In the rain-streaked streets of northern England, something’s afoot. We’re talking soap opera land here, a fictional place where gritty drama with a social conscience rubs shoulders with the impossible and the improbable.
The latest suspension of belief is about to fall on Salford Quays in Manchester, home to the once much-loved, award-winning soap Villiers Court. But viewing tastes change, audience numbers are in a downward spiral, and the bosses need to find something – anything – to bring the viewers back on side.
Enter actor Pete Tyson, whose character, Jack Eccles, was killed off years ago. Now the improbable – he’s being called back to the Villiers Court fold via a far-fetched fairytale-adjacent plotline involving twins and mistaken identity.
Back in the day, Pete was forever in the tabloids. The loveable rogue, drunk or high, some nameless bimbo on his arm – until a scandal involving group sex and a ladyboy sent his star plummeting to the ground and he was out on his ear. But times have changed and the Villiers Court high-ups are desperate. With no other plum offers – or any offers, if he’s honest – in the pipeline, reluctantly, an older and hopefully wiser Pete finds himself on the train to Manchester.
There, he finds a set in turmoil, mostly due to the whims of actor Jamie Clint. Jamie is currently top of the tree at Villiers Court, and is using his popularity to pull the strings on everyone else’s narrative. The guy is a nasty piece of work – untouchable, odious and poisonous – and his machinations have already put paid to the careers of several people working on the soap in various capacities. He is also lazy and untalented and his co-performers hate him. Trouble is, the viewers think Jamie is god, and so it’s his way or the highway.
When he’s found dead in his glitzy flat, there is little in the way of mourning and the list of possible suspects is huge. DI Kate Stiles is already dealing with the deaths of well-known local drug dealer Jez Barty, and with Jamie added to her load she is in dire need of help and inspiration. Is the charming Pete someone this straight-talking Manchester lass can rely on? Or are all actors consummate liars and not to be trusted?
There’s deception lurking in every corner of We Create Monsters, and Martin Sterling’s tangled web traps the reader centre stage as this story unfolds. He may be a newbie in the crime fiction world, but Sterling earned his chops as a writer for Coronation Street for nearly 20 years, which begs the question as to how much of all this could be based on his time in the world of soaps. Whether rooted in real life or not, he deftly conjures up some scarily believable scenarios. Could such things really go on behind the cameras? The jury’s out on that one.
There’s an earthy sense of place in play too; the bright lights of Media City neatly juxtaposed with the mean streets of Greater Manchester, cobblestones and all. Be prepared for some pin-sharp dialogue, and it’s not surprising that a man so well-versed in soap writing is a dab hand at characterisation too, with Pete, Kate, evil Jamie and Villiers Court matriarch Olympia Burns the stand outs in a crowded field of hopefuls that can occasionally teeter on the edge of all-out caricature.
Like the shows which inspired this novel, there is a touch of the improbable about We Create Monsters – and a denouement that may have you screwing up your face in disbelief. That being said, Sterling takes us on an action-packed ride – and those behind-the-scenes glimpses are definitely food for thought. With more books in the pipeline, I’m looking forward to meeting Kate Stiles again.
Find out more about this debut author in our interview.
Self-published
Print/Kindle
£1.99
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
