Simon Kurt UnsworthRezensionen
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All told, I fell into this book and loved it, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I could not tell you what genre it is, but in all sincerity, it doesn't matter. This is a fun, gorgeous ride of a book that doesn't shy away from real meaning and big questions, and it's absolutely worth reading.
Recommended.
This is—and I say this rarely—a much better story than the first novel. It's one of the few times I've seen an author absolutely fearless in doing everything bad to their hero, and Unsworth does it with a mad glint in his eye.
This series takes place in Hell...so it should be hellish. And Unsworth delivers. But the real shocker here, is when the action moves to Heaven. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say it's a completely unique and fascinating look at that world, too.
But in the last third of the book, it just shines. The action, the pathos, the twists and turns....honestly, this book couldn't really have delivered more.
In fact, I just talked myself into a 5-star review.
But then, slowly, subtly, Unsworth won me over with some great writing, greater imagination, and amazing action sequences. Seriously, he took the detective novel to hell. And did it really well.
If I have one complaint, it's the overuse of Thomas Fool constantly thinking of various adjectives before his name, such as, Intelligent Fool. Little, noticeable Fool. That shit got old quickly.
But a minor gripe for an overall compelling read.
The plot is pretty unsurprising, and I guessed at the culprit fairly quickly. There are some interesting themes around the nature of Hell and humanity. The setting was well-developed, but I found myself getting bored with the book.
I loved the creativity of this book! Building upon the hell he established so well in The Devil's Detective, this time Simon Kurt Unsworth turns his imagination to building a heaven. Turns out, his heaven is just as warped as his hell; maybe even more so. There are angels, the Malakim, (the messengers of heaven) and the Estedea, ("Pray their sadness never reaches you.") Lastly, there's Mayall, (not of the Bluesbreakers variety), heaven's own version of a clown. Or is he more than that?
While conducting his investigation of several mysterious fires in hell, (I know, mysterious fires in hell? It sounds crazy, but I'm telling you, it works), Thomas is called for and sent to heaven to investigate....something. The angels don't want him there, the demons and the Evidence back in hell don't want him there, but someone does. Why? You'll have to read this to find out.
I believe that it would be difficult to pick up this book and understand everything that's going on without having read The Devil's Detective first. There are terms and people, (the Man of Plants and Flowers, for instance), that are introduced in the first book and without any knowledge of them, I think much of the impact of this story would be diluted.
I enjoy the way Unsworth writes. For instance, as Thomas leaves Heaven to return to hell:
"His last view of Heaven was of a motionless rank of beautiful, somber angels surrounded by falling snow and, behind them, the chapel of all faiths standing alone and mute in the storm light."
I love that quote because I can picture it perfectly in my mind.
I did have an issue with the self-deprecating Thomas Fool beating up on himself every 5 minutes. (Stupid little Fool! Know nothing Fool!) It became irritating but after about halfway, it occurred less often.
With fascinating world building, highly imaginative and creative ideas, it's difficult for me to find any other faults with this book. I've never read anything like these Fool books before. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will meet Thomas Fool once again.
If you liked the first book I HIGHLY recommend you pick up The Devil's Evidence.
*Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*
Find this review and others like it at Horrorafterdark.com.
Thomas Fool is an Information Man and the setting is Hell with a capital H.
Turns out that an Information Man means Detective, even though not much detecting has ever been tried in Hell. He and two others start out on their journey to discover what is sucking souls dry while the reader hangs on for the ride. That's all I'm going to say about the plot, because it would be a disservice to interfere with the author's fine telling of this dark fantasy story.
The world building here is phenomenal -and the creativity and imagination? Outstanding! The pacing was fast and the mystery intriguing. The one drawback I felt was that the story was relentlessly dark and I had to take a quick break to read a short story here and there, to lighten my mood. For that, (which is a picky complaint, I admit), I deducted one half star.
This tale was impressive, intricate and imaginative. I'm looking forward to a sequel-I so hope there'll be one. In the meantime, I think I'll check out more of Mr. Unsworth's work. This visually striking imagery put me in mind of Clive Barker's work, (the Man of Plants and Flowers? I imagine him vividly!) Highly recommended for horror fans, but especially to fans of Barker!
