The Somnambulist: A Novel [Paperback]

Jonathan Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2009

Once the toast of good society in Victoria's England, the extraordinary conjurer Edward Moon no longer commands the respect that he did in earlier times. Still, each night he returns to the stage of his theater to amaze his devoted, albeit dwindling, audience, aided by his partner, the Somnambulist—a silent, hairless, hulking giant who, when stabbed, does not bleed. But these are strange, strange times in England, with the oddest of sorts prowling London's dank underbelly. And the very bizarre death of a disreputable actor has compelled a baffled police constabulary to turn once again to Edward Moon for help—inevitably setting in motion events that will shatter his increasingly tenuous grasp on reality.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Set in Victorian London, this superb debut from British author Barnes raises the bar for historical thrillers, starting with its curious opening line: Be warned. This book has no literary merit whatsoever. A page-turner, it's full of peculiar characters, notably Edward Moon, a highly unorthodox detective, and Moon's bizarre sidekick, known only as the Somnambulist. Moon, a conjuror by profession whose act has fallen on hard times, has cracked some of the city's most notorious murders. Now, he's leading the investigation into a shadowy religious group aiming to overtake London and do away with its oppressive, bourgeois tendencies. Moon is a remarkable invention, a master of logic and harborer of all sorts of unnatural habits and mannerisms. The Somnambulist—a giant, milk-swigging mute—doesn't appear to be human at all, yet serves as Moon's moral as well as intellectual compass. Together, they wend their way through a London rich in period detail. Barnes saves his best surprise for the story's homestretch, when he reveals the identity of his narrator, who's been cleverly pulling strings since the opening. (Feb.)
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Review

“A cheeky tale...salvaged from the sensationalist novels of the past three centuries....it doesn’t take an English-lit wonk to appreciate the antic mind that would name two of the grotesquely deformed prostitutes in Mrs. Puggsley’s brothel after virginal victims of Count Dracula.” (New York Times )

“Sneaky, cheeky, and dark in the best possible way, Jonathan Barnes’ massively entertaining THE SOMNAMBULIST manages to make the familiar daringly unfamiliar. I enjoyed the heck out of this novel.” (Jeff Vandermeer )

“Macabre wit and stylistic panache. Parliament should immediately pass a law requiring Barnes to write a sequel.” (James Morrow, author of The Last Witchfinder and The Philosopher’s Apprentice )

“A comic extravaganza, deftly plotted, fiendishly clever, and wonderfully funny. . . . One of the classiest entertainments I’ve read.” (Christopher Bram, author of Exiles in America )

“Strange, outrageous, and wonderful … There is much that is strange, magical, and darkly hilarious about this book … An original and monumentally inventive piece of work by a writer still in his 20s. Barnes seems to leave himself room for a sequel—a consummation devoutly to be wished.” (Washington Post )

“A first novel that shows all the polish and poise of a master storyteller….By turns disquieting, funny, and taunting.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch )

“This superb debut from British author Barnes raises the bar for historical thrillers.” (Publishers Weekly )

“The Somnambulist is not your great-grandfather’s mystery yarn.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch )

“Magical, dark, beautifully odd–and utterly compelling–this is an astonishing debut.” (Michael Marshall, author of The Intruders )

“[B]rilliant...Barnes crafts one of the finest first novels of the young century...Truly surprising plot twists and red herrings abound.” (Austin Chronicle )

“Old school entertainment in the penny-dreadful tradition that almost succeeds in being as sublime as it is ridiculous.” (Entertainment Weekly )

“Anyone who loves a good, kind of creepy thriller most likely will find something to love in [these] pages…. Thoroughly enjoyable.” (Kansas City Star )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006137539X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061375392
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #286,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars four through most of it, but oh that ending, March 19, 2008

By 

B. Capossere (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Somnambulist (Hardcover)

To be honest, I'm thoroughly divided as to the sort of review I want to give the Somnambulist. On the one hand, despite some flaws, for most of the book, it was one of the most fun reads I've had in a while. On the other hand, the last 40 pages or so were just downright bad. I don't mean simply disappointingly bad relative to the rest of the book, but off-the-rails, what-the-heck-happened, did-the-author-die-and-then-some-stranger-finish-the-book terrible kind of bad. Which leaves me with a dilemma. Do I recommend a book that closes out so disastrously? In the end, I'll say yes, thinking that perhaps others won't react quite so strongly to the ending as I did and also thinking, hey, they were warned. So hey, you were warned.
The positives of the book are many. It has an inventive plot and main character-- Edward Moon, a Victorian London magician who solves mysteries with his stage accompanist--the eight-foot tall, mute, and seemingly inhuman title character The Somnambulist (the only name he is known by throughout the book). Moon hasn't had a case for some time and the last one, it's hinted at many times, did not end well. He's bored and aching for something to relieve the ennui as well as wash the taste of the previous case out of his mouth. That case arrives in the form of a wonderfully staged murder that opens the novel.
From there we're pulled into an increasingly complex web of mystery, murder, and conspiracy involving secret government agencies, various human "freaks", master assassins, corporate power, mystics communing with the dead, omniscient librarians, a man who seemingly is living life backwards, Samuel Coleridge's poetry (and the poet himself), Moon's first partner now mysteriously ensconced in prison, and the list goes on, all of it related to us by a clearly unreliable narrator whose true nature is not revealed for some time.
For the most part, and for most of the book, it all somehow works. Partly I think because so much is getting thrown into the mix that one revels in the sheer richness and audacity of what's happening--the strange twists of plot, the odd characters, the literary allusions to Dickens and Holmes and Conrad and others. There's always a nagging feeling at the back of the head. The man living backwards is interesting at first but never seems to really go anywhere and then seems to just fall apart. For a detective, Moon seems to do very little actual detecting. Some of the phrases are strikingly modern. The Victorian London setting seems strangely absent, more prop than active aspect. And characters and plot situations that began as sparks of ingenuity seem to stop well short of their potential.
But again, despite these nagging thoughts, the book remains a fun ride of wonderful unpredictability, its positives outweighing its negatives through the first three-quarters. And then. Well. And then.
The bottom falls out. I don't want to ruin the ending so I won't be offering up any details. But it all just seems to careen out of control, almost literally. It was as if Barnes wrote up to a point then had a computer randomly finish the novel for him, given the set parameters of these particular characters being used and these particular settings. I don't know how else to describe it. The revelation of the narrator is a complete surprise, and works as surprise, but it's also a bit cheap in that I'm not sure the reader could ever have seen it coming and it offers up such detailed knowledge of thought and action that it's hard to see how it truly works. The wonderful quirkiness of plot and character blows up into sheer farce and surreal absurdity and not in any good way. Plot points are thrown out, some resolved, some not, all with a sense of abruptness and half-polish. There are still some wonderful images in these last 40 pages, but they are not put to any good use--they stand there cleverly, reminders of what the author could do, but only highlight what he doesn't do.
I can't think of the last time I've been so befuddled by an ending. It was so detached from what had gone before that I couldn't even get angry--it was like I stepped out of my original reading experience into someplace else. All I could do was wonder how I got there and how I'd lost my way. There was not confusion, no anger as I've said, just a big "why?" I can't say I'm sorry I read the book as I truly did enjoy the vast majority of the experience. But part of me wishes I'd lost the book along the way and just came to my own conclusions about what eventually happened. Recommended for its bulk, but fair warning to those who read it through to the end.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't live up to its promise, May 22, 2008

By 

Chapati (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Somnambulist (Hardcover)

Many people reviewing this book inevitably begin by quoting the first few lines: "Be warned. This book has no literary value whatsoever."

I wouldn't say the book has no literary merit whatsoever. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the first 60% or so. And the first paragraph, as intended, intrigued me.

But then... my goodness, did it become convoluted. I don't really know what to make of this book. I was thoroughly engaged for the first half- to be fair, I was really into the second half, too. I wanted to know how the book would end, how the mystery would resolve. But with about sixty pages or so to go, I just lost respect for the story. It seemed as though situations occurred just for the convenience of the author having to get certain characters in or out of the story. The "climax," as it were, was such an utter letdown that I feel slightly offended. When you allow yourself to get so involved in a story, you do so with the expectation that it won't be a dead investment.

In my opinion, the story went swimmingly until the climax- when the narrator reveals his/her identity to the reader. After that, it descended into utter chaos. And that's the thing- after leading us on this wild goose chase of a novel for so long, entertaining as it was, I expected to be thoroughly wowed by the conclusion. And I wasn't. I didn't find it appealing at all. I thought it was a cop-out.

Ultimately, I was disappointed by the novel. I think the author started strong, and then lost his way. In trying to write some sort of Susanna Clarke meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Gothic mystery, he got caught up in the details and nuances and lost sight of the plot.

40 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling and Provocative, And More Than You'd Expect!, March 5, 2008

By 

Mel Odom (Moore, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Somnambulist (Hardcover)

Victorian London will be forever etched into the minds of readers that enjoy twisty mysteries and macabre adventures set against a history sharply defined in books and movies. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories first come to mind, as well as later forays such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore. Stephen Spielberg even took a run at the genre and the setting in Young Sherlock Holmes.

I have to admit, I'm a bonafide sucker for the milieu. I grew up hanging onto Sherlock's coattails while the game was afoot, and I never quite recovered from that first blush of fog-crowded streets and Hansom cabs clattering across cobblestones. Oklahoma author Will Thomas has set up a fine Sherlock riff in his own series about Baker and Llewelyn, Victorian detectives.

But Jonathan Barnes's new novel, The Somnambulist, takes pre-conceived notions of Victorian mystery novels and adventures and turns them on their ears. And this is only his first novel!

I was captured at once by Barnes's writing. He favors a blend of modern, easy to read, language mixed with a shading of the long-winded Victorian trappings and a touch of purple prose. It's a fine brew and I found myself sailing along within just a few pages. His writing is so smooth, and his imagery so evocative, that the world of Edward Moon and the Somnambulist grew larger and deeper and more textured with every word.

I have to admit, Edward Moon isn't one of the most likeable people you're going to find in this novel, but he is our chief detective. Like Holmes, Moon is a quirky individual filled with his own ego and intelligence. He's a stage magician by trade, but his intellect is keen and he's knowledgeable about a great many things. Moon is also rather novel in his relaxation pursuits, and I found myself jarred quite deeply when he elected to sample the wares of a local house of prostitution. I decided at that point not to like him overly much, but the traits - all too human and poignant for some weird reason - made him even more fascinating.

But where Moon has a few things hidden from the reader that are eventually revealed, his companion - the Somnambulist - remains an enigma. He's a large, strong man who can't speak but does communicate through a portable chalkboard he carries with him. He also has the peculiar ability of being able to become a veritable pincushion for swords that Moon thrusts through him in their magic act, and for enemies that battle him. He's got an unexplained fetish for milk.

Together, these two form our crime-fighting duo for the novel. In the beginning, Moon is vaguely interested in the murder of Cyril Honeyman. At first, Honeyman's death is believed to be a suicide. But Moon believes it's murder.

I really liked the mystery set up and the way that Moon and the Somnambulist were first brought into the mystery, then attempts were made to scare them off, then they were forced back into it. All the while the police were buzzing around trying to figure out what Moon knew. I enjoyed the familiar romp a lot.

Then about halfway through the novel, The Somnambulist takes a hard right turn into the Twlight Zone - without the warning signpost up ahead. I felt like Wile E. Coyote when he goes out over that empty canyon after the Road Runner. I'd been poking along with the novel at that point, simply enjoying the well-written read. Then the thing turned out to not quite be as simple as I'd believed.

I can't tell you any more. You'll have to read it to see where and to what lengths Barnes's fertile mind takes you. However, I recommend the read whole-heartedly. Besides the quirky characters, some tantalizing mystery reveals, and a huge backstory, Barnes offers a wonderful view of Victorian London. The city comes to life on every page.

Barnes crafted a compelling read and characters with this first novel. I can't wait to see where he takes his readers next. I'm going to be one of them.