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Chargement... The Fiend in Human: A Victorian Thriller (édition 2004)par John MacLachlan Gray (Auteur)
Information sur l'oeuvreThe Fiend in Human par John MacLachlan Gray
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. I realise this is a novel and and not history as such, but a few things have raised questions in my mind. Was murder so prevalent in Victorian London that the police would ignore a corpse in the street? Did people really have wooden teeth? ( ) An enjoyable book, but not without its problems. It took me ages to finish The Fiend In Human, not because it was boring, but because it was so rich and dense with characters and period detail. I had to take breaks in order to take it all in. There were some problems with the pacing, and some characters seemed interchangeable, but overall it was an entertaining book. Beware, though, Gray stays true to the attitudes of Victorian England, so there are some references that might trip a reader up. References to people being in the 'n***er line of work', where they paint their skin brown and play instruments with ivory carved to look like bones, or the many references to the subtle misogyny of the age may be too much for some readers. I give this as a warning. An enjoyable book, but not without its problems. It took me ages to finish The Fiend In Human, not because it was boring, but because it was so rich and dense with characters and period detail. I had to take breaks in order to take it all in. There were some problems with the pacing, and some characters seemed interchangeable, but overall it was an entertaining book. Beware, though, Gray stays true to the attitudes of Victorian England, so there are some references that might trip a reader up. References to people being in the 'n***er line of work', where they paint their skin brown and play instruments with ivory carved to look like bones, or the many references to the subtle misogyny of the age may be too much for some readers. I give this as a warning. Not particularly enjoyable or interesting. A Victorian Thriller, set in the 1850's but written in 2003. I think the author managed the style and the sense of place well but the story was a muddle. It took forever to get going and then just meandered along to an end, without any real sense of drama. I just fininshed it to finish it and I didn't really care what happened at all. I think I've probably read enough BookCrossing books of late and I need to get back into my own collection for a little while, read some books that I picked! This is one of those books where the whole thing doesn't make sense until you've finished it. Written in a definitely Victorian mode, it is both a tour of Victorian London and a mystery. If you're not used to writing done in this style, it can be a bit off-putting, to say the least. The characters are well drawn and the story is a good one. The main character is a Mr. Edmund Whitty, a reporter for The Falcon, a newspaper that has no qualms with sensationalizing to try to outdo the rival papers. Sadly, Mr. Whitty is most times down on his luck, and in debt to some creepy character known as The Ratter, who has a very bizarre way of getting back at those who don't pay up. That scene made me cringe just thinking about it! Whitty also puts away a little too much alcohol, enjoys being a part-time opium eater, and is just an inventive ploy away from being tossed out of his rented room. In this story, the buzz on the streets is that a serial killer is roaming the streets of London, strangling his victims with a white gentleman's scarf. While the infamous "Chokee Bill" is put away in prison, however, the crimes continue, and Whitty, along with a very strange "patterer" named Mr. Owler, are trying to see that justice is done. Their quest: to get the wrong guy out of prison and put the right one in. I won't say more. Quite well done, but it does have a tendency here and there to drag so that I found myself skimming a little to move things along. Overall, a pretty first in series. I would recommend it to those who enjoy a good novel set in Victorian London; people who pick this up expecting a cozy or easy read might be disappointed. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Appartient à la sérieEdmund Whitty (1)
It's 1852, and the ranks of the London poor have doubled. In the swollen shadow of the great St. Giles Rookery, fallen women attract the perfumed dandies of the West End into a vicious circle of venality, vanity, and vice. Edmund Whitty, correspondent for The Falcon, the city's second-best sensational tabloid, writes whatever will stimulate the reader, delay his (increasingly physical) creditors, and supply him with the alcohol and opiates required to see him through the day. His most recent triumph was to supply a name for the fiend in human form who has murdered an uncertain number of prostitutes with a white silk scarf: Chokee Bill. Chokee Bill incited a garroting panic that paralyzed the business of London---until the arrest of one William Ryan. Normality has returned. The hangman, Mr. Calcraft, as dusty and dreary as death itself, awaits. Broke again and in search of crisp copy, Whitty makes a shocking but not altogether surprising discovery: the white-scarf slayings have continued. When he endeavors to find the real Chokee Bill, he is greeted with emphatic hostility on all sides. This thrilling Dickensian tale offers galvanizing suspense and an evocative and witty vision of life in Victorian London. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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