Product Description

In this novel the light and the dark sides of 19th-century London flow into each other, attracting the attention of famous names such as Marx and Gissing, but also of less well-known characters, who play a significant role in a tale that is a mixture of fable, adventure and Gothic comedy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31664 in Books
• Published on: 1995-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 281 pages

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly written, psychologically devastating
This is a psychological murder-mystery thriller set in Victorian London. It's far better than the usual historical novels - Ackroyd makes you feel almost as if you're there by piling up an accumulation of small physical details- the smell, the taste, the colours, the sounds of the period. His ear for dialogue and his depth of knowledge are very impressive too. Plots aren't ALWAYS his strong point, but the plot of this is good, subtle and complex, peripherally drawing in major 19th century figures like Karl Marx and George Gissing.

The narrative piles on details until eventually the strands gather together and you realise you've somehow become drawn into the mind of a psychopath.

I'm not keen usually on murder or horror - and I find some of the details repellent. But artistically they are necessary, and they work very well indeed. I highly recommend this book.

Well, here we are again
I won't waste words; it doesn't get much better then this. However, as one reviewer above has noted, please don't expect a mystery in the traditional format. Not to be condescending, but I rather suspect that the intended mystery is (as in all Ackroyd's fiction) the mystery of London itself. Endlessly interlocking patterns of history and personality...cheap revelations aren't really what this is all about!

Superb
This is an extremely good example of what I'd call 'a thinking man's crime novel' (mind you, I can immensely enjoy 'easy' novels too). This is no easy reading, and at times you'll wonder who the criminals or even the crimes really are, but in return what you get is an astounding story with an incredibly atmospheric description of London in the 1880s, mixing historical and fictional characters. I loved it from the first page to the last!