*A free copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is it!*
The good: Unsworth commits to his setting, never undercutting or sending up his premise; it is impressively nasty at times. His idea of what a modern Hell would look like is convincing, its tortures understandable. The cosmology of his universe is well thought and never smothers the story. There are some great characters in there too, who I'd really like to spend some more time with (I can't read Elderflower without seeing Anton Lesser).
The bad: He's a very good prose stylist, but the book is oddly repetitious in both words and incident. His action sequences drag on and there's the final confrontation doesn't need to be there at all - the quieter, more physical, more Clive Baker moments are horror are far more arresting.
None of the problems are insoluble, and while it's frustrating that what is so good is counterpointed by that which feels unnecessary, it also leaves me with some hope. Ironically.
Drawing loosely on Dante's Inferno and a bit of Pilgrim's Progress, with a health dose of Good Omens, this story is about a detective, or Information Man, whose job it is to investigate murders in Hell for the Bureaucracy. A strange murder just at the start of a delegates' visit from Heaven starts Thomas Fool investigating, and that murder soon becomes a whole string of them, caused by a mysterious serial killer who doesn't seem to fit any profile Fool knows. I love the way Hell is depicted, and the fire-and-brimstones fan Balthazar, a visiting angel who is constantly annoyed and impatient at the seemingly nice, pleasant state Hell has become.I hope this is the first in a series, because it certainly seems to lend itself to at least a sequel.
It is hard to discuss the plot of either book without spoilers. The basic premise is that heaven and hell do exist. They are not your grandparent's concept of heaven or hell. The humans (yes humans because there are so very nasty non-humans lurking in these pages) do not know why they have been sent to hell. They cannot remember their lives. They only know that they committed sin(s) so heinous to sentence them to an eternity in hell.
So we have hell and we have Thomas Fool whose job is to investigate crimes in hell. Let that one sink in for a moment. Investigating crimes in a major city would be quite a job but in hell, where every human there because he deserves to be and demons just add to the chaos, it is close to impossible. In the second book, Thomas Fool takes a trip and becomes involved in investigating crimes in heaven. You know, perfection, harmony, all peace and fluffy clouds. You would not think there would be a lot of crime but heaven is out of balance and pulling hell out of whack to.
My descriptions do not even begin to do justice to this incredible book. Let me just quote one small section:
"fire had a voice, it talked in a constant bitter mutter, the sound of something chewing its own teeth, a one-sided conversation that babbled as the flames burrowed deep into wooden frames around now-glassless windows and ate warping doors buckling in their mounts. And as the fire talked and drew itself on, it cleaned, leaving no spore or trail"
Every time I read that section it takes my breath away. The prose, the characters, the descriptions, everything is done well in this book. I recommend you read The Devil's Evidence as soon as you read The Devil's Detective. The books are just fantastic.
I received my copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Thomas Fool, The Devil's Detective, is an Information Man and a human among demons. Fool is now the Commander of the Information Office, a position in Hell for which he gets little respect.
Now there's a new department in Hell, The Evidence, headed by Mr. Tap. All they seem to do is get in the way of the Information Men. "They didn't investigate, they simply tore things apart and reached conclusions that made little or no sense, and then executed justice on the spot."
As Fool and his team are investigating a series of arsons and murders, he is called away to be part of a special delegation to Heaven. While in Heaven, he learns of some mysterious deaths there. Heaven blames Hell. Hell blames Heaven. Can Thomas Fool uncover the truth before there's an all out war?
The Devil's Evidence turned out to be a worthy sequel to The Devil's Detective, and was slightly better than book one. More fantasy than horror, but it does get rather gruesome at times. Pure escapism requiring a total suspension of disbelief. This is not an easy read, but it is an interesting and entertaining foray into a completely different world and the final twist is pure gold.
From Doubleday, The Devil's Evidence: A Novel, is available in hardback, e-book and audio formats.
Simon Kurt Unsworth as born in Manchester and lives in a farmhouse in Cumbria, in the United Kingdom. He is the author of The Devil's Detective and many short stories, including the collections Lost Places, Quiet Houses, and Strange Gateways.
