Share for friends:

Full Dark House (2005)

Full Dark House (2005)

Book Info

Genre
Series
Rating
3.68 of 5 Votes: 5
Your rating
ISBN
0553587145 (ISBN13: 9780553587142)
Language
English
Publisher
bantam

About book Full Dark House (2005)

It takes a lot of skill, if not a lot of nerve, for an author to set up a book seemingly about the exploits of a crime detective duo and apparently kill one of them off on the first page.But that’s what happens here. In present day London, an incendiary device is set off in the office of London Metropolitan Police’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, which not only destroys their police files but kills Arthur Bryant, one half of a detective double, Bryant and May. The surviving detective John May is now on the hunt for a cop killer. Whilst investigating, May becomes convinced that the killer is connected to the two’s first case together, one that began in London’s Blitz of the 1940’s.Much of the book then goes back to that time to give details of the case: a strange one, involving a footless dancer’s body, a death by globe and a faceless man running around a theatre in a Blitz-damaged London, before May can deduce any connection between the past and the present.Though I’ve seen this series around for a while now (and as I type we’re about to get Book 10 in the series) I must admit that, frankly, it’s passed me by.Really, I should have known better. It’s a witty, clever little book, written with panache and humour, whilst using Christopher’s horror origins to throw in the odd little shock as we veer slightly into Twilight Zone or X-Files territory. The characters are great (although a little rude in places, so they might shock your typical crime fan) and the setting, both in the past and the present, wholly immersive. The suspects all appear as identifiable as in a game of Cluedo or an Agatha Christie novel, and it’s great fun trying to work out whodunnit. The details of their first case together for the Peculiar Crimes Squad, set in 1940’s Blitz-hit London are wonderfully well written. As richly detailed as Connie Willis’s recent Blackout/All Clear, there’s a palpable sense of being in the city whilst there’s rationing and a war on. With none of the technical gubbins of today’s detectives, Bryant and May have to use good, old-fashioned deduction to make their conclusions work. A knowledge of Ancient Greek mythology is quite useful here. That, and a little understanding of the occult that wouldn’t go amiss from a pulp-fiction 1930’s tale. The overall feeling at the end of this one is that it is a combination of a traditional British crime thriller with a touch of the Phantom of the Opera about it. As the deaths continue at the London theatre, the cause seems almost supernatural. Christopher, showing his Horror origins, can’t resist some quite gory deaths along the way.I’m sure some readers will be struck by how such tales have recently struck a popular chord. Treading similar ground (or is that a policeman’s beat?) to Ben Aaronovitch’s recent Rivers of London/Peter Grant novels, I must say that as much as I enjoyed Ben’s first novel, I enjoyed this one much, much more. Full Dark House is a more subtle tale, cleverer in its plot twists, sexier and more stylish, although less genre related, perhaps. Full Dark House is not a book that tries to repeatedly show the reader explicitly how clever it is: it just is, and it is up to the reader to find the clues out. As ‘whodunnits’ go, this is a classy effort. The little touches, as literary Easter Eggs, kept me amused throughout: Bryant and May are the brand name for a British box of matches, for example.For people wanting to read something in my opinion as good, if not better (and written nearly a decade before) than Ben’s books, this comes very much recommended. Why didn’t readers (including me) notice this one before? This would make a wonderful BBC Television series.I struggled to put this one down. Guess that means I’m a newly converted fan and can’t wait to read more.Nine more to go and find. Bring on the next!

I'm not much of a mystery fan, so am not able to comment knowledgeably on that aspect of this book. (Although I'll say that the ending was by no means a shocker.) But I'm very interested in Fowler's description of London and Londoners living under the Blitz. That's quite compelling, and I suspect a lot of the setting, the conduct of the bombing raids, the civil defense measures etc are historically accurate.Bombs were particularly devastating when they hit crowded stations. One hundred and eleven people were crushed and blown apart at Bank station. Sixty-four were drowned in cascading mud at Balham. Everyone knew someone who had died, or who had narrowly escaped death. The thin newspapers were filled with vague news of victories, but personal experience suggested only misery and endurance.Images etched themselves in John May's mind and remained there throughout his life: a bus standing on its end, a warden hugging a silent, terrified child, a bright blue hat at the edge of a blod-spattered crater. One night, audiences emerged from Faust at Sadler's Wells to find the sky on fire. If London was the centre of the world, the world was burning. It was a violent place in which to doscover a purpose. It was a good place to forge a friendship.The other interesting aspect of Fowler's story is the switching between the war years and the present day. I found this disconcerting at first, but it soon became smooth and seamless, and I knew exactly where, or rather when I was in the narrative. Nicely done. The characters are also all at least slightly odd, even grotesque. I'll look for the second in this series. Bryant and May are promising characters, and should develop over the series.

Do You like book Full Dark House (2005)?

