Title: EL DORADO
Publisher: Picador
Author: Dorothy Porter
Edition released: 2007
ISBN: 978-0-3304-2304-5
370 pages
Reviewed by: Adam Donnison

I have to admit that I wouldn't have thought it possible to combine poetry and crime fiction, but that is what EL DORADO is - a crime fiction novel written in verse.

EL DORADO follows the police investigation into a serial killer who kills children and places his golden trademark on their foreheads. The investigating officer, Bill Buchanan is starting to run out of ideas and enlists the help of his childhood friend Cath - a Hollywood special effects artist who builds fantasy worlds, and Bill needs to understand the fantasy that the killer has built.

Bill has his problems, an undying love for Cath that isn't reciprocated - well, can't be as Cath is lesbian, a broken marriage, and a teenage daughter in that rebellious phase. All this and a boss on his back because of the media attention, the serial killer mocking him in the daily press.

EL DORADO is a stupendous achievement. The tightly written poetry is superbly crafted into a thriller that is simply stunning. To say that I was taken aback by this story is an understatement. I was blown away. This is poetry without pretence, it is an unflinching look at the horrors within, and is a great crime story to boot. There is beauty in the apparent simplicity of the language, yet power in the imagery that Dorothy coaxes out of each line.

Dorothy Porter is no novice in this realm, with other verse novels such as Akhenaten, The Monkey's Mask, What a Piece of Work and Wild Surmise, along with poetry, young adult fiction and even the occasional libretti. Every reader of any genre needs to read Dorothy Porter to understand the power and beauty of the written word.