It works as a proper murder mystery with plenty of clues so you can spot the bad guy fairly early on. It's also beautifully bleak and grittily grim. Author Unsworth paints in many shades of relentless grey, and isn't scared of throwing all types of distasteful bodily excretions into the mix. It's emotionally and verbally explicit, and utterly engaging.
SPOILER ALERT! Abandon hope, etc, if you choose to read on.
On another level (you'd have to check with Dante which circle it might possibly be), you can also read this book as a metaphor for the rise of fascism in the 1930s. Equally, it's an extremely apposite commentary on the current trend to subjugate social and personal liberties for the sake of state security.
Either way, it's a damned (geddit?) fine read. When's the next one out?
8/10
I have been thinking a lot about writing better reviews and I feel like Simon Kurt Unsworth has made that job a whole lot easier with The Devil’s Detective. Before reading this book I had most of the themes worked out in my head. So let us start with the basic; a mystery novel is typically a quest narrative. We have the detective that is the hero of the story, setting out to solve a mystery. We know what the mystery is from the back of the novel but then again there always is something more going on.
If you think of the detective as the hero, it is easy to think a white knight on a journey to bring justice to the world. Although can this really be a morality tale? This is set in hell and if we go by the depiction of hell found in the Bible or Dante’s Inferno, it is one of hopelessness and despair. Assuming Unsworth is going to try to keep to the traditional narrative structures and also keep the Christian theology we can illuminate some core character traits.
There will be no true justice, Thomas Fool will not be a savour figure; he might solve the crime but they are still in Hell. Justice in Hell, seems unlikely. Now the idea of the detective being called an Information Man, leads me to think he will have knowledge of what goes on in Hell, but can he change anything? Considering the location this is unlikely, I do believe he will never effect the social balance, there will be no change and no real justice. If you do not believe me, consider his name, Fool.
I went into The Devil’s Detective with these preconceived thoughts, and turns out I was correct in thinking this way. I did not expect anything special, this novel was a light read; blending horror with a typical mystery plot. I wish I could say I enjoyed the book but I did not, there were no surprises and nothing stood out. I do think the theology was a little off and Unsworth’s depiction of Hell really needed work. If you want to read something set in Hell, I recommend Inferno; it has some of the best descriptions of what Hell might be like. Obviously we cannot be sure but it really does capture the despair and pain they we often associate with Hell.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/horror/the-devils-detective-by-s...
[Cross-posted to Knite Writes]
Thomas Fool is one of Hell’s “Information Men.” In other words, he’s a damned detective with a name that is used as a pun so often it started to get annoying after the 212th time. Instead of investigating cases, Fool usually just stamps them as “Did Not Investigate” and goes on with his day. Because there is no real justice in Hell, of course, and most crimes are simply the natural order of things — demons murdering humans and what not.
You see, in this iteration of Hell, there’s no fire and brimstone torture. Instead, the damned human tenants are forced to work terrible jobs, the best of which seems to be factory worker, while the demon bureaucracy rules over all. Said tenants have been stripped of their memories of the past, and so, the real torture is being forced to labor meaninglessly for eternity. Or until you’re murdered and your soul is sent back to purgatory to start the cycle of “birth,” work, death all over again.
Yep. Things are terrible in Hell. It’s Hell.
Anyway, not long after a couple of angels arrive to participate in the annual “Elevation” negotiation, where they absolve a few souls of sin and send them to Heaven, a string of terrible murders begins. Instead of the usual demon murders, where humans are butchered and have their life energy fed on by demons, these murders are so brutal that the humans in question are actually being absolved of their sins and sent to Heaven — because their pain is so great it cleanses their souls. Yikes. That’s a lot of pain.
Fool, angry at the murders, finally starts to grow a backbone, and with his fellow Information Men, Gordie and Summer, actually investigates the murders. He consults a strange being known as The Man of Plants and Flowers, who gives him clues — but not long after he does, the demon bureaucracy calls Fool and tells him to investigate The Man. Because his strange existence makes them nervous. So Fool has two missions: find the murderer and investigate The Man to keep his demon overlords happy.
Unfortunately, things don’t go so well for Fool. First, Gordie gets killed when the trio visits an “orphanage,” where human prostitutes give birth and abandon half demon babies. Then, Fool finds himself “famous” for defying and killing demons, thus drawing a lot of unwanted attention. Then, Fool realizes he’s been played — someone killed The Man and used his weird plant body as a puppet, thus misleading Fool and sending him into dangerous situations to try and get him killed.
