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Boris Starling (born 1969)
[Sohn, Amy (1999) "GETTING A HANDLE ON HOT 'MESSIAH' SCRIBE", '']New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'', 7 September 1999, p. 22, ("at 30 he's already been on endless European best-seller lists") is a British novelist,
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
and newspaper columnist.
Career
Starling has written seven crime novels.
His first book, ''
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
'', was published in 1999. Notable for its fast pace and high levels of gore, ''Messiah'' was a commercial and critical success, reaching both ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and the official UK bestseller lists.
It was subsequently
adapted for television by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, with Starling taking a cameo role as a murder victim's corpse.
[Henry, Andrea (2004) "A STIFF ONE; VODKA by BORIS STARLING", '']Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'', 5 March 2004[Weinman, Sarah (2007) "DEADLY PHOTO, SLEUTHING FAMILY, LONDON FOG ; CRIME FICTION", ''Baltimore Sun'', 4 March 2007][Heffernan, Virginia (2004)]
TELEVISION REVIEW; A Litany of Murders Most Grisly, Unfolding Most Succinctly
, ''New York Times'', 26 July 2004, retrieved 2010-08-30[Stephenson, Hannah (2004) "Vodka may leave you feeling a little shaken", ''The Journal'', 9 March 2004]
There have been four television sequels broadcast. ''Messiah I-IV'' starred
Ken Stott
Kenneth Campbell Stott (born 19 October 1954) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor who won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1995 in the play '' Broken Glass'' at Royal National Theatre. He portrayed th ...
in the lead role as DCI Redfern Metcalfe. For ''Messiah V'',
Marc Warren
Marc Warren (born 20 March 1967) is an English actor, known for his British television roles. His roles have included Albert Blithe in '' Band of Brothers'', Danny Blue in '' Hustle'', Dougie Raymond in ''The Vice'', Dominic Foy in '' State ...
took over as DCI Joseph Walker, heading up an entirely new cast. ''Messiah V'' was broadcast on BBC1 in January 2008. Starling is listed as series creator of the franchise.
His second book, also a ''New York Times'' bestseller, and winner of the
W. H. Smith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...
'Thumping Good Read' Award, was ''Storm''. Set in Aberdeen, ''Storm'' begins with a ferry disaster, and follows the subsequent week in the life of Kate Beauchamp, one of the detectives from ''Messiah'', as she tries to find a serial killer while her estranged father heads up the investigation into the ferry sinking.
Starling changed tack substantially with his third novel. ''Vodka'' is a sprawling, epic story of Russia immediately after the end of the Soviet Union, and runs several storylines in tandem: the efforts of an American banker, Alice Liddell, to effect the first privatisation in Russian history; the battle between Slav and Chechen gangs for control of Moscow's vodka market; and the hunt for a serial killer who is killing children and draining their blood.
[Petit, Chris (2004)]
Things go better with vodka
, ''The Guardian'', 20 March 2004, retrieved 2010-08-30
Another shift in period and location came with the publication of Starling's fourth novel, ''Visibility''. ''Visibility'' is set in the winter of 1952, when the
Great Smog
The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne poll ...
(sometime called the Great Fog) has rolled into London, shutting down most transportation routes and sickening the populace with its noxious haze. Assigned to investigate a suspicious drowning, detective Herbert Smith discovers that the victim, a young biochemist and son of a highly placed government official, had in the hours before his death claimed to be in possession of a discovery that could change the world. ''Visibility'' gained good reviews. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
s Maxim Jakubowski called it "mystery at its best", while in the ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' Adam LeBor said: "''Visibility'' is an intelligent and thought-provoking book, one that asks lingering questions about the very nature of loyalty and love."
Starling has also written a series of thrillers featuring Franco Patrese, a
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
homicide detective who later joins the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
. The first book was published in the UK as 'Soul Murder' and in the US as 'Thou Shalt Kill.' The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said that the book 'captures the essentials of Pittsburgh better than most natives could... This is a well-imagined thriller, a nice addition to the crowded police-procedural genre, with vivid characters and nimble-but-fitting plot twists.'
The sequel, released as 'City Of Sins' in the UK in October 2011 and as 'City Of The Dead' in the US in April 2012, is set in New Orleans around the time of
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
.
A third novel, 'White Death', was released in December 2012.
Starling has also written:
* 'Unconquerable: The Invictus Spirit' about the men and women who compete in the Invictus Games.
* the popular 'Haynes Explains' series of tongue-in-cheek mini-manuals. The first four (BABIES, TEENAGERS, MARRIAGE and PENSIONERS) were published in September 2016, and a further eight (BRITISH, AMERICANS, GERMANS, FRENCH, CHRISTMAS, PETS, HOME and FOOTBALL) are published in September 2017.
* THE KID, an animated sci-fi reimagining of Charlie Chaplin's THE KID, which is being produced by the French company Superprod and the Luxembourg-based Bidibul.
Personal life
Starling is the great-grandson of the English physiologist
Ernest Starling
Ernest Henry Starling (17 April 1866 – 2 May 1927) was a British physiologist who contributed many fundamental ideas to this subject. These ideas were important parts of the British contribution to physiology, which at that time led the world. ...
. He was educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, graduating from Cambridge with a first in History.
He began his career as a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
for several Fleet Street newspapers before working for
Control Risks
Control Risks is a global risk and strategic consulting firm specializing in political, security and integrity risk.
History
Control Risks was formed in 1975, as a professional adviser to the insurance industry. A subsidiary of insurance broke ...
, a firm which assesses the risks to companies of terrorism and political upheaval, and provides services ranging from confidential investigations to kidnap resolution.
In 1996, he appeared on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
quiz show ''