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The Somnambulist: A Novel Paperback – January 6, 2009

by Jonathan Barnes (Author)

3.6 124 ratings

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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.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publication date

January 6, 2009
Dimensions

5.31 x 0.86 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

006137539X
ISBN-13

978-0061375392
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Editorial Reviews

Review

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

“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

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

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

“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

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

“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

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

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

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

About the Author

Jonathan Barnes, author of the critically acclaimed novel The Somnambulist, graduated from Oxford University with a first in English literature. He reviews for the Times Literary Supplement and lives in London.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 6, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 006137539X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061375392
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.86 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,058,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,202 in Conspiracy Thrillers (Books)
- #3,576 in Classic American Literature
- #7,808 in Magical Realism

Customer Reviews:
3.6 124 ratings

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3.6 out of 5

124 global ratings

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C. Hill

"...no literary merit whatsoever", But Still Fun - Recommended

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2009

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"The Somnambulist" is without a doubt one of the oddest books I have read in a long time. Johnathan Barnes has a unique writting style that works well in combining suspense and some very subtle humor.

No plot spoilers from me. Set in Victorian England, the plot follows Edward Moon (AKA: The Conjurer), a once popular stage magician and showman who is also a part time detective, and his partner, The Somnambulist (a hulking mute with an odd ability and mysterious background), as they attempt to solve a truely bizzare series of murders.

I really enjoyed the book right up to the ending which was not as satisfying as it might have been. Still it was worthwhile and I also enjoyed the sequel, The Domino Men .

Recommended!

3 people found this helpful

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Scott Baker

The Somnambulist Gives new meaning to the "London Underground"

Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2008

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The Somnambulist - who is never named and who never speaks - is only the most featured oddity in Barnes' repetoire of strange men and women who populate turn-of-the-20th-century London. Others include a bearded lady with a formarm growing out of her chest, a man who lives life backwards through time, an albino spy, and various societal castoffs and misfits. The protagonist, a conjorur who merely travels in their circles - Edward Moon - seems almost normal by comparisson. Moon has to unravel a mystery. Who pushed a bit actor out of a window in a London tower in the wee hours of the morning, and more significantly, how did he scale the sheer stone wall of the tower to do it? The tale is narrated by someone who seems to be a part of the story, but we are not quite sure how until much later. Beleive me, it is worth the wait to find out. In the meantime, the old man sleeps far beneath the city. Like "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel," The "Historian," "The Alienist," or even Alan Moore's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," (see my other reviews, as well as my own book, Neitherworld for similar off-the-wall characters) we are treated to an crossroads time between the superstitious old times, with their myths and monsters, and our new modern age. Like all good scene setters, Barnes makes you feel the dank, dark London of the age in a few carefully chosen words. There is poetry here, as well as adventure. This is an author in control of his craft even in his debut novel. The middle gets a bit soggy but picks up well in the second half when Moon's captivating sister joins the chase. Barnes has enough confidence in himself to evolve his characters, and the bad become the good, and even the good sometimes the very, very bad. The author is taking chances, and pulling them off. Highly recommended.

4 people found this helpful

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An interesting, if quirky, book

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2011

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Many elements in this book were entertaining, not least of which was the writing style. The characters were interesting and, for the most part, well developed; the storytelling style was fresh; and the steampunk overtones were a welcome distraction. However, the storyline, while interesting, was poorly executed, at times difficult to follow, and the ending falls flat. Worth reading, but not something I think I'll be going back to.

3 people found this helpful

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BookDevour

Interesting, intriguing, Imaginative

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2008

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I read this book because I thought that the title was interesting. It turned out to be pretty good. I like to read all forms of fiction, but I really prefer historical fiction. Valentin St.Cyr and Easy Rawlings are some of my favorite protagonists. While I don't consider this book to be in the same league as the aformentioned, it kept my attention and I became determined to find out how it ended. I would not recommend this book to anyone who has never read a british author, some of the phrases, words, and settings are very "english," but still worth the little effort some may need to put forth to understand some of the contexts.

Overall, try it out!!!!

please visit me at BookDevour@blogspot.com

4 people found this helpful

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Blossom

I won't be reading the sequel.

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2011

This book begins with the following words: "Be warned. This book has no literary merit whatsoever. It is a lurid piece of nonsense, convoluted, implausible, peopled by unconvincing characters, written in drearily pedestrian prose, frequently ridiculous, and willfully bizarre..."

Nevertheless, I was taken in. I should have heeded the warning.

Unfortunately, I don't think that exposing the flaws of one's own novel in the very first paragraph excuses its failings. The only thing I would disagree with in the warning, after reading the book, is the accusation of its "pedestrian prose." The prose is, especially in the beginning of the story, quite engaging. The narrative style was just quirky and misanthropic enough to catch my interest, to reel me in, believing that this would actually be a good story after all.

As an avid reader of fantasy, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief in a lot of bizarre things, and this book contains many examples. A human fly and a man who experiences time backwards, a giant who doesn't bleed--these are all well within my comfort zone for a Victorian-era urban fantasy/mystery. But one thing that bothered me the entire way through the story was the fact that it was written in first-person point of view, yet reads like it's in the omniscient third person. There are even POV shifts within scenes, in which the narrator isn't even present. We have to assume the narrator is just making most of the story up. Although, of course, every work of fiction is by definition "made up," the technique had a distancing effect which I just couldn't overcome--it simply made me care less about the story.

