Tougher than the rest

Donovan brought his hands up, pushed back into Mark's twisted face. He forced the heel of his left hand on to his top lip, pushing lip and nose back as far and as hard as he could.   

Clearly this reporter is cut from a different cloth than Hughie. The back cover blurb for Martyn Waites' The Mercy Seat, begins:

Once a renowned investigative journalist, Joe Donavan's life fell apart when his six-year-old son disappeared without trace. Now a virtual recluse, Donovan is abruptly thrust back into the limelight when a teenage boy makes contact in desparet need of his help.

Donovan is a tough Geordie who can handle himself in the (several) fights that come his way in a rather violent novel.

It's hard to imagine Hugh, Annika or Constance in this scene, right at the start...

Joe Donovan picked up the revolver from the table, felt the heft of it in his left hand, weighed the options.

Not that Waites can allow Donovan much in the way of social niceties. He is stuck in a Northumberland cottage which 'looked like a building site during lunchbreak.'

He hadn't just let himself go, he'd become abandoned.... Stale booze breath and unwashed skin.

Comments

[Simon Collister]

Another tough guy is the main character in John le Carre's 'The Honourable Schoolboy'. It's the second (I think) book in the Smiley trilogy. I can't remember the character's name but journalism is used as his cover for his activities in the Far-East.

He searches for scoops which would benefit his paper's foreign desk and HMG and uses a rather nice analogy that links journalism to spying. It goes along the lines of: both professions can spend weeks doing nothing of real importance or interest and then all of a sudden a 'story' breaks and all hell is let loose or a brief yet intense period and then it's all over again.

I've never been a journalist or a spy... but does that sound familiar?

[Philip Young]

Thanks, Simon. I am building an interesting 'to read' pile...

[Happy]

If you're reading this, you're all set, prdeanr!

[Shyami]

- Auey, it's been so long since I ve seen you last, I think we both had newborns at the time! These oothps are BEAUTIFUL!!! I wish I had known you were up in the area, I would have loved to have seen you! We aren't far from Lincoln!

[Shouta]

I love trying a new class .though yoga stmeoimes can be a little too silent and thought provoking for me. Congrats to you on getting in to something new!Hope you made it out of your chair!Visiting from Amanda's Weekend Reading Party!

[Frank]

I think that earlier girenateons of women often didn't think they had the right to follow their passion. They just assumed it was their duty in life to be good wives mothers. So pleased you've found your passion, Lanita!