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A review by d_audy
Reconstruction by Mick Herron
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Often enough marketing exaggerates or mischaracterizes when describing an author, but when they claim that "nobody writes a thriller like Mick Herron", it's totally on the mark.
This is really a story about which you don't want to know too much going in not to spoil any of the twists. Suffice to say a bizarre hostage-taking situation on an early Tuesday of April in a South Oxford nursery school soon lands the reader in an intrigue John Le Carré would have liked. For once the comparison isn't shallow. Many writers have emulated Le Carré's style of espionage novels, but it takes more to truly walk in his footsteps. Le Carré was an innovator who reinvented the espionage genre and contributed a lot to define it. This is also what you get from Mick Herron, who brings his own unique approach to the British spy world, a vision that's often a bit cynical and ironic and darkly funny while telling events that are anything but. In this book he starts inventing his own version of the Service, with his own jargon, fit for the 21st century.
This is a thriller where the journey counts as much as the destination. Herron first treats us to a detailed reconstruction of the events (you ponder a lot along the way what the meaning of the title really is), constantly shifting perspective, and using a very unique, witty and wry narrative voice. I've seen this style used in other genres, usually comical works, but it's probably the first time I've seen anything like this in a thriller, and somewhat miraculously it works and doesn't break the tension building up. No everyone however will appreciate as much all the meanderings and apartés, the fairly detached tone, all the secondary details that really set the stage and brings everything to life and puts you really there. This is an author who might even break the fourth wall to tell you what he sees on his own commute in the area, or when giving a bird eye's view to set the scene will take time to tell you which bird it's most likely to be in this town, and finish by telling you what the bird does once everything has been surveyed. You will either immensely enjoy that narrative style, or get very annoyed. It's certainly not the fast pace such stories are usually told at, but it is a fascinating journey into the thought process and psychology of the characters, full of little clues for which you really need to pay attention, despite Herron's best efforts to distract you. The much briefer second part of the novel is more conventional for the genre, fast paced, direct and tense, as events take suddenly very unexpected turns, sticking the landing for an exciting finale with a final twist that will either make one laugh or scream in frustration. Miraculously again, the two parts flow really well together and the sudden shift in tone and pace feels entirely natural and justified.
I have yet to embark of the author's Slough House journey, which I'm now terribly excited to feast on. This novel introduced some of the SH characters and readers spoke of it as a kind of prequel, at least where those characters are concerned.
This is really a story about which you don't want to know too much going in not to spoil any of the twists. Suffice to say a bizarre hostage-taking situation on an early Tuesday of April in a South Oxford nursery school soon lands the reader in an intrigue John Le Carré would have liked. For once the comparison isn't shallow. Many writers have emulated Le Carré's style of espionage novels, but it takes more to truly walk in his footsteps. Le Carré was an innovator who reinvented the espionage genre and contributed a lot to define it. This is also what you get from Mick Herron, who brings his own unique approach to the British spy world, a vision that's often a bit cynical and ironic and darkly funny while telling events that are anything but. In this book he starts inventing his own version of the Service, with his own jargon, fit for the 21st century.
This is a thriller where the journey counts as much as the destination. Herron first treats us to a detailed reconstruction of the events (you ponder a lot along the way what the meaning of the title really is), constantly shifting perspective, and using a very unique, witty and wry narrative voice. I've seen this style used in other genres, usually comical works, but it's probably the first time I've seen anything like this in a thriller, and somewhat miraculously it works and doesn't break the tension building up. No everyone however will appreciate as much all the meanderings and apartés, the fairly detached tone, all the secondary details that really set the stage and brings everything to life and puts you really there. This is an author who might even break the fourth wall to tell you what he sees on his own commute in the area, or when giving a bird eye's view to set the scene will take time to tell you which bird it's most likely to be in this town, and finish by telling you what the bird does once everything has been surveyed. You will either immensely enjoy that narrative style, or get very annoyed. It's certainly not the fast pace such stories are usually told at, but it is a fascinating journey into the thought process and psychology of the characters, full of little clues for which you really need to pay attention, despite Herron's best efforts to distract you. The much briefer second part of the novel is more conventional for the genre, fast paced, direct and tense, as events take suddenly very unexpected turns, sticking the landing for an exciting finale with a final twist that will either make one laugh or scream in frustration. Miraculously again, the two parts flow really well together and the sudden shift in tone and pace feels entirely natural and justified.
I have yet to embark of the author's Slough House journey, which I'm now terribly excited to feast on. This novel introduced some of the SH characters and readers spoke of it as a kind of prequel, at least where those characters are concerned.