Customer Reviews

The Lamplighter: A Novel

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1 star:		(5)

 

 

The streets of Edinburgh in 1886 run with blood as a series of bizarre deaths and dismemberments, possibly by some huge wild animal, haunt the public imagination and send the police force into high dudgeon. A frail young woman, Evelyn Todd, is thought to be at the root of these horrifying crimes. Evelyn grew up in an institution in the mid-1860's, where the administrator reined in her imagination and punished her especially for the stories about a lamplighter, with which she entertained the other children. Later, when James Ainslie, Laird of Millenhall, claimed to be her father, she lived at his estate, a frightened and solitary child who took refuge in her paintings, in which she usually included an avuncular gentleman in peaked cap, blue jacket, and gray scarf, whom she referred to as "Leerie," a lamplighter.

An 1886, Evelyn, now in her twenties, comes under investigation for a series of murders. Evelyn has had vivid and revelatory dreams about each of the murders, though she insists that she has not been present; has no real, firsthand knowledge of any of the murders; and does not know about them ahead of time. The murdered men are all members of a secret society, the Mirror Society, whose membership also includes James Ainslie, Evelyn's "father." Of the murders, Evelyn says only that she believes them to have been committed by "the lamplighter."

In an unusual narrative twist to this Gothic and atmospheric novel, O'Neill employs two sets of characters to track Evelyn and ascertain her relationship to these murders. Carus Groves and his assistant, Pringle, are trying to solve the police cases involving the law and its penalties, while Professor Thomas McKnight, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, and his friend Canavan are trying to solve the larger questions of who Evelyn really is, why she is able to see details of the crimes in her dreams, and whether she may represent the "devil inherent in all of us. A primeval instinct, a fundamental component of evolution." The reader cannot help wondering if the lamplighter, who carries fire to the lamps of the city, is, in reality, Lucifer, whose name, literally translated, means "carrier of fire."

Eventually, McKnight and Canavan follow Evelyn into Hades in an effort to rescue her from the devil they believe resides within her, and the reader is drawn into a metaphysical and theological debate regarding the nature of selfhood, the existence of evil, its connection both to the imagination and reality, and the extent to which mankind exercises free will in the desire to control outcomes. O'Neill uses the vocabulary of religion and the new perceptions which resulted from Darwin's Origin of the Species to try to explain those aspects of human nature which Freud and the psychoanalysts later developed into a new science at the turn of the century. O'Neill is a fine writer whose use of vivid verbs and lively description helps to animate this serious philosophical debate. The reader's job is figure out what is real and what is not, a task which is not as easy as it may seem in this complex and serious novel. Mary Whipple

In 1886 Edinburgh residents become frightened when a series of brutal murders occur and an eerie grave-robbing incident happens. The brass assigns Inspector Carus Groves to solve the case. Carus is a sanctimonious egotist writing his memoirs every evening, but turning the accounts into more of an autobiographical fiction piece than a biography. He sees himself as a hero on adventurer rather than a plodding cop though on this serial killing case he has doubts about himself.

Retired due to age, Edinburgh University Professor of Logic and Metaphysics Thomas McKnight and his Irish friend Canavan, fired as the watchman of the cemetery where the grave robbery occurred, begin their own inquiries. The duo searches for a seemingly supernatural person who apparently tore an adult into pieces. The clues lead to publisher assistant Evelyn Todd, who returned to her home city where two decades ago she lived as a Dickens poster girl orphan. She knows too much detail about the crimes so McKnight and Canavan try mesmerism, Freudian psychoanalysis, metaphysics, and other isms seeking her link to the terror of the night.

The atmosphere of a terrorized Edinburgh will be felt by the reader once the prologue is finished and the tale moves forward to 1886. The story line grips the audience as the reader compares the two investigations, but wonders if the culprit is supernatural or human. The cast is cleverly drawn to add depth to the tension while showing the foibles of the lead players. Fans of historical suspense thrillers where the tension just keeps growing will want to read Anthony O'Neill's terrific tale but remember to keep the lights on.

