I would like to thank Eos Books for sending me an advance manuscript of Jonathan Barnes new novel, The Domino Men. I did not get a chance to read his first novel, The Somnambulist, but after finishing The Domino Men it will be moving to my must read stack. Not to gush, but this is an absolute brilliant and witty novel that was a pleasure to read. I have not felt this compelled to finish reading a book since Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
It is my understanding that there are a few elements from The Somnambulist that have carried over into The Domino Men. But I didn’t have any problems nor did I feel there was a huge back story that I missed. Mr. Barnes does an excellent job of relating the alternative history so that the current story line is relevant.
I really do not want to go over the plot points as to ruin the surprises. It is a book that is really best to walk into without knowing anything and allow the events come to you as the author intended.
I did include the summary from the dust jacket and again I recommend that you skip it, but if you must, then please read on.
Dust Jacket Summary:
In an earlier century, Queen Victoria made a Faustian bargain, signing London and all its souls away to a nefarious, inhuman entity. Now, generations later, the bill has finally come due. . . .
Henry Lamb, an amiable and anonymous file clerk, pushes paper in the Storage and Record Retrieval section of the Civil Service Archive Unit. His life has always been quiet and unremarkable—until the day he learns that he's expected to assume the covert responsibilities of his universally despised grandfather, now lying comatose in the hospital.
Summoned to the gargantuan Ferris wheel known as the London Eye, Henry receives his orders from Dedlock, a gilled and wrinkled old gentleman eternally floating in a pool of amniotic fluid. London, it seems, is at war, resisting an apocalyptic fate foisted upon it by a long-dead queen. A shadowy organization known (to very few) as the Directorate wishes to recruit Henry to the cause. All he has to do is find "the girl" and save the world from the monster Leviathan, who can already taste the succulent metropolis that will soon be his to devour. Simple enough.
But there are formidable enemies lining up to oppose Henry, all gathering in and around the royal family. His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Arthur Aelfric Vortigern Windsor—the sniveling, overbored, under appreciated sole heir to the British throne—has been shaken from his resentful malaise by grisly, seductive visions of unrestrained power . . . and by an extremely potent narcotic called ampersand. And an unspeakable evil lurks in the cellar of 10 Downing Street: the twin, serial-slaying schoolboy nightmares, the Domino Men—so-called for their hideous desire and terrifying ability to topple every towering edifice in the city, one after the other . . . just for a giggle.
What I liked:
Mr. Barnes has produced a well written novel and I am most impressed with the author’s ability to describe a scene or a location, he can literally paint a picture with words. For example, in describing in the area where Henry Lamb’s office building is located:
“Time was when this stretch of the city would have been thriving with rude life but now it seemed either neutered into the sterility of officialdom or else stuffed and mounted for the edification and amusement of visitors like some dead thing in a museum.”
Absolutely brilliant and this is carried throughout the novel to really give the reader a flavor of what life is like in London.
The characters are the biggest strength of this story, followed closely by the plot. Henry Lamb is introduced into a whole motley crew. From Dedlock who is condemned to life in a big fish tank, to the Barbara / Estella hybrid the unbeatable hunter and lastly the serial killers known as The Domino Men. If you like strange and interesting characters then this novel is for you as it is chock-full of them.
Thru the first half of the book the humor is laugh out funny. Mr. Barnes has a wicked sense of humor that works well for this story. For example, this is a passage in which Henry Lamb’s boss, Peter, is being introduced to a new female employee, Barbara:
Peter strutted back to his desk. “You like music, Babs?”
“I suppose.”
Now I just felt sorry for her. Peter behaved like this around any woman younger than himself-a demographic which, perhaps not coincidentally, