4 Stars
At 731
pages, this is a doorstopper of a book.
I usually hesitate to read such lengthy tomes for fear of wasting my
much-treasured reading time. I finally
decided to take the plunge because this novel was nominated for the 2016 Giller
Prize. I understand why it made the
shortlist.
This is a
great example of Victorian detective fiction.
Set in 1885 London, it tells the intertwined stories of two men. William Pinkerton, son of the founder of the
Pinkerton Detective Agency, is in the city looking for Edward Shade, an elusive
master criminal whom William’s father never managed to arrest. Now that his father is dead, William has
picked up the chase. He manages to find
Charlotte Reckitt, a supposed acquaintance of Shade’s, but she takes a fatal
jump into the Thames; then, to William’s surprise, her dismembered body washes
up.
The second
protagonist is Adam Foole, a thief and con-artist, who also travels to London
to find Charlotte, a woman he loves though he hasn’t seen her for a
decade. He contacts William and the two
become allies in searching for the truth about Charlotte’s fate. The two men eventually come to realize that
their lives have overlapped in the past, especially during the American civil
war.
This book
is a mystery thriller; there are certainly a number of questions that need to
be answered: Who is Edward Shade? Is he dead or alive? Does he even exist? Why was Allan Pinkerton never able to find
him? Why does William become obsessed
with finding Shade? How/why did
Charlotte, after her leap into the river, end up dismembered and with shorn
hair?
Suspense is
abundant. Besides the questions, there
is danger for both men. There’s a cat
and mouse game that will have the reader cheering for one side and then
another. Foreshadowing is used
frequently: “It was, he would reflect
later, a most impressive performance” (645) and “it was a thing he had felt
before and he knew by this that something that day would go wrong” (672). Dramatic irony is also used: the reader knows what William and Adam are
hiding from each other.
The author
excels in creating atmosphere. There are
detailed descriptions of perpetually foggy and grimy cobblestoned streets. Scenes are set in soot-filled fog and dank
alleys and opium dens and séance parlours and filthy sewers. One can see the squalor and smell the stench
and feel the cold rain.
There are
several lengthy flashbacks to the pasts of both William and Adam. It is clear that the two were shaped by their
pasts. William’s troubled relationship with
his father certainly influences his behaviour:
“William feared him and loved him and loathed him every day of his life
yet too not a day passed that he did not want to be him” (151). Adam had a more difficult childhood and his
experiences, including his relationship with Charlotte, motivate his
actions.
Characterization
is a strong element. Both protagonists
are fully developed. They are flawed
people but they have redeeming qualities.
There are several minor characters like Molly and Japheth Fludd who also
capture the reader’s attention.
I found
this an engrossing read. The flashbacks
sometimes slow down the pace, but they are important in explaining characters
and events in the present. Themes are
not always developed strongly, but the book is a very entertaining read that
would make a great movie.