Finally, to top everything off, the humans of Hell begin to riot and fight back against the demons, using Fool as their inspiration, and during one of these riots, Fool and Summer end up chasing the thing they believe responsible for the murders. And Summer, who manages to pull ahead of Fool in the chase, is brutally killed by it.
Now Hell’s lone Information Man and sitting in a position of fame he really doesn’t want, Fool is forced to solve the murder case on his own. And when he finally realizes the obvious answer that has been sitting in front of him for the entire book, he…comes to the wrong conclusion. First, he accuses Balthazar, the aggressive visiting angel he’s been butting heads with the entire book, of the murders. But, of course, it wasn’t Balthazar. It was Adam, the sweet-faced, kindly angel who’s been way too nice the entire time. Adam thought that “freeing” the human souls by absolving them of their sin through torture was the “just” thing to do.
When Fool and Balthazar confront him and he reveals the truth, Adam Falls and becomes a demon. Balthazar and Fool fight the new demon, but Balthazar is killed. Fool manages to barely, barely defeat the new Fallen and finally bring his murder to case to a close.
Unfortunately, it turns out that every single event in the book was just a catalyst for another shift in Hell’s organization. Elderflower, Fool’s boss, explains that Hell will now become the equivalent of a Police State, where Fool and an army of new Information Man will suffocate people with justice instead of leaving them devoid of it. Because apparently, that is the next evolution of eternal suffering.
So Fool has been played as a fool the entire book. And Elderflower might or might not be Satan. And things still suck, and everybody is miserable.
The End.
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My Take
I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on this book.
Firstly, I enjoyed the creativity of the world building. It painted a fresh and interesting picture of Hell as a place and a punishment, and I thought the odd bureaucratic organization of it all gave it a unique flavor — a strange mix of order and chaos that built a great backdrop for a murder mystery plot. I think the world building was probably my favorite part of this book, simply because it was well done, consistent, and reasonably original. The author didn’t gloss over any of the realities of what “eternal suffering” means but, at the same time, didn’t let the story drift too close to somewhat overused traditional depictions of Hell.
That being said, I found many aspects of the book lacking.
While I did like the variety of characters in the book, a lot them fell a little flat for me due to a lack of characterization and development. The story stayed a little too close to Fool, and, as a result, many of the other characters stayed somewhat one-dimensional throughout, which led to deaths and revelations not holding much emotional weight for me. If the story had spent more time developing, say, Fool’s fellow Information Men or any of the “bad guys,” then some of the major events of the plot would have resonated much better. As it was, though, I didn’t have much of an emotional response to the major shifts in the story — because I didn’t really feel anything for the characters involved.
Secondly, I thought the pacing of the story was a bit off. It dragged on for a while with very little in the way of twists or major developments, and then, all at once, things rapidly picked up and barreled toward the action-packed conclusion. If the pace been faster in the beginning, I would have enjoyed the story more — it took a little too long to pick up for my tastes.
Third, I struggled with the writing style. The prose felt stilted to me, the language too formal and unemotional; it made for a very strange contrast with the actual content of the book, filled with strong negative emotions and ultra-violence. It threw me off every time I picked up the book to keep reading, as I had to “readjust” to it before I could get back into the story.
Finally, I found the conclusion frustrating. I understood where the author was coming from, and in the context of the overall story, it makes sense, but I’m not the biggest fan of endings like that. I’ve seen them before, and they always rub me the wrong way — I sort of feel cheated with these types of endings, I suppose, because I expect to have some sort of overall resolution that marks a fundamental change in the condition of the protagonist’s life or the world around him. These endings are a slap in the face to that expectation, and they deconstruct your typical ideas of how a book should end. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just…not my cup of tea.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about this one. There was a lot to like, what with the rich world building and all, but I felt it needed some work with its plot, pacing, and characterization.
A fine debut, for sure, but it does fall short in some respects.
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Rating
3/5
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… // Disclaimer
I received a free ebook copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Devil’s Detective: A Novel by Simon Kurt Unsworth (Doubleday, $25.95).
