The Calling: A John Luther Novel

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Neil Cross has now joined the very small list of Detective/Crime fiction gods (as chosen by yours truly) that prior to reading this book was Walter Mosley and Joe R. This was a fantastic story which married up well with the TV series and made a great deal of sense when reflecting on how the TV series started. This book, first published in 2011, forms the lead-in (prequel, if you will) to the series and supplies something of a background to the characters.

I wasn’t distracted by segueing from film to print, or going back in time, or the sizzling reminders of Idris Elba, who consummately personifies DCI John Luther. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. The ending was never in doubt - just how long it would take Luther to solve it, and how much paperwork he would have to sort out afterwards was left to your imagination.

Cross discussed the book on the Simon and Schuster podcast and said: “I did a lot of work on the character [of Luther]; working out who he was and where he came from, his relationships and where and how he became what he is. A word of warning to the faint of heart: if you found some of the crimes in the TV series hard to stomach this book may not be for you. Cross may have turned his sights to the television screenplay writing, though one can hope that there are more books to come in this series, which will feed into the reading fan base and could drum up additional support for the television series in its own right. A “gripping, taut” (Guillermo del Toro) thriller featuring homicide detective John Luther, “who is intelligent and almost freakishly intuitive [and] belongs not only to the Sherlock Holmes tradition but also to the newer crime-fiction model elaborated by Thomas Harris in his novels Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal” ( The New York Times).

Even Martin Schenk suggests to Luther that he doesn’t think he’s going back to prison, but could be about to get a job offer.This is a powerful, propulsive, high-octane thriller with an exciting, heart-pounding chase near the end and a desperate hunt to save a dying, captive child.

I highly recommend this novel and the series, yes it's on Netflix, add it to your watch list and get ready for an edge of your seat ride, you won't regret it! Dark and unsettling, The Murder Bag features a tough, determined detective who has to remain unaffected by such violent scenes for the sake of his investigation and for his daughter. But, when the baby turns up dead and the killer known as John Black pins it on the police, Luther takes it personally. For those anticipating an extensive selection of Luther books to make their way through sadly, despite reports suggesting that there would be more in Neil Cross’ Luther series there is just one. The main story arc of the new season suggests that time is running out for Luther's less-than conventional working methods.Once the scene had been set, then for the very first time in all my 'Luther' experiences, I was able to correctly predict the outcome. I just looked this up on my goodreads app because I remember reading it before I watched the series and my wife and I are rewatching the whole series again. The story leaps between characters telling it, and without any element of instruction, also fills in the reasons for the original action.