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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Darkest Victorian London spawns a killer,
By
This review is from: The Fiend in Human: A Novel (Edward Whitty, 1) (Hardcover)
Victorian London comes alive in all its squalor, filth, stink and teeming humanity in this clever, elegantly written thriller about a down-on-his-luck journalist determined to make his name by saving an innocent man from the gallows.Edmund Whitty covers public hangings and other juicy topics of the day for a popular scandal sheet, which just about keeps him in drink and opium. He's fallen a notch from his Oxford Days, but not so low he can't feel ashamed when his cruel, clever jeering ruins the career of a "patterer," Henry Owler, whose sale of true crime verses barely keeps his daughter and his ward in greasy soup and straw pallets. Owler seeks the exclusive confession of a serial killer, William Ryan, dubbed Chokee Bill, "the fiend in human form," and extracts a promise from Whitty (by arranging an involuntary visit to a labyrinthine slum) to resurrect his reputation if his verses prove true. Owler has an in at the prison, but there's a problem. Chokee Bill insists on his innocence and the killings have continued - hushed by the police, the merchants, even the pickpockets and Owler himself - all the people who suffered while fear of the fiend kept business away. Only Whitty, ever in need of a sensational story for his readers - has reason to pursue the real killer. Gray takes us into the lodgings of the privileged and the reeking shacks of the destitute, the variously appointed taverns of journalists, prostitutes, thieves and worse. He takes us to brothels and drawing rooms and the prison cells of condemned men. And he spins a classic yarn full of heroism and hypocrisy, viciousness and desperation, thrills and just desserts and low blows. The atmosphere is odoriferous and visual, the plot full of characters who belie their appearances, and the writing is witty, sardonic and Dickensian. If you like Caleb Carr, you will love John MacLachlan Gray.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sensational!,
By Your librarian (St Louis) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Fiend in Human: A Novel (Edward Whitty, 1) (Hardcover)
Victorian London is abuzz with news of a serial killer in their midst. That buzz is fed by profit-driven newspaper columnists who each strive for the most sensational story.Edmund Whitty is one such columnist for The Falcon. He is also a drunken lout with steep gambling debts that he can't seem to pay. One evening he is beaten severely as he leaves his favorite drinking place. He is subsequently spirited to the deepest underbelly of Victorian London society to be confronted by a man whom Whitty has recently defamed in a recent newspaper column. Whitty's world turns upside down and author John MacLachlan Gray's excellent novel takes off. I don't know that I would, like the book's cover, classify this book as a thriller. This is a suspense novel of the first rate. But it is not a typical thriller where action overrides reason in forwarding it's plot. Rather, Gray has written a fantastic story of crime, injustice and retribution centered around less-than-regal Victorian London society. His detailed depictions of life in London's underbelly are so effective that the reader can smell the aroma of the unkempt and yet feel the nobility of their humanity. His equally honest portrayal of human foibles and the wrongs of class consciousness are settled in the reader's mind. His plot is unpredictable and surprises abound. Yet there is still a rousing ending that will leave the reader cheering. This book is a must read and should be on recommended Victorian reading lists everywhere, with only a couple of warnings. This is a work of historical excellence. As an American, it took me a while to become accustomed to the Victorian slang and other linguistic derivations of the time. But keep going, dear readers. For the language will become clear and that accuracy in language makes the book so much more genuine. There is no modern sensibility at play here. No cheap effort, the langauge helps to make the setting real. This is also not the light happy fiction that many an American reader has come to expect from best-sellers. This is quality realism. Life in London's underbelly of the time was not pretty. Societal mores called for survival skills that some now will find repugnant. Gray's characters are real. None are perfect but all are very human. Read this book! It is a historical treasure.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Literary Entertainment,
By EddieLove "EddieLove" (NYC, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Fiend in Human (Mass Market Paperback)
Gray's gifts as a dramatist are in evidence throughout this fine novel. The dialouge and period detail are marvelous. Strange that this ambitiuous entertainment didn't get the reviews lavished on Mr. Timothy which was fine but not as well-written.
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