2008-08-25 Hit and miss affair

Jonathan Barnes' debut is a plot heavy fantastical piece of victoriana.
It starts inventively with a murder worthy of Poe and some wonderfully grim one liners but soon begins to rely on walk on parts by ever more bizarre characters and a plot that weighs itself down like a deflated souffle. There are touches of brilliance and many of the characters are genuinely amusing but ultimately this is quite lightweight so don't go expecting a sensational pastiche like say Michael Cox's Meaning of Night as though Barnes tries for literary, the plot's machinations tend towards something overtly pulpish like Mark Frost's The List of 7.
Ultimately the novel is fun and witty and clever with endearing characters (our narrator particularly and the wonderfully bizarre and gruesome image of the rampaging Chairman) but is very much a light but enjoyable read that isn't going to shake the world of literature.