The Greenland Party by Tom East
This novel is a 78,000-word 'whodunit', set in and around Vatsaaq, a small settlement in East Greenland. 'The Greenland Party' is used in two senses. It is the name the tour party gives itself. It also becomes that of the frenetic drinking bout on the night when a murder takes place. Harry Lanier, a forcibly 'retired' policeman from the UK, is out walking near Vatsaaq, with Lars Erikssen, the Danish tour guide and local part-time policeman. They make a horrifying discovery. This is the body of Essie Smith, a member of 'the Greenland Party', attached to a block of ice. This starts a train of events that turns a 'dream holiday' into a nightmare. Weather conditions prevent the full-time detective flying in and Lars undertakes the preliminary investigation. He is assisted by Harry. Early signs point to Nanoq, a local man, as the murderer. Harry insists things cannot be so straightforward. His relationships with everyone, including his wife Vonnie and Lars, become strained. Harry's own memory of the night is lost in a blur of alcohol. Is he in the clear himself?
I do believe that, in point of rigour, detective fiction is superior to mainstream fictionAll its elements - setting, plot, characters, etc. - need to strictly obey the rules of logic, and allow authors only to play a game of chess against themselves. Unlike mainstream fiction, where there's rarely enough narrative balance and coherence for a reader that wants more from a book than pure entertainment or intellectual headaches (see postmodernist writings, for instance). ;Tom East's recent whodunit - The Greenland Party - does justice to the genre, starting with the setting, Greenland, an exotic place for many of us, which gives the author the chance to mention in passing some of the most attractive sites and also provide information about the island; continuing with the suspenseful plot and counterplots, full of ingenious twists and turns; and ending with the characters - a more or less funny picture of the British (group of tourists), each with his/her own idiosyncrasies, as opposed to the harsh locals, both Greenland natives and Danish.;While most of today's detective novels place dialogue above everything else, East's novel manages to keep the balance, alternating it with descriptive passages (which I'd say are the hardest to write) that put meat on the bones of the book and thus make it more valuable, and, why not, cinematic. Also worth mentioning is the way in which the suspicion of murder moves, credibly, from one character to another, like in the best of classics. ;As I was reading it, The Greenland Party reminded me of Arnaldur Indridason's and Peter Hoeg's novels. What better company could one wish for?;PETRU IAMANDI on GOODREADS
Tom East's latest full-length publication, in June 2025, is INFIDEL. This is a collection of short fiction notable for its variety. Other books still available as Paperback or eBook include TOMMY'S WAR: JULY 1914, an account of nothing less than an endeavour to stop The Great War, the controversial GOSPEL ACCORDING TO St JUDAS and the unsparing non-fiction of LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE, about recovery from two brain haemorrhages. Earlier, Tom was the writer of many works of fiction, commercial features, essays, reviews, 'other prose' and poetry. He was born in London, although of a Welsh family and lived in Wales for many years. Fifteen books are available as paperback and eBook Worldwide as at June 2025 are::THE ANSWER IS AN EGG SANDWICH, THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT VERSE BRIGADE, THE EVE OF ST ELIGIUS. A FIFTIES' CHILDHOOD, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST JUDAS. THE GREENLAND PARTY, INFIDEL, THE KA OF STEPHEN CHARLES, LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE, THE LOWELL LETTERS, LYRICS, POLEMICS AND POETICS, SCENES FROM SEASONS, TOMMY'S WAR: JULY 1914, WHY WRITE HAIKU? and WISH MAN'S WOOD.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781916494244 |
| ISBN 10 | 1916494242 |
| Title | The Greenland Party |
| Author | Tom East |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Benybont Books |
| Year published | 2019-01-21 |
| Number of pages | 308 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |