Name: Red Riding Nineteen Eighty Three
Rating: 3.75 (2 reviews)
ISBN: 9781846687082

David Peace

Nineteen Eighty Three's three intertwining storylines see the Quartet's central themes of corruption and the perversion of justice come to a head as BJ, the rent boy from Nineteen Seventy Four, the lawyer Big John Piggott – who's as near as you get to a hero in Peace's world – and Maurice Jobson, the senior cop whose career of corruption and brutality has set all this in motion, find themselves on a collision course that can only end in a terrible vengeance. Nineteen Eighty Three is an epic tale which concludes an extraordinary body of work confirming Peace as the most innovative and remarkable new British crime writer to have emerged for years.

Red Riding Nineteen Eighty Three

Difficult. Peace can write. We understand that. This is a rabid race of three lost souls, trying to bring an ending to their decade-long struggle of hurt and misery.

Billed as a book to tie everything together, I found it hard to focus on the various threads, despite them being set in different years (72, 80, and 83). The use of italics and the fevered visions of the subjects (combatants?) are something to behold. This is a book of visual consideration, as well as mental. I shall probably go back to 1974 and begin again… but not until after the nightmares have passed…

Jan Jackson

Difficult. Peace can write. We understand that. This is a rabid race of three lost souls, trying to bring an ending to their decade-long struggle of hurt and misery.

Billed as a book to tie everything together, I found it hard to focus on the various threads, despite them being set in different years (72, 80, and 83). The use of italics and the fevered visions of the subjects (combatants?) are something to behold. This is a book of visual consideration, as well as mental. I shall probably go back to 1974 and begin again… but not until after the nightmares have passed…

Sian Wadey

Nineteen Eighty Three is the final book in the Red Riding Quartet and there's only one word to describe it. Sublime. 
David Peace is a phenomenal writer. His writing style is quick, slick and draws you in. I find myself sucked into the hazy world of corrupt cops, earnest lawyers and journalists fighting for the truth.
The characters he writes are all flawed, there are no Hollywood heroes here, which makes more for the interesting read. 
The narrative is led by three individuals, policeman Maurice Jobson, lawyer John Pigott and young prostitute BJ. All three of them are tangled up in the web of conspiracy and cover ups around the disappearances of young girls in the Yorkshire area. 
Jobson is the lead investigator, but also the reluctant heir of Bill 'Badger' Molloy's scheme to get rich quick. Pigott is representing Michael Myshkin, who was arrested and charged for the murder of one of the girls and BJ is on the run from everyone and everything.
None of the Red Riding Quartet stands alone, they all form one large story told by different characters, but I think reading them one after the other would be too much, too intense. Having said that, I think it was too long since I read Nineteen Eighty and some of the details were a little dulled in my head. I'd seen the incredible Channel 4 adaptation (well worth a watch for any fan) and I think that helped certain characters cement into my mind. For me, Jobson was David Morrisey, Pigott was Mark Addy and BJ was Robert Sheehan. For me this was a help rather than a hindrance. 
As the narrative changes between these three characters it can be initially confusing as to whose point of view it is with the start of each chapter. That's the only reason I marked it 4 stars instead of 5. Otherwise, it's a series like no other. If you can hold your stomach (it's certainly not pretty and described with graphic detail) and you can put up with the bad language then jump into this world. David Peace's heady world of violence and corruption is a world like no other and I can't wait to read more of his.

Red Riding Nineteen Eighty Three

Reviews

Highlights