David Peace cierra con 1983 la tetralogía Red Riding Quartet. El mundo de David Peace es realmente terrible, en él no parece haber futuro ni escapatoria, y los escasos gestos nobles que ahí pueden aflorar son de hombres destinados a la soledad y a la desgracia. Con una brillante y sórdida exposición de los hechos, Peace nos traslada adelante y atrás en el tiempo, entre 1983 y los acontecimientos narrados en 1974, 1977 y 1980, y nos ofrece las respuestas a los interrogantes de estas novelas en una trama envuelta en un clima de desasosiego y soledad. Monólogos interiores, escritura entrecortada y diálogos sombríos reproducen los crímenes del Destripador de Yorkshire en un paisaje atormentado y sin futuro.

Fortsatt dystert, skitigt och korrumperat. Kvartetten får en sorts upplösning. Många olika huvudpersoner som berättar sin historia och många hopp mellan de olika åren gör att det är lite kämpigt att alltid hänga med. Men bra och välskrivet är det. ( )

Much improved on the last two volumes, probably helped by there being three different POV characters so the over-used poetic prose devices are varied and spread out a bit. Another one without a sympathetic protagonist (the one I thought likely to be redeemed wasn't in the end) and extremely different to the finale of the TV adaptations in a variety of key ways. The TV version is sanitised I guess but in addition to leaving out the nastier aspects of the POV characters it changes the plot; people who die in the book live in the TV version but I'll say no more than that. ( )

I'll put the same review on all four of them:
Nineteen Seventy-Four
Nineteen Seventy-Seven
Nineteen Eighty
Nineteen Eighty Three
I read them as a challenge - based on camaraderie with coworkers.
Once I started the series, didn't especially want to wimp out, and then was compelled to read thru to the last book to see if I could possibly figure out what the "ending" was.
I'm not faulting the author - it was a unique and compelling writing style and twisted plot with characters jumping back and forth between books.
I did it. I read them all. I think they got weirder and more difficult as they went along, but if you're looking for some intense, darkly challenging books - have at it.
Read in 2011. ( )

The final book in the Red Riding quartet. This time the three main characters are a solicitor, a rent boy and a corrupt police officer. The story, as with the other books, goes back and forth in time and answers many of the questions raised in the first book. It was sometimes hard to follow, but it was well worth the read.

The quartet has to be read as one - there's no point starting one book and then going onto something else afterwards - the characters and actions are so complex you have to really put some time aside to work your way through everything. Having said that, they were absolutely worth the time taken. ( )