvious example) and hard-bitten investigative journalist Georgina Powers might well be the most complete antithesis of Miss Marple (to pick another) I think you can find.

   Miss Marple was a pretty sharp lady, and there were quite a few secrets in rural English villages that she was aware of, but in her wildest imagination, I just don’t think there’s any way she could have foreseen anything as hard on the senses as this.

   A world of neon lights, computer hackers and phone phreakers, booze and dope, dingy buildings and easy sex, that is; a London teeming with Asians, informants and other unsavory and often unkempt individuals operating “at the edge of the post-modern world.” Without much warning, it’s like stepping into the science-fictional world of a Philip K. Dick, except that his worlds were often only props, and this is real.

   The first death of that of a young Muslim phone hacker Georgina had been cultivating for a story. His T-shirt has her lipstick on it, making the police as interested in her as they are in finding the killer.

   Since this is fifth Mrs. Powers novel, it takes some time to catch up with all of her friends and acquaintances. Other than that, there’s no need to ask questions. It’s sit back and go along for the ride time, and perhaps take a shower afterward. This is Raymond Chandler territory, without a doubt. Chandler is far the better writer, but Ms. Danks’ streets are darker and meaner, and the edges, if possible, are even sharper.

   Not for everyone’s taste, but if you’re a fan, say, of the SFnal cyberpunk movement, here’s a mystery novel that’s very much in sync.

Bibliographic data:    [Expanded from Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.]

  DANKS, DENISE. Journalist and screenwriter living in London.

         Georgina Powers series:

   1. The Pizza House Crash. Futura, UK, paperback, 1989. Published in the US as User Deadly, St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1992.

   2. Better Off Dead. Macdonald, UK, hc, 1991.
   3. Frame Grabber. Constable, UK, hc, 1992; St. Martin’s, US, hc, 1993.
   4. Wink a Hopeful Eye. Macmillan, UK, hc; St. Martin’s, US, hc, 1994.
   5. Phreak. Gollancz, UK, hc, 1998.
   6. Torso. Gollancz, UK, hc, 1999.

   7. Baby Love. Gollancz, UK, hc, 2001.

   All of the books have been reprinted in the UK as Orion paperbacks.

[UPDATE] 11-12-08. Noting that the last book in the series came out in 2001, one wonders what has happened to Denise Danks’ career, and what she has been doing in the past seven years. If anyone can say, please let us know.