This has got to be the most eclectic and strange pairing of detectives that you'll ever find in crime fiction. Bryant and May are introduced to us here in the first book of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. This strange crime unit is located in London. The time is actually 2005 (when the book was released), but it flips back to crimes in 1940 at the beginning of WWII and right during the Blitz. Bryant and May, when we meet them are old curmudgeonly detectives that have worked together in the Peculiar Crimes Units for six decades. They are each brilliant in their own way, and each compliments the other in their detective style. May is the practical one and Bryant is the nerdy, unorthodox and the one who firmly believes in the occult and in magic. This book covers these two old detectives as they solve their first case together (during the war) and their last case in the present day. A very strange murder occurs in an old London theatre called The Palace. Somehow the two crime sprees that occur in the book are connected, even though there is a 60 year break between them. I enjoyed the premise and I liked the characters, but I found the book very confusing to read at times. And there was far too much theatre-lore in it to my taste. It was hard to get caught up in the mystery and thrill because of the constant switching back and forth. This could be an interesting premise for a detective series, and I'm presuming that the author's writing skills will improve with each additional book, but I'm not sure that I'll be reading any more in this series.
—Shirley Schwartz

tChristopher Fowler can write an interesting, intelligent, informative book. tFULL DARK HOUSE is set in London in both the present and during the blitz in November1940. It begins with the destruction of a building housing the Peculiar Crimes Unit, part of the North London Police Department. Only one person, Detective Arthur Bryant, was known to have been in the building. What remains were found were buried. Among the attendees was his longtime partner, Detective John May and Detective Sergeant Janice Longbright. John, especially, was upset that the police department wasn’t doing enough to find the person or persons who set off the bomb. The police, on the other hand, were more concerned with curbing the gang violence in the neighborhood.tJohn thought back to when he first met Arthur, when they were both in their early twenties. Their first case was the unusual death of a dancer in a racy version of Orpheus in the Underworld. Within days, others associated with the show were killed or disappeared. One thing the deaths had in common was they happened during bomb attacks when the city was in blackout.tI figured out part of the ending of the current part of the story. I did not do so with the 1940 section. I think it was too contrived and parts of it seemed totally impossible. tOne of the best parts of FULL DARK HOUSE are the descriptions of what life was like during the Blitz: The damage to the city and its residents and how the survivors coped. A second highpoint are the descriptions of both the old theater, once home to D’Oyly Carte Gilbert and Sullivan productions. It provides a lot of wit: “Helene...had a smile so false she could have stood for Parliament.” “The young detective possessed that peculiar ability more common to elderly men, which produces negative energy around electrical equipment, turning even the most basic appliances into weapons of destruction.”tIt predicts the economic future: “The days of the British owning everything on their terms is coming to an end. Future fortunes will be made with the involvement of international cartels such as ours.”tThe book was a fast read. It could easily have been somewhat shorter without losing any of the story or effect. tI really don’t like books with short chapters. I think it insults the intelligence of the readers as well as wastes a lot of paper. I automatically lower my rating for such books.
—Judie

Well, hm.This book was recced to me for humor, which turns out not to be quite the case -- more irony and dark wit. Too dark for my current reading needs, which took it down a star subjectively, but well written, which added a star objectively. Quirky and eccentric without being cozy.Written in omniscient, with parallel tales taking place in two times -- Detectives Bryant and May's first case, occurring during the London Blitz, and their last, in the early 21st Century. The omniscient voice allows some interesting effects as the tale not only alternates eras q.s. by chapter units, but adds illuminating asides in lines and paragraphs jumping back and forth in time summing up assorted bits of intervening information which helps stitch the parts together. Which a writer can do in omniscient, but not in tight third. While I find omniscient more emotionally distancing than tight third, no question one can get good breadth out of it, properly handled.Someone is knocking off cast members of a lurid production of the operetta Orpheus while German bombs fall on London, and the newbie detectives must pursue justice for the few inside the labyrinthine building while thousands are dying outside; this part is a pretty good historical novel, among other things. 60 years later, something from that first case comes back to haunt the aged pair.For whatever reason, I seem to be running across a slew of recent British works that appear to want to recapture an older generation, or something from it that is now missed -- not only this, but the TV series New Tricks, and the character of Detective Inspector Nightingale from Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. Is this a Thing in Britain at the moment? Or just an artifact of my own selections?The tale starts dark and gets darker, but lightens up toward the end, rewarding the persistent reader. The grimdark almost lost me about a third through, but I peeked at the end for reassurance that I was not to be perpetually punished for my reading efforts, and slogged on. Destroyed the puzzle aspect of the tale, a disservice I suppose, but I don't read mysteries for the puzzles, but rather, for the characters and sometimes settings, which here held my interest fairly well. I might follow up sometime just to see what the writer does with this setup.Ta, L.
—Lois Bujold

download or read online

Read Online

Write Review

(Review will shown on site after approval)

Other books by author Christopher Fowler

Other books in series bryant & may

Other books in category Fantasy