Such was the acclaim that greeted Nick Stone's amazing debut novel, Mr Clarinet, that a curious syndrome soon developed: if you hadn't read the novel (and claimed to have any interest in the crime genre), you had to say (to all who would listen) 'I really must read Mr Clarinet -- I've heard so much about it!' (preferably said with a pronounced guilty note in the voice). Such people, of course, should do themselves a favour and actually read the book - the sprawling, ambitious Haiti-set phantasmagoria broke new ground in several provocative ways for the crime field. It also introduced troubled detective Max Mingus - a vividly drawn protagonist -- and now here's King of Swords, not so much a sequel to the debut novel, as a prequel with Max Mingus in his first terrifying encounter with his sinister nemesis Solomon Boukman. So? the biq question: has Nick Stone matched that jaw-dropping debut? Initially, this seems a very different kind of book - the setting is the more familiar Miami rather than a surrealistically realised Haiti. But -- relax - this is just as strong and disturbing a book as Mr Clarinet. In fact, those seeking a comfortable read should steer well clear - but if you're looking for rough-edged crime fiction that will seriously unsettle you (and many of us seek exactly that), then King of Swords does the business -- look no further. And now -- how long do we have to wait for the third Nick Stone novel? --Barry Forshaw