"No one ever tries to tell us the system runs smoothly" - Detective Sergeant John Maiden

Detective Maiden is tired, weary, and cynical about the world and his position in it. When what appears to be yet another nowhere case falls into his lap Maiden is going through the motions rather than going full tilt boogie. Unfortunately for Maiden the "finger in an elevator" case he is investigating is the first move of a serial killer with a motive that involves escalation around the City. His immediate superior Longman appears to be after Maiden's head, no pun intended, but the Detective has the protection of higher echelons of the New South Wales Police. Along with his Partner Martin Creane, Maiden suddenly finds with increased media attention his investigation is on the clock, and the meter is running.

Maiden forms a relationship with Pathologist Janet Brown, which is just as well I guess as the pressures of the case are increasing as the results are not happening. When a small town criminal decides to copycat our local Dexter, the case suddenly becomes more complicated, especially with a good looking girl being taken hostage at a robbery gone wrong. Suddenly Maiden is being pressured from all sides, and things are about to get a whole lot worse as the elevator murders take a disturbing turn for the worse. Can Maiden work it out before the serial killer finishes a preordained program of slaughter?

Graeme Hague takes the crime novel and rubs its face in the muck of the serial killer genre, and I believe the dude isn't going to apology for making that happen anytime soon. Australian publishing houses are going to pump out crime novels till the end of the universe apparently, and one is really left with the opinion that they are publishing some crud to an apparent insatiable audience that makes the horror crowd seem like the most discerning readers on the planet. A few horror novelists have bridge the gap between the genres, but generally crime readers thumb their noses at the supposed pulp nature of dark genre writing while not getting the inherent irony in their views. Hague lays down the best crime novel of the last five or so years while not dropping off his horror sensibilities or surrendering any ground in terms of gritty over the top gore. Got to love that in a novel, and Hague's novel is the best crime/horror outing I've read since Michael Slade's Headhunter (1984). Suck it up crime readers, horror has arrived on the Mickey Spillane mean streets and it isn't taking prisoners.

So in terms of a crime novel Hague's book works in a similar vein to a really good Jon Clearly Scobie Malone outing. We have a central investigation of a crime spree that has no apparent motive till Maiden and Creane start putting the pieces together to arrive at something of an incomplete picture. The reader is immersed in the murk of NSW Police politics, investigation, and the dark arts of scientific analysis. There's some cool stuff going down in this aspect of the novel and I was lapping it up like a customs drug dog finding a particularly good piece of luggage. If Graeme Hague had of wanted to leave the novel firmly in the crime back allies of the urban wasteland I would have been more than happy over here, however Hague isn't sitting on his investigation laurels.

Hague not only throws our central serial killer in our paths but also touches bases with the increasingly disgusting Howard. With this character Hague steps firmly into Richard Laymon's hunting grounds. Howard isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, in fact he's probably the dullest blade in there, and really doesn't think things through. Having killed his partner, and then tried to slice the cadaver's fingers off in an attempt to emulate a crime spree that is overshadowing his own, Howard resorts to trying to rob a gas station. Naturally there's not much cash, but Howard does managed to grab a really hot chick, who he has plans for of a sexual nature. Hague keeps this aspect of the novel hammering away, and each time we drop into Howard's domicile of filth things are looking worse for his hostage. It's a nice way to keep the tension up as the main investigation seemingly gets bogged down from time to time. Not quite sure if the Author maybe didn't have another idea for the character's purpose in the novel, but Howard worked for me like Dexter Morgan in a new series.

Sprinkled throughout the novel are a series of murders that are pretty brutal, showing Hague isn't straying a long way from the dark genre. If you don't like graphic blood and the metal meeting the flesh then you might be in the wrong book, Hague has us right in there with the slicing and dicing. Anyone else who doesn't like murders going down off the page are going to be in their element as various body parts get deposited in elevators around the City. So hey ho that's my public awareness announcement for the week.

While the novel is clearly written for an adult audience it doesn't get beyond the reading power of the teenage book consumer. Graeme Hague has written a solid novel that should meet with the approval of those simply after some escapist fiction that will give them the odd chill down their spine as well as those who might be slightly more discerning. Naturally this won't guarantee main stream impact, but then who wants to see a Hague book sitting in amongst the self help and cricket books on the top twenty. Maybe if the Author had gone with more of a paranormal romance thing.

Anyways Hague uses his story telling ability from the dark genre with good effect in tackling the hybrid crime novel. The writing style is perhaps more English than American, but I can respect that and the Brits are well past masters at the various pulp genres with the Seppos still by and largely developing their own voices. Hey I said it, and I can dig some North American horror writing, but the Brits have been down with this stuff for centuries.

I pretty much devoured Missing Pieces as I got caught up in the story and where the plot might lead me. Nice change of pace from our normal content around here, with Graeme Hague nailing yet another novel. Hague keeps rocking along with all aspects of the writing ensuring the pacing doesn't drop off, leaving the reader immersed in the narrative from first page to the last page. Perhaps if I had to offer a criticism it would be that the ending is slightly abrupt, though Hague does leave it to the reader to decide the eventual resolution to the narrative themself. Full recommendation kids, this is one book you'll want to be right across.

For those after a copy of Missing Pieces set your browser to smashwords and get ready to throw a copy of bucks into the jar on top of the fridge. That's right $2 USD and you can download on the spot. Happy reading folks, write in and tell us what you thought of the novel.