A review by canada_matt
Death Mask by Kathryn Fox
4.0
When Sydney-based forensic physician Anya Crichton is asked to consult a patient who has returned from her honeymoon with sexually transmitted infections she believes she's being unnecessarily involved in a simple case of infidelity. Given the woman's husband has tested negative for the infections, Anya assumes that Hannah Dengate is lying when she claims to have had no sexual partners other than her husband. However the case soon turns into something all together more unsavoury and leads Anya into a new field of research: the psychology of male team sports players and their attitudes to sexual assault. She is then asked to go to the US to discuss her research and provide information about what constitutes sexual assault to elite footballers but soon becomes embroiled in another case of possible sexual assault by a group of sports stars.
I have but two small issues witrh the book. The first, its opening. I have read a few other reviews that echo that the opening scene (read 30-40 pages) does not closely relate to the main story, though the theme is the same. The honeymoon rape could best be addressed in flashbacks. The second issue (small, but it may help the paperback version in the US/Canada), is language used. New Yorkers do not say 'pram', 'nappy' or some of the other linguistic differences that I noticed. Sure, a minute thing, but it did pop out at me. Linguistic reflection does add integrity to a character and story.
Once the book does get going it flows very smoothly and quickly and almost always manages to avoid being preachy. There were a couple of sections where this was not so but with such sensitive material it would have been difficult to avoid all together. The book not only explores the attitudes to women by some sports stars (and their fans) but also looks at the exploitation of the players themselves by team owners and others whose aims conflict with the best interests of the players' health and wellbeing. This is one of those instances where fiction has examined complex social issues in more depth and with more acuity and balance than I've ever seen in the talk-radio fueled hype of mainstream media when similar events happen in the real world.
After its first 50 pages Death Mask has one of the most compelling and creative storylines I've encountered. . In many ways is a much broader book than pure crime fiction as it examines the psychology of team sports from all angles in a thought-provoking way that is far-removed from the way we normally the subject addressed in the media. It is balanced not only in the way it looks at these issues but also in the mixture of fiction and fact that are incorporated into the story. I'd recommend this novel to anyone, especially those with any kind of involvement in or fascination with professional team sports though, sadly, the people who most need to read something like this will probably never do so. A final point in the book's favour is that it could easily be read independently of the previous novels in the series.
I have but two small issues witrh the book. The first, its opening. I have read a few other reviews that echo that the opening scene (read 30-40 pages) does not closely relate to the main story, though the theme is the same. The honeymoon rape could best be addressed in flashbacks. The second issue (small, but it may help the paperback version in the US/Canada), is language used. New Yorkers do not say 'pram', 'nappy' or some of the other linguistic differences that I noticed. Sure, a minute thing, but it did pop out at me. Linguistic reflection does add integrity to a character and story.
Once the book does get going it flows very smoothly and quickly and almost always manages to avoid being preachy. There were a couple of sections where this was not so but with such sensitive material it would have been difficult to avoid all together. The book not only explores the attitudes to women by some sports stars (and their fans) but also looks at the exploitation of the players themselves by team owners and others whose aims conflict with the best interests of the players' health and wellbeing. This is one of those instances where fiction has examined complex social issues in more depth and with more acuity and balance than I've ever seen in the talk-radio fueled hype of mainstream media when similar events happen in the real world.
After its first 50 pages Death Mask has one of the most compelling and creative storylines I've encountered. . In many ways is a much broader book than pure crime fiction as it examines the psychology of team sports from all angles in a thought-provoking way that is far-removed from the way we normally the subject addressed in the media. It is balanced not only in the way it looks at these issues but also in the mixture of fiction and fact that are incorporated into the story. I'd recommend this novel to anyone, especially those with any kind of involvement in or fascination with professional team sports though, sadly, the people who most need to read something like this will probably never do so. A final point in the book's favour is that it could easily be read independently of the previous novels in the series.