Don’t dismiss The Devil’s Detective, Simon Kurt Unsworth’s debut novel, as just some more horror fiction—not that there’s anything wrong with a good scary book. But Unsworth has something extra here: a broad swath of originality in his premise, some first-rate world-building, a light touch with satire and the good sense to mix it up where genre is concerned.
The title tells you how Thomas Fool is employed. He’s an Information Man, assigned to investigate and report to his employer—the boss in Hell. In essence, it’s noir horror, Sam Spade in Hades, but that’s simply too reductive to stick. First, people aren’t supposed to die in Hell–already dead, right?–but when they do, no one investigates. The place is full of punishment, but justice and law enforcement are not on the demonic agenda.
But then, of course, an out-of-the-ordinary-bloodshed murder occurs, right as a delegation of obviously important people are on–er, under–the ground. Thomas can’t remember anything about his life, but he’s got an apparently unquenchable thirst for justice that leads him to uncover a conspiracy in the hottest of hot zones.
From his sideways hits at bureaucracy to his genuine compassion for the damned, Unsworth is really onto something here, which is good for all the fans he’s going to have as soon as they read this book.
Reviewed on Lit/Rant: www.litrant.tumblr.com
Matthew Fool is an information man in hell. This is a hell of grey grim monotony. The fire and brimstone is gone. Demons no longer torment lost souls.
Fool is born out of limbo tasked to investigate murders. Most murders are deemed unimportant but occasionally his superiors direct him to investigate.
During a congress between angels and demons to negotiate the transfer of souls between heaven and hell a serial killer strikes mutilating and removing the souls of the damned.
When Fool starts to investigate he is drawn into an increasingly disturbing web of lies as he uncovers disturbing facts about the agenda of both the angels and demons.
There were, however, three things which destroyed any enjoyment I might otherwise have gotten from reading The Devil's Detective. First, I was immediately put off by Unsworth's decision to name his protagonist "Thomas Fool," a choice which distanced me from the character. Because he is almost always addressed by his last name, I felt beaten over the head by the implication that the supposed hero was actually a fool: not in the archetypal sense of one who seeks to live life joyfully in the moment, but rather as one who is stupid, lacking judgment or intellect. Fool's character should have been sympathetic, aligning as he does more closely with the seeker archetype; he is loyal, honest and fair with those less fortunate, and committed to the concept of justice in a place not known for that value, but his name just kept getting in the way.
Second, Unsworth has an extremely irritating habit of giving Fool a uniformly demeaning self-image. For example, Fool thinks of himself as "Little spinning Fool," "little Fool dog," and "Little mesmerized Fool" - and that's in the prologue alone.
Third, the Hell inhabited by Fool is an unremittingly bleak place. Yes, I know Hell isn't supposed to be pleasant, but I was dismayed by its entire premise: the souls of sinning humans are pulled from Limbo, clothed in flesh, and thrust into Hell with no knowledge of the sins which put them there and, therefore, no way to confess or atone for them. Souls are elevated from Hell to Heaven at the whim of negotiations between angels and Hell's bureaucrats. This conception of Hell simply is contrary to my belief in God's loving nature and His desire that all souls be saved, making it impossible for me to accept, even temporarily, the world Unsworth created. If, as Fool concludes, he is "simply another speck grinding within [Hell's] huge and grotesque wheels," why should I waste my time caring about him?
I recognize that my third objection is very personal and that many other readers may not react as negatively. Unfortunately, notwithstanding Unsworth's fine story-telling skills, I cannot recommend The Devil's Detective.
I received a free copy of The Devil's Detective through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Drawing loosely on Dante's Inferno and a bit of Pilgrim's Progress, with a health dose of Good Omens, this story is about a detective, or Information Man, whose job it is to investigate murders in Hell for the Bureaucracy. A strange murder just at the start of a delegates' visit from Heaven starts Thomas Fool investigating, and that murder soon becomes a whole string of them, caused by a mysterious serial killer who doesn't seem to fit any profile Fool knows. I love the way Hell is depicted, and the fire-and-brimstones fan Balthazar, a visiting angel who is constantly annoyed and impatient at the seemingly nice, pleasant state Hell has become.I hope this is the first in a series, because it certainly seems to lend itself to at least a sequel.