Harriet Klausner

This is a wonderfully thoughtful and atmospheric novel - mindbending and genre-bending. There are philosophical dialogues that may challenge some readers, but overall it's a very fluid and exciting read, and much more "human" than you'd expect for a book with so many gruesome scenes and such groteqsue imagery. The author doesn't forget to buttress his outrageous story with authenticity, and exhibits a welcome ambivalence about good & evil.

It is not often that one picks out what appears to be an interesting work of genre serial killer suspense and discovers that the author has made a real effort write much more that simple, entertaining fair. In fact, I'll start right out by warning the reader that, if you are looking for lots of blood and bits, this is not the book for you. Instead, it is something else entirely.

Set in late Nineteenth Century Edinburgh, the surface story is about a series of catastrophically violent crimes that happen so quickly that witnesses are unable to describe the killer. Two groups of investigators are drawn into the crimes. The police are involved, of course, in the person of acting Chief Inspector Carus Groves. He is a man whose experience is limited to mundane crimes, and whose imagination is limited to a suspicious and self-centered nature. The other team consists of Thomas McKnight (ex-professor of logic and metaphysics) and Joseph Canavan an ex-graveyard watchman.

Groves is a tumult of action, often pointless, and a stream of suspicions that get in his way more often than not. He is driven by his desire to succeed in a truly notable case, which will be a fitting cap for his memoirs. McKnight and Canavan, representing both doubt and belief, carry their research out in the ethereal world of the mind. The murders become a metaphor for the nature of the creative imagination and the power of both the mind and the spirit.

In between these two is Evelyn Todd, a young woman whose past is marred by a dark secret. One that ties the victims together in a strange cabal that has echoes the religious brainwashing of the past few decades. Suspicion falls on her, even though the crimes are bestial, and clearly beyond her capacity. There is no question that she, and her dreams, are somehow central to the mystery, but each investigator sees the truth though a glass of his own making.

The real truth, if one may call it that, is far stranger than anyone's suspicions. The players re-enact a Dantesque journey into the imagination, in search of a redemption that comes unexpectedly, much as the murderer did. We are treated not simply to a murder mystery, but also to a wry and unique vision of the nature of evil. O'Neill does this in such a fashion that the intellectual dialogue never bogs down the narrative pace, and with a fine sensitivity to the power of language.

The LAMPLIGHTER is a gothic novel set in nineteenth century Edinburgh, Scotland. If you're a cynical sort, you might have problems with suspension of disbelief; if not, this work might be a pleasant change from more pedestrian best sellers.
O'Neill's flair for description is excellent. He puts us in 1886 Edinburgh, where lamplighters sally forth each night to shed light on the sooty recesses of Old Town. But there's murder afoot. Some fiend has been butchering some of the city's elite and digging them up if they're already dead. The first such victim is a professor of ecclesiastical law, who had been at odds with one of the heroes of the novel, Thomas McKnight, "a disillusioned professor of logic and metaphysics" who becomes a suspect. When he's fired from his professorship, McKnight becomes obsessed by a young orphan girl named Evelyn who seems to be implicated in the murders. In short order, a light house operator and a con man are also torn to shreds; everything seems to point to Evelyn, but she's a mere strip of a girl and couldn't possibly have done any of the murders without help.
I'm a sucker for good characterization and there's some of that happening here. Carus Groves is the "official" investigator charged with solving these crimes. He, too, focuses on Evelyn (One of the problems I had with the book is that Groves and McKnight cover some of the same ground and the book bogs down in the middle because of it). O'Neill can't seem to make up his mind about Carus. This is Carus's first big case and he's part Inspector Clouseau and part Sherlock Holmes. The best scene in the book is when Carus discovers Evelyn's body after spending a day at the library reading everything he can find on the occult.
The book loses credibility when the devil enters the picture and we find out two of the characters are really figments of Evelyn's powerful imagination.

