The Somnambulist
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
19th Century London in all its weird and grimy glory. Reality is peeling slowly away like an old circus fly-poster. The clock is ticking towards the City's doom, but it will come in a stranger guise than you, in your wildest literary fever dreams, could ever conceive of . . .
Enter, if you dare, the puzzle-box story of Victorian magician-detective Edward Moon and his silent side-kick the Somnambulist. Follow them as they spiral deep into a world of secret societies, a travelling circus and a pair of the most horrifying agents of chaos ever to wear school uniform. Can Edward defeat his own ghosts and solve the riddle at the dark heart of this extraordinary story?
From the inkwell of master storyteller Jonathan Barnes comes an utterly unique tale of Empire-shaking conspiracy, poetry and madness.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
