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Oscar Wilde Et Le Jeu De La Mort (2008)

by Gyles Brandreth(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

2264051108 (ISBN13: 9782264051103)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

10-18

series

The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries

review 1: This is the second in the series of murder mysteries starring Oscar Wilde and his friend Robert Sherard. I enjoyed this one just as much - possibly even a bit more - than I did the first.Wilde has created The Socrates Club as a monthly get together with a group of his friends. Friends including Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as actors, politicians and members of the aristocracy. The men eat, drink, smoke and talk and at each meeting Wilde introduces some activity or game to the group.On this particular evening, an evening when each of the members has been invited to bring a friend and doubling the number of those present to 14 men, the game Oscar invites the group to play is "Murder". Each man is asked to write the name of someone on a slip of paper and drop i... moret into a bag. The names are then pulled from the bag and announced to the group. The names are interesting and instructive, and include not only Oscar Wilde himself, but also his wife, Constance. The game is decided to be disturbing, but the group forgets about it and go on with their lives.Until the people named on the list begin to die - in the exact order in which they were drawn at the Socrates Club meeting. Since Oscar's own name appears later in the list, he and Robert Sherard begin to investigate to identify the murderer and stop him before the murder list is completed.The really wonderful thing about these books is the way the author has really captured the essence of Oscar Wilde's personality. Although the stories are fiction, many of the characters who appear in them were real and the likely activities and behaviour of those people as they are folded into fictional plots are fun and interesting.Particularly the relationships between Wilde and Sherard, and Wilde and his wife Constance are, if you know anything about Wilde's life quite well done. All the characters are presented "warts and all" and yet are still engaging and charming and very likeable.The murder mystery in this book is quite complex, and while I won't give any spoilers, I will say that I found the resolution quite entertaining and cleverly conceived. I definitely will read future installments of this series. The peek inside the world Wilde lived in and created around himself is just one more interesting aspect that makes these books very good reads!
review 2: It lacked a certain something that A Death of No Importance had...perhaps depth of character development, plausibility of crimes/character motivations, pacing...Or perhaps it was that Brandreth showed unflattering facets of Wilde's character that led to my already growing unappreciation for ...certain aspects of his personality, especially where women and beauty are concern. Remember Vonnegut's rules for writing...always have a least one character that the reader finds sympathetic. How can we become emotionally invested, hence engaged in a story if we think the protagonist is a schmuck? I'd read another one of this series though...I am all for reconciliation. less

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