This book could have been so much better. The story was interesting for a while until the author got bogged down in a philosophical/religious quagmire. The characters aren't developed well and the ending was unbelievable.

Anthony O'Neill displays his great gift for story-telling by transporting the reader back to 19th Century Edinburgh. "The Lamplighter" conjures up images of granite tenement blocks, steep steps and twisting alleys. It is easy to lose yourself in this smokey city with its fog and dimly lit streets.

The introduction of a young girl - Evelyn, sets up an aura of intrigue. The action then switches to Chief Inspector Groves who is trying to solve several murders in the city. The murders are savage and inexplicable but Groves goes about his business with the typical doggedness of a 19th Century policeman.

The unlikely partnership of Canavan (a nightwatchman at a cemetery) and McKnight (a professor at the University) uses science and psychology to try to solve the murders. It is interesting to compare progress in the cases between methodical policework and imaginative theories. It reminded me of Sherlock Holmes versus Inspector Lestrade.

Anthony O'Neill's background descriptions of the seedier side of life in 19th Century Edinburgh had me peering through the gloom and choking on the smoke.
The finale is a terrifying flight through falling beams, Gothic buildings and bas-reliefs - reminiscent of the horrifying descriptions by HP Lovecraft.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - it is intriguing and spell-binding,with more twists than the alleyways of Edinburgh.

This fascinating novel dips into the past, late 19th Century Edinburgh, Scotland, the scene of a string of bloody murders that terrify citizens and mystify police. Beside each body, in plain view, is a cryptic message. Because of the notes, the police are quick to realize that there is a connection, a time when the victim's paths converged. Due to the truly gruesome nature of the crime scenes, it is unclear what kind of monster is loose, man or beast, perhaps something inhuman.

Twenty years prior, a young girl, Evelyn Todd, was confined to an orphanage, the only balm to her loneliness the stories she made up to entertain the other children. In her stories, Leerie, the Lamplighter, led through the streets of the city, illuminating the darkness with his torch. On his nightly rounds, Leerie was Evelyn's friend, an extension into a world from which she is shut out. Later, when Evelyn is claimed by a "relative, she is not heard from again, until she shows up as an adult in Edinburgh, confessing that she has dreamed each murder in perfect detail, even the notes.

Inspector Groves, assigned to the case, is ready for retirement and completing his memoirs, the more sensational the better. He is convinced that Evelyn is the perfect addition to his book and determines to get to the bottom of her nightmares, her obvious affiliation with the murders. There are two other observers willing to act on Evelyn's behalf, Thomas McKnight, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics and Joseph Canavan, an unemployed night watchman. The men are of a more sympathetic nature and believe Evelyn's dilemma is one of great danger, threatened with the very essence of evil. Slowly and tenderly, they coax her to reveal the tortuous story of her youth, searching for a solution to her nightmares.

It is past the Age of Enlightenment and philosophy is tempered with scientific knowledge, the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Darwin's Origin of the Species, the clash of religious dogma and superstition with science. The darkened streets of Edinburgh are rife with mystery and menace, as McKnight and Canavan journey into the very bowels of hell, there to confront the face of evil. As the girl's mentors descend into the abyss, they struggle against the power of perception and the distortion of imagination. Theirs is a pitched battle between good and evil, the rugged path strewn by humanity's hubris.

O'Neill thrusts the soul of Satan into the light, exposed in his efforts to inhabit a human body, cloaked as Lucifer. Somewhere between heaven and hell, the fine line that separates human from inhuman may have been breached, unloosing untold evil. Evelyn is the epitome of helplessness, though capable of exercising free will. Leerie, as her familiar, seeks his freedom from the confines of imagination, to be made flesh, to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting souls of Edinburgh. O'Neill has created a stunning and visual exercise on the nature of evil, a cataclysmic denouement awaiting the intrepid reader. Luan Gaines/2003.

