Good People
Written by Ewart Hutton
Narrated by Iestyn Arwel
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Shortlisted for the 2012 Crime Writers’ Association New Blood Dagger for best first novel
Introducing DS Glyn Capaldi, half Welsh, half-Italian, all maverick. He’s fallen from grace in Cardiff and exiled to be the catch-all detective in the big bit in the middle that God gave to the sheep. A place where nothing of any significance is meant to happen, a place where supposedly he can do little harm.
But trouble have a way of catching-up with Capaldi. Six men and a young woman disappear into the night. They don’t all reappear. The ones that do are good people with a good explanation. Only Capaldi remains unconvinced.
In the face of opposition from the locals, he delves deeper and starts to uncover a network of conflicts, betrayals and depravity that resonates below the outwardly calm surface of rural respectability. D.S. Capaldi is back in the saddle.
Ewart Hutton
Ewart Hutton was born and raised in and around Glasgow before slipping south to university in Manchester, and then on to diverse occupations in London. He has won numerous awards and prizes for his radio plays which have been produced for BBC Radio 4, RTE, and Radio Clyde. He now lives in the South of France with his wife Annie. Good People is his first novel.
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Reviews for Good People
22 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the story of DS Glyn Capaldi He is a Welsh policeman he has been transferred to the countryside. He investigates the case of a missing Eastern European girl even though his colleagues and the locals say there is nothing wrong.Capaldi upsets a lot of people he wont rest. He eventuallysolves the case.OK book nothing special.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This guy needs a vacation.
This is the first in a series featuring DS Glyn Capaldi. Once a rising star in the big city, he has been banished to the small town of Dinas in rural Wales after screwing up a major case.
He wasn't exactly met by Welcome Wagon. Never mind the suspicious, close knit community. Even the other cops want nothing to do with him.
He tags along to the scene of a stolen van. It was taken by 6 men after they picked up a female hitchhiker & left in a remote area. Hours later, 5 of them come staggering out of the bush armed with an implausible story. Missing: one of the men & the hitchhiker.
Capaldi smells something rotten but is told to drop it by his colleagues. After all, they know these men & they're all "good people". He could care less about the locals, it's the woman he's worried about & proceeds to do some digging. No one is prepared for what he'll find.
This is a complex plot with many side stories. Just when you think Capaldi has it sussed, there is another layer of lies & deceit that changes the direction of the investigation. And don't think murder will be the worst of it. Contrary to what we're told, these are NOT good people & the revelations of their crimes may be disturbing to some readers.
For me, this is a case of liking the character more than the story. Capaldi is a flawed yet decent guy & smart cop who made one dumb decision. His thoughts & dialogue reveal a sardonic, slightly cynical sense of humour that helps him deal with his exile. There is also a deep regret for the mistakes he's made. Part of him accepts his posting as punishment, part of him will do anything to get the hell out of there.
I know the exiled cop as outcast is a popular trope of this genre. It usually follows that he's the only one who figures out what is going on & must do so with little support. But it's taken to extremes here. I get that a community may circle the wagons to protect their own against an outsider but when the true nature of the crimes comes to light, it's hard to believe anyone would cover for the sadistic perpetrators. Also, Capaldi has to continually fight his colleagues as well & after awhile it became tiring.
Many of the cast are not good people but they are good characters & along with tight dialogue, it's what makes this as compelling as it is. Just a few breaks in the constant sturm und drang would improve the pace & reading experience. I'd like to bump into Capaldi again but maybe I'll skip to book #3 to see if his situation is any better. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good People by Ewart Hutton is the first of a mystery series set in Wales. The main character, D.S. Glyn Capaldi, has been sent from the city of Cardiff to the rural district of central Wales as a punishment for breaking the rules, something he is all too fond of doing. This is an area populated by “good people”, people with strong, moral attitudes and an area where major crime simply doesn’t exist.But one night six men and a young woman disappear, and when they are found the next day only five have returned. These five are well known young men of the community and they have a good explanation about what happened. The local police accept the story and are ready to close the book on the affair, but Capaldi remains unconvinced. On his own, he digs deeper and starts to uncover a web of lies and deceit that lead him to a depth of moral corruption that is horrifying.This story is complex and twisting. Just when you think you have figured out where it’s going, it takes another turn. Capaldi is a very engaging character, but I was left scratching my head at how quickly he was able to put the pieces together, if he is that smart, then how did he let himself fall from grace and get posted to this remote area in the first place. That said, I still was quite impressed with this first book and plan to continue on with the series. A word of warning about the degree of sexual depravity that this book contains, the storyline becomes quite gruesome in places but overall, I found Good People to be a dark and engrossing thriller.