A Numbers Game by RJ Dark

I would like to thank Wavesback for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for fair and honest review

Publisher – Wavesback

Published – 4th June

Price – £1.99 Kindle eBook

Meet Malachite Jones – the foremost (and only) psychic medium on the gritty Blades Edge estate. All he wants are two things: a name that isn’t ‘Malachite’, and a quiet life. And maybe some real psychic powers, but he’s making a living without them.

Janine Stanbeck wants to find her dead husband Larry’s winning ticket and escape Blades Edge with her son. And she thinks Mal can help her.

But Larry’s dad is the crime lord of the estate, and he wants that ticket for himself, and worse for Mal, he's not the only criminal with his eyes on it. Add in two coppers desperate to nick Mal's best, only, and admittedly quite dangerous, friend, Jackie Singh Kattar, and Blades Edge is getting pretty crowded.

Malachite Jones might not really be able to talk to the dead, but if he and his friend Jackie Singh Kattar can’t find that money and a solution that pleases everyone they’re likely to be in need of a psychic medium themselves.

Crime stories need a great location for their mysteries to unfold; where character’s secrets can be hidden and found and where confrontations can erupt. This can for some stories a single location a train or often a single large building, but I think a successful series needs something bigger. A world of unusual places and most importantly the people who live in it gives you the potential for not just one story but a whole world to explore. Rebus without Edinburgh or Bosch without Los Angeles doesn’t really sound right. RJ Dark has constructed a very memorable world filled with and led by some of the most entertaining characters in a UK crime novel for some time in the excellent A Numbers Game.

Malachite Jones just wants a quiet life making a living by pretending to be a psychic; but his ability to cold read people and how to research their secrets (via his not very respectful assistant Beryl) means he has a reputation for being good at what he does. His best (potentially only) friend Jackie Singh Kattar a respected local businessman or someone the police would really like evidence on depending on whom you speak to has asked if Mal will speak to the newly widowed Janine Stanbeck. Her husband died in an accident but a winning lottery ticket for millions vanished with him. Janine wants it; her father-in-law who runs one of the notorious local crime gangs would like it and now some Russian businessmen with weapons too would like Mal to find it. Mal and Jackie find themselves not just with a mystery but in the middle of a potential gang war where death and destruction are imminent.

What jumps out in the debut to what I hope will be a long running series is the amazing way this story shifts gears pulling the reader along for a very entertaining ride. A story about a missing lottery ticket isn’t usually what we think about with a crime story, but Dark has made this the domino that is about to trigger a huge cascade in the local underworld and for reasons that initially perplex Mal we find assassins, local heavies and turf wars all erupt. To make this work though is how Dark constructs Blades Edge the estate that Mal and Jackie are from and where the Stanbecks have ruled for years. There is a temptation with the idea of saying ‘an estate’ for some readers to think immediately all grim; horrible and everyone in it is a Ken Loach drama character. What I loved about Numbers Game is Dark makes this a much more interesting and although stylised still a far more accurate portrayal of life in such places where you can find crime bosses; shrewd shopkeepers; extravagant pensioners and local hotheads all crossing each other’s paths. Every character we meet isn’t a stereotype even if they initially look like one – local heavies who are constantly looking to widen their vocabulary; crime bosses who like people to think they are uncultured and many more you’ll meet all make this a world so pulsating with its own history, secrets and tensions that you just want to know more.

Our guide through this is Mal who is also our narrator. Mal is our reluctant detective; very good at understanding people’s reactions and as we find when he mentions some previous customers he doesn’t like to let go of a problem. Mal is an recovering addict to drugs, alcohol and convicted criminal. Despite this very quickly warm to him as someone who is good hearted; keen to do better in his life and dryly funny as he narrates life. Dark smartly moves from moments of friends bantering to subtle observations on life, grief and growing up in a dangerous area to fast flowing and tense action scenes. I so must praise the quality of the writing here because many lines are wonderfully crafted. Just when you think you have a handle on the story’s style you are wrong footed and finding new layers to the characters and the wider mystery that change your understanding of what has gone before. When everything is finally laid out you will applaud the quality of the plotting that everything makes sense.

If Mal is the story’s lead singer and provides the music we can’t leave out Jackie who whenever he appears is the epic guitar solo that bewitches the crowd. Jackie a witty bisexual Sikh with a love of fast cars, keen knowledge of the local underworld and how to handle himself in a fight is a brilliant counterpoint to Mal’s more lowkey and steady approach. You never quite know what Jackie will do as he appears but it’s always going to be entertaining. More worldly than Mal he helps explain the various relationships that the Edge operates on and when times are tough is right there at Mal’s side to protect him. How these two are friends (especially as at one point Jackie was a school bully to Mal) are only hinted at but what comes across is that this is true friendship – they trust each other and as find out how Jackie helped Mal recover from addictions. Here we find a pairing that isn’t brains and brawn but more brains and brawn plus Mal’s ability to make connections. This is less a faithful companion to a great detective but a paring of equals who need each other to solve the mystery and they’re the beating heart of the story. By the end we are cheering them on as they take on racist police officers and skilled Russian bodyguards in equal measure.

This is a series you will want to get into from the start. There is room for far more exploration of Mal, Jackie and Blade’s Edge that combined with the unpredictable nature of this tale makes me think many more delights are in store. Tonally this most reminded me of the early Rebus novels – gritty, action packed, funny and with a wonderful ear for dialogue and character who are only just discovering their world and their place in it– reading some of these lines is a pure joy.   Highly recommended for thriller fans!