I'm sorry I ever doubted you, all you one star reviewers. I had the rare opportunity to just stroll the library bookstacks looking for something to read recently, and came away with this one. I looked over reviews here on Amazon, and was reassured by the glowing 5 star ratings. Often, I find it more informative to read the one stars - anyone passionate enough to take the time to write about a book they hated usually has some legitimate points to make. I wish I'd listened this time.
Although I'm a fan of the genre, I really hated this book. I only finished it because I wanted to stick around to see how it would explain itself in the end, and even that was unsatisfying. I found myself skimming for pages and pages of blather that really did little to move the plot along. Unlike some of the 5 star reviewers, I didn't find the language to be particularly lovely or well-crafted. Reading this book felt like getting stuck sitting next to the old town blowhard at the church supper, politely listening to a never-ending story with far too much detail and a meaningless ending. I'd really like to have my time back on this one.
Recommended instead: Sarah Waters' "Affinity" or "Fingersmith," Michel Faber's "The Crimson Petal and the White," Dan Simmons' "Drood," Charles Palliser's "The Quincunx," ripping yarns all.

The Lamplighter is an excellent thriller. The author, Anthony O'Neill, employs the use of a well-known Scottish philosopher, David Hume, to illustrate Evelyn's troubles. Specifically, the setting is similar to Hume's history. Next, O'Neill uses two of Hume's major philosophical questions. Finally, we see the very battle of science and superstition to parallel Hume's life. These paralleling points add to the novel's mystery and intrigue.
Foremost, we must note The Lamplighter's setting is in Edinburgh Scotland around the mid-nineteenth century. It was over a hundred years prior that David Hume was born, raised and taught in Edinburgh. Hume walked the very same streets. The setting is our initial introduction to this Scottish philosopher.
Now, we must look to Hume's first major premise. He questioned the concept of perception. He asked if someone leaves a friend in one room and goes to another, how does he know if his friend still exists without perceiving him in any way? The Lamplighter takes this notion and extends it to a greater degree. When Groves discovers the Mirror Society, he learns of their basic belief and fundamental question: if you look into a mirror, how are you not sure that someone else is perceiving you? In other words, you are but a reflection of an entirely mirrored universe and you have no core individuality. This question is surprisingly shocking but significantly contributes to the novel's eerie tone and impression on the reader.

The next paralleling aspect is the imagination. Hume toyed with the idea of what consists of one's imagination. One of his example is dreaming of a flying creature. A person does this by relating and associating ideas that a person has perceived. For instance, he takes the body of a lizard and the wings of a dragon fly and the person has imagined a flying creature. O'Neill, again, takes this notion to a greater degree. McKnight asks Caravan if it is possible that Evelyn's Leerie, if her dreams become intense enough, could become real? His proposal is if the imagination is capable of materializing? These questions further add to the novels thrilling plot and its twists and turns.
The final parallel is the transition to empiricism. Hume was a philosopher during the period of the Enlightenment and he defiantly argues that empiricism is the only way to know things. He argued we must rid ourselves of sources of superstition, prejudice and error. The battle present in The Lamplighter is the Enlightenment versus Superstition. A century or more after the scientific and rational movement, Edinburgh, Scotland is embedded with Enlightenment theories. But, unexplainable murders are committed and baffling creatures are seen during the night. Professor Bolan questions Grove about the necessity to never leave out the possibility of witchcraft and sorcery in his quest for truth. This is the question that many in Edinburgh are skeptical about. Could it be demons? Could it be supernatural things, unexplained by science? This battle indefinitely adds to the mystery and the tension.
Anthony O'Neill is a great author. By using Hume's own questions and either replicating them or taking them to a greater extent, he adds to his novel's mystery. The setting, the questions of imagination, the inquiry regarding the Mirror Society and the battle of science versus sorcery all intensify The Lamplighter's thrill, terror, and adventure. This novel is the detective story meets the thriller. From the novel's midpoint to the end, it is genuine page-turning suspense.