Customer Reviews

The Water Room

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first of this series, "Full Dark House," was very good and this was even better. My only two regrets are that (1) the characters are of an age where you wonder how long they can be around and (2) I wish there were more books already there for me to read. But I know the next book is due out soon, so I'll take heart. The relationship and dialogue between the two detectives is priceless, and there are great supporting characters. The writing is wonderful-it's funny, suspenseful and educational, and, as with fine wine, should be savored but thoroughly enjoyed. Very highly recommended.

The genius of this series, I believe, lies in the fact that the author has taken the traditional police procedural genre and completely turned it around on its head. To begin with we have the Peculiar Crimes Unit -- not your usual conventional police department dealing with robberies and murder but rather a unit that has been currently assigned to deal with the more troublesome, less cut and dried cases that seem to be heading no where, and that uses (on occasion) witches, psychics and academics to help solve crime. And then we have Bryant and May, who are also not the usual fare (the Brit detectives who simmer with intelligence, neuroses and sex appeal), but who happen to be 70-something police officers who should have been retired years ago, who are fully capable of doing their jobs and who relish doing them. In "The Water House" Bryant and May are back in full form as they enthusiastically delve back into the work, setting up their new offices (the previous one had been destroyed in a bomb explosion), and taking a stab at solving crimes that other police officers have either overlooked or else washed they hands off.

Kallie Owen is terribly afraid that her relationship with her longtime boyfriend, Paul, is on its last legs. Money is short and Paul (who is in the music business and who is facing redundancy) is expressing the need to travel and see the world (without Kallie at his side) before he grows too old. Desperate for advice and a friendly ear, Kallie goes to visit an old school friend, Heather Allen, who persuades her to buy a house on her street (Balaklava Street) that's just gone on the market. The old lady, Ruth Singh, who had lived in the almost decrepit house has suddenly died, and her brother wants to make a quick sale so that he can immigrate to Australia. Carried away by Heather's enthusiasm, Kallie succumbs and buys the house. Except that things don't really work out as she had hoped. The house needs a lot of work, and this is pushing her and Paul even further apart. Add to that the rumours surrounding Ruth's unexplained and sudden death, and the unnatural interest that the Peculiar Crimes Unit seems to be taking in Ruth's death, and Kallie is beginning to wonder if she has done the right thing to buy the house. And when Kallie begins to sense a sinister presence in her house, she really beings to wonder if she's about to have a nervous breakdown or if there is something (or someone) truly evil haunting Balaklava Street...

This is the second Bryant and May, Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery novel, and it proved to be as quirky, absorbing and enjoyable a read as the first book in the series, "Full Dark House." Fast paced and with a very intriguing storyline, "The Water House" held my interest from beginning to end. It was a slightly more complex read than the usual police procedural, but it really was well worth the sticking out factor. Especially since the author had managed to make the book less dense by employing a lighter and slightly humourous prose style -- this really helped to keep things riveting from start to finish. So with a clever storyline, good prose style, excellent pacing and chock full of intriguing historical information (I especially enjoyed all the bits of history about the course of the English underground river system), Christopher Fowler's "The Water Room" can definitely be classified as a worthwhile and excellent read that should not be missed.

If you like an offbeat, thought-provoking story, I highly recommend this mystery by Christopher Fowler. Bryant and May, the odd-couple detectives of London's peculiar crimes unit are at it again. This time they must solve the mystery of the dry woman drowned in her basement. It leads them through lost rivers, Roman mythology, paganism, and, of course, the history of London and its class struggles.

Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May mystery series is only two volumes deep --- the second installment, THE WATER ROOM, being newly published --- yet already it is finding itself on the A-List of many readers, including this one.

There are a lot of adjectives one could apply to it: clever is one, charming is another, riveting a third. The premise of the series is that the London Police Department has a peculiar crimes unit, established during World War II, and at its helm are John May and Arthur Bryant, its two founding members, now well up in years. Bryant is the more eccentric of the two, and thus, may I say, a bit more interesting --- irascible, yearning for the past, and possessed with an indispensably brilliant fuzzy logic. May is more modern, willing to change with the times, and still able to think with his little head when the opportunity arises. The men are polar opposites --- hilariously so --- and thus work perfectly together.

The crimes they investigate sometimes do not appear to be crimes at all, at least not initially. Bryant, however, ferrets out a bizarre element or three, and, after you toss in a hoard of suspects, some quietly brutal circumstances, and Bryant's ongoing penchant for providing a fascinating running commentary for whatever portion of London the team happens to be in, one has a novel that is irresistible by any standard. Think Lord Peter Wimsey meets "The X-Files," or a more sedate version of "The Avengers" with Steed as an octogenarian, and you wouldn't be far off at all.

THE WATER ROOM is an innocuous title, considering what occurs herein. The Peculiar Crimes Unit is drawn into the investigation of the death of an elderly recluse. Such a circumstance would not be unusual, or unexpected, except that the unfortunate woman drowned while sitting upright in her dry basement. Bryant and May become involved at the request of the woman's brother, whose expertise is occasionally used by the unit, even as her death is classified as undetermined and the case is officially closed. Bryant does what he does best, rudely kicking over stones and knocking on doors, leaving a disturbed domestic path among the neighbors of the woman in his wake. Meanwhile, May is unofficially investigating a civil servant who seems to have been retained by a criminal element for nefarious purposes that somehow involve London's underground lost rivers.

One can see the cases dovetailing --- or at least appearing to do so --- but Fowler's pacing, always picture-perfect, will not be rushed. His plotting is wonderful in THE WATER ROOM and yet is eclipsed by the characterization of the primary and secondary principals within. One comes to really like the people encountered on the pages, even Raymond Land, the nominal overseer of the Peculiar Crimes Unit who does his level best to simultaneously keep the unit on track while keeping a blind eye turned to what really is going on.

THE WATER ROOM stands just fine on its own. I had, however, the oddest feeling of yearning after finishing it. I wished that it was merely the latest of a long-running series, one that I had only just discovered, so that I could go read the 40 or 50 volumes that had come before while waiting for the next installment to be released. Indeed, Fowler has published several novels and short story collections previous to THE WATER ROOM. With respect to the Bryant and May books, however, there is, alas, only one other --- last year's brilliant FULL DARK HOUSE. For now, let us be grateful for what we have, and hope for a long and happy life for the series.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I am both an Agatha Christie and Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum) lover. So judge this review as you may. . . I found this mystery to be excellent and absorbing although I needed my dictionary (or Google) handy as the author writes in English rather than what we dumbed down souls now consider English.

I highly recommend it to those of you who enjoy complex multiweaved plots and who enjoy words.

The Water Room is great fun. It's a warped throw back to the days of John Dickson Carr and others of the impossible crimes school. And there is a lot of off-the-wall information, including London's lost or buried rivers and streams. I highly recommed this book to anyone who likes a change of pace from Spenser. Slight warning: read the books in this series one or two at a time as over-dosing would ruin the fun. Enjoy them don't consume them.

#2 Bryant and May mystery, featuring our two elderly policemen and the entire PCU (Peculiar Crimes Unit) in London. The unit is finally ready to move into their refurbished quarters after the fire that destroyed nearly everything at the end of the first book in the series. Bryant and May, both fearing that their boss is going dissolve their unit at the drop of a hat, are determined to keep themselves and their subordinates busy.

They begin to investigate cases brought to them by friends or acquaintances, and find that their cases begin to intersect with the hidden rivers of London as their common ground. Ruth Singh, an elderly woman of Indian descent, is found dead by her brother--sitting in a chair in her basement looking as though she's ready to go out to do the weekly shopping. She's totally dry, but autopsy reveals that she has Thames water--in her mouth and esophagus, but she didn't drown--she asphyxiated from laryngospasm. But how did the water get there?? Bryant is certain foul play is involved and sets out obsessively to prove it. May undertakes a favor for an old lover who has become concerned that her museum curator husband has started doing something illegal that will get them into trouble with the law--he's meeting a known dodgy character in areas that deal with old riverbeds under London's streets, and for the life of them, Bryant & May cannot think of what his interest might be or what they are up to.

I enjoyed this book even more than I did the first one--it's not often you have detectives worrying about seeds under their dentures or chest pains when going up several flights of stairs. Both eccentric in different ways, these two lead their younger colleagues into thinking outside the box to solve these odd cases. The prose is very descriptive and the author has a wonderful way with words and phraseology. I had to look up a few words that I'd never heard of before--which always makes me happy. And I didn't figure the mystery out, either. Wonderful stuff, and I will definitely not be waiting too long to get to the next in series! A+

In London, the Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) continues to work out of leased office space while their facility is being repaired having been devastated by an explosion followed by a fire. Team leaders Arthur Bryant and John May are used to the ups and downs for their odd squad having been doing this job for over five decades with the threat of shut down always over their shoulders as the squad handles the nasty cases rejected by other police units. However, the threat this time is different. The two aging leaders informed have six months to turn the unit around to include following the rule book or cantankerous Arthur and cranky John will be retired.

Long time friend Benjamin Singh visits Arthur to complain about the local police ignoring the death of his sister Ruth and to plead with the copper to take a look at the crime scene. Arthur is shocked that the recluse drowned while sitting on a dry chair in a dry room. As PCU investigates, they find themselves at odds with realtors who want the area for development and racists who want the Indian population removed. Meanwhile someone is killing people using hidden passages from the rivers flowing beneath the city to perform the act.

The latest geriatric police procedural is a fabulous tale as the case begins as a seemingly minor scenario blossoms into a watery serial killer. The story line is fast-paced as the two aging not so gracefully detectives assisted by Sergeant Longbright begin making inquires while influential realtors run off to the brass to shut them down. Christopher Fowler writes a fine tale starring a pair of peevish protagonists that sub-genre friends will appreciate and want more capers.

Harriet Klausner

Motives are unconvincing. Characters shallow except for the main characters who are unbelievable as well as annoying. Overuse of the theme of water is suffocating and dreary.

The Peculiar Crimes Unit is just about to re-open (after the explosion that occurred in Fowler's first PCU novel, FULL DARK HOUSE) when Benjamin Singh, an old friend of senior detective Arthur Bryant's, asks if he will look into his sister's death. He found her sitting in a chair in her basement, dressed, dry, but with her mouth full of river water. Bryant, his longtime partner John May, and the rest of the team have no sooner started asking questions in her tiny neighborhood when more odd deaths occur.

In the meantime, a young woman has moved into Ruth Singh's old home as London suffers through endless deluges of rain following an unusually hot summer. Why does she keep hearing water when she goes down in her basement, and why do wet spots keep appearing on the walls even though they are dry to the touch? Who is the street person who keeps peering into her window?

You will likely learn more than you might have wanted to know about the watercourses of London's rivers and of its sewage system in the course of this book; however, the mixture of mystery, neighborhood characters, and the eccentric Peculiar Crimes Unit (and its most peculiar member, Arthur Bryant) make the information not only painless, but downright absorbing. Bryant is in fine form in this second PCU outing, and the combination of puzzle and humor is delightful.