Cracker: To Be a Somebody (The Cracker) by Gareth Roberts

Cracker: To Be a Somebody (The Cracker) Reviews

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  cas.intoclassics

  To be honest I regret not reading this book after buying it. At first I thought it was just a typical Asian-hate crime story (I was right but also wrong). An unorthodox story surrounding an ordinary person, his perspective, and motive towards his killing rampage.
  This book is brilliantly written because it describes a common individual’s point of view in a realistic way. You will feel deep sympathy and connection towards each character as you go on. This is not just an ordinary crime story ‘tho as it highlights mainly the accused’s mindset, impediments, societal beliefs & status, his reasoning behind his loathes, and the whole society he lives in. We all know that murder, regardless how coherent, are not condonable. But after reading this book I realized that not everything we hear are always attested. I remember a quote referencing this book by the famous 1661 british scholar Thomas Fuller,
  “Seeing is believing, but the feeling is the truth”.
  
  Everything in this book proves that reality is scarier than fiction. It made me realize that there are more to the story of an individual than what we hear or see, and as long as we deprive them of the liberty of exposition, we are also treating them as animals, forgetting the fact that liberty, in any form is for everyone regardless of societal status. I also found lots of deep and meaningful excerpts from this book.
  Fair warning ‘tho, if you’re emotional and gets easily attached to the characters like me, I suggest you prepare a roll of tissue beside you because I kid you not, the ending is quite depressing.
• 
  Lane

  Haven't read yet. Wanted to add a note.
  
  Excerpt from an article in Politics on Toast blog: "Another failure of Mankell’s writing is that he, as with so many of his contemporaries in the noir genre, must end a story with a gunshot. This is too American for words. It is also a cop-out. The gunshot allows the writer to finish the story without having to offer us any profound insights into the killers nature; he affords us no revealing dialogue between the cop and the man the cop has hunted so long. For this reason alone, I elevate the writing of Jimmy McGovern above that of other detective series writers. The exchange in the interview room between Albie Kinsella and Cracker towards the end of To Be A Somebody is unrivalled for its exploration of a haywire brain."
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  Alan Hughes

  Product Description

  Dictionary definitions of Cracker include: "exceptionally excellent person or thing; crazy," an apt description of charismatic forensic psychologist Dr. Edward Fitzgerald (or "Fitz" as he's known). Cracker is also the name of the Edgar Award-winning television series on A&E that has garnered worldwide critical acclaim. Fitz, brilliantly portrayed in the series as Robbie Coltrane, has been widely hailed as the most charismatic protagonist in the fictional British crime lineup since Prime Suspect's Jane Tennison.

  He is a lovable mass of contradictions: a gambling, chain-smoking man in a troubled marriage who still manages brilliant insights into the human condition. Despite his irascible nature, Fitz is used by the Manchester Police Department to profile criminals.

  In To Be a Somebody Fitz is called on to solve what looks like an open-and-shut case. A brutal racial attack in Manchester has left an Asian shopkeeper dead. A skinhead was seen leaving the shop shortly after and was fingered as the one and only suspect. No one, except Fitz, is willing to look deeper and see that this may not be just an isolated incident, but rather just on e small piece of an enormous crime puzzle.