A review by ggrhodes03
The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss
3.0
The beginning of the Lucifer Box novels, following a member of the British secret service on his attempt to discover who is behind the deaths of 2 famous volcanologists, leading to a chase under an active volcano, an innocent man being framed, and numerous attempts on Box’s life. In a James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes novel Gattis writes in a way very similar to his onscreen work, shocking the audience immediately with a sudden leap into Box’s world, beginning the first chapter as an artist and ending it as an assassin.
While amusing ‘The Vesuvius club’ is not to me anything overly special. Gattis’ novel seems awkward and disjointed at times yet still fits (somehow) with his flowing style, with everything pulling together almost too quickly to the end of the novel, leading to many questions being unanswered. The novel as a whole also doesn’t seem to fit firmly into a category, while the humour and story seems too immature to sit on a shelf amongst Ian Flemming, P.D. James, and Arthur Conan Doyle the language and actions taken by the main character place the book firmly within the adult category.
While amusing ‘The Vesuvius club’ is not to me anything overly special. Gattis’ novel seems awkward and disjointed at times yet still fits (somehow) with his flowing style, with everything pulling together almost too quickly to the end of the novel, leading to many questions being unanswered. The novel as a whole also doesn’t seem to fit firmly into a category, while the humour and story seems too immature to sit on a shelf amongst Ian Flemming, P.D. James, and Arthur Conan Doyle the language and actions taken by the main character place the book firmly within the adult category.