dorabanda's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
erinmully's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it. Great noir feel and truly gritty. I was reminded of Hubert Selby Jr.
dzhill's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
dadoodoflow's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
As people embrace/embody the failures of society and the culture’s antennae, the artists, poets, people who care, are flayed closer and closer to the bone what is left but to find a piece of light, even if you have to court death to make it shine. More of a fuck you to Thatcher than any polemic could achieve just by documenting the armor we need to survive her dream.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
(4.5) I often find books that attempt to double as sociological tourism too didactic, too beholden to their atmosphere and the writer's persuasion. There are points to be made in an op-ed, whereas I just want to read a good mystery story. However, while the central mystery was interesting here, this book functions as a hellish descent into Margaret Thatcher's England. It might have rated 5-stars but I didn't like one of the plot points in the back half, can't say what without giving it away. Still, it's surprisingly philosophical about its time and place whilst being critical of its existence. It buoyed the unnamed detective from drowning in the same cynicism that many detectives/investigators/PIs happily swim in by giving him a purpose beyond solving the murder for the sake of. I will have to read the rest of this series.
loki_the_cat's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
aksel_dadswell's review against another edition
4.0
I'd heard nothing but glowing praise for this 80's London-set noir (and the first in Raymond's Factory series), and it more than lived up to the hype. This is an incredibly bleak, muted, existential exploration of the dark, dirty characters inhabiting the book's grimy Thatcherite(?) London setting, laced with a heavy marbling of deadpan, black-as-pitch humour. So, bleak, dark, dirty, grimy, black - lots of pleasant happy adjectives that don't make me feel like a boiling hot shower afterwards. But even if I didn't have a fetish for this kind of grim and unrelenting narrative, it's so beautifully written that Raymond's prose elevates it to something much more than it could have been without the slippery poetic language. I cannot wait to sink into the rest of the books in this delicious series.