Full Dark House
isn’t Christopher Fowler’s first novel. He used to write horror according to his website but now he writes Peculiar Crimes Unit Mysteries about two characters called Bryant and May.
I read mysteries for several reasons. There is a puzzle and unless the book is incredibly boring I can stick around for that if nothing else. The main characters are usually interesting and thirdly I’m probably not going to have a sleepless night, because generally speaking mysteries don’t frighten me.
Full Dark House is not boring. The style it is written in is very unique. It occurs in modern day London, but flashes back to London during the Blitz of WWII. So in this first novel of a series you get two mysteries in one novel. I love that idea. You get two perspectives on the characters and their partnership. More brilliance.
And the mysteries are intriguing and the answer isn’t obvious. A huge plus that makes me want to go out and get another one.
The thing that made it most unusual and worth blogging about. It scared me. Stay awake and try not to think about it, scared me. By then though, I cared too much about Bryant and May and the puzzles they were trying to solve.
Here’s the bit that scared me. A bit longer than usual, but I want you to get the feel. Go out and buy it today. Be careful though, as with all mystery series I suggest you read them in order. So Full Dark House comes first.
“Grey veils of rain fell ahead of her, blurring the view, but a figure appeared to be waiting on the opposite pavement. It was dressed in a black rubber raincoat, with the hood raised. There was something wrong with its face, she thought: too white, too still. The figure twisted back and forth, clasping itself, its head bouncing from side to side, as though it was laughing, or in terrible pain.
Corrine walked to the stripped traffic island in the centre of the road. From the corner of her eye she saw the figure shift again, passing across the dimmed lights from the station ticket hall. She watched as it reached the edge of the pavement, and found herself staring into a distorted face as pale as porcelain, the crying tragedy mask of traditional theatre. A passing truck churned its way through a lake of rainwater. When she looked up once more, the figure had vanished.
It had seen her alarm, she was sure. Angered and frightened, she ran across the road, moving past the taped crosses of shop windows, until she realized that she was running in a hard panic, and forced her pace to a walk.
She could not understand where the fear had come from. She was only aware that she had felt it, a chill prickling between her shoulder blades. a primal warning that someone or something meant her harm or, worse still, wanted her.” -p. 150, Full Dark House, A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler.
Warning, you will reach a point in this book where you cannot stop reading.
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