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The English Monster (2012)

by Lloyd Shepherd(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0857205374 (ISBN13: 9780857205377)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Simon & Schuster Ltd

review 1: Fantastic example of a novel that British authors seem to write with impunity: the fantasy novel that refuses to acknowledge itself as such, and persuades everyone else not to either. In this case, what starts out as a meticulously researched and beautifully realistic double narrative about a young sailor on Queen Elizabeth's first sanctioned slaving voyage and the unfolding of the Ratcliffe Highway murders of John Williams some 250-odd years later develops into a gritty fantasy crime procedural involving questions of (im)mortality, the natural sciences, race politics and the class system. The ending is a little truncated, and the climax dealt with a little too easily, but the interweaving of historical figures, politics and social movements with the imagined narrative is ... moresuperb, and makes for a rich and satisfying reading experience. Not at all what i was expecting when I picked up the book, but an absolute pleasure nonetheless.
review 2: A fascinating, flawed novel. I agree with reviewers who say it probably attempts too much. Each element is done well but it doesn't quite add up. Or, maybe, is it that we're so hung up on genres that a novel that doesn' t neatly fit confuses us? It certainly held my interest to the enigmatic end. The reviews which praised it for its ideas, symbolism and ideas about British empire history left me a bit disappointed. It probably works better on the crime and horror fronts. Yet as a first novel this is remarkable. The Wapping settings, the magistrates and (bit self consciously) early police detective, the colonial adventuring, brutal crimes and fantasy horror dimension all add up to good value. And something else; the lucidity and vigour of the writing combined with the grand scale of the ambition suggest that reviewers' comparisons with David Miller may not be entirely far-fetched. less

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