Another comment about the POV: while I initially found it interesting to read a book in which the narrator makes insulting speculations about his readers, admits to lying to them, and makes pretentious judgments against those unfamiliar with the architectural accomplishments of Christopher Wren, there was a certain point at which this technique lost all charm for me. It happened at a point when a character who had previously displayed no redeeming attributes was depicted showing a very human side: tenderness toward a crippled son. Immediately afterward, the narrator admits that he made the entire thing up, that everything he said in the previous scene was a fiction. Everything? Really? So...does the crippled son even exist? He shows up later in the book, so I'm guessing the answer is yes, but by this point I no longer really care.

And speaking of characters. Again, heed the warning at the beginning of the book. The title character, the Somnambulist, plays little active role in the story. I kept waiting for someone to explain why he is called the Somnambulist, because as far as I can recall there are no incidences of him sleep-walking in the book. I also kept waiting to find out why he is the title character, but this never becomes clear. The actual main character, a stage magician/detective named Moon, is acerbic, arrogant and cold. In fact, his most charming attribute appears to be his fetish for freakishly deformed prostitutes--at least one can admire a man with an open mind. Alas, this aspect of his character proves only to be a brief footnote in the story.

The basic plot is that Moon is attempting to stop some vague threat to the city (London). Throughout the book, there are lots of dialogues between various secret agents who are also plotting/trying to save the city. But since the reader doesn't really know what's going on, instead of building intrigue, the dialogue is simply confusing. After a few such scenes, I realized I wasn't getting much out of the dialogue and started skimming it. It was difficult to stay engaged in the plot when a.) I didn't really care about any of the characters, and b.) there wasn't really anything personal at stake. At one point, Moon does risk losing someone he cares about (as much as he cares about anyone), but since he put said person in danger in the first place, and only sees fit to restore the character physically (but not mentally) from the resulting damage, I'm not convinced that anything other than his pride was actually at stake. Oh, he also suffers damage to his property and livelihood, but this is because he was being so indecent as to ignore the plot events.

There are some good things about the book, though. The prose is genuinely enjoyable in many parts. There is a good sense of atmosphere and setting. Description is evocative without getting in the way. Many of the strange characters in the book, while perhaps not interesting enough to carry an entire novel, would make excellent cameos in any steampunk table-top RPG. I particularly enjoyed the banter between the two schoolboy killers. There was clearly a lot of imagination that went into the book.

But the problem was I just didn't care enough about it. I finished the book mainly to write an informed review, but otherwise probably would have stopped reading it at page 220. By the time I was done, instead of experiencing that little euphoric rush that comes with finishing a good story, I just felt used and manipulated by the author. Charmed by a witty opening line and then oh, so let down. You may have got me this time, Jonathan Barnes, but I won't be reading the sequel.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Ed.F

Good stuff

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 8, 2008

Verified Purchase

I bought this on a whim, primarily because I liked the cover; I'm as shallow as that. I wasn't expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised. Magical fantasy meets x-filesesque conspiracy meets Holmesian sleuthing meets violent pseudo steam punk with a deeply mysterious collection of characters and an anti-hero protagonist with one of the most esoteric fetishes committed to print in some time. Top notch entertainment, quiet how the author managed to string a coherent narrative together from his disparate devices , set pieces, nasty surprised and one really rather moving and grotesque scene, is beyond me but the story flows well, even if the dénouement is, as other reviewers have said, a bit flat in comparison with the rest of the book. I'm looking forward to the sequel when Amazon delivers it.

3 people found this helpful

Helena Rasmussen

Waste of time.

Reviewed in Canada on October 2, 2014

Verified Purchase

I am glad I only wasted six dollars on this sad parody of a book. It reminded me of two episodes of "Ripper Street" Except that the writing and the cast of the show did everything better in two hours than this book did in almost 300 pages. It was just sloppy and mediocre and could have been done better.

Anon

A really good adventure!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 21, 2007

Verified Purchase

This was a really entertaining read. If you liked Mark Gatiss The Vesuvuis Club then you'll love this. It references alot of english victorian writing such as dickens and Doyle. It is hilariously dark in humour. I found the prose well written and easy to read even though the story is complex. It is atmospheric to say the least. It is very much a book aimed at people with a sense of the ridiculous. This book doesn't take it's self too seriously and therefore you enjoy it all the more. A great read!

15 people found this helpful

Dr Mike

Hard going - convinced me not to buy any more "steampunk"

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2014

Verified Purchase

I got this for two reasons. One was to try a full-length novel on my new Kindle, the other was that I was attending a course given by the author. This is "steampunk" which I just don't like (based on two out of a sample of two books). It took as long to read the novel as to attend the course (over 12 weeks) and I maybe read 80 other novels in that time. Can't say it holds the attention ...
As another review says "Warning: contains no somnabulists" but on the other hand it does contain a character valled "The Somnambulist" ... and a lot of misdirection.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

I didn't finish it, so maybe it got better...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2012

Verified Purchase

I would like to start this review with a piece of advice to Mr Barnes. Do not address your reader with sentences like "I suggest you admeat defeat at once and toss this manuscript aside" unless you are writing a VERY good book. I like to finish books and it would probably never have occurred to me to give up (particularly since the book isn't overly long) unless you'd suggested it to me.

That sentence is indicative of a writing style that is, while a little obvious, good fun and certainly the best thing about the part of the novel I read. The rest....well, to be honest, other reviews have said it already. The character's are 2 dimensional and Moon, to be honest, is nothing more than a poor man's Sherlock Holmes. Since Sherlock Holmes books are cheap (free on kindle) might I suggest that everyone go read those instead.

2 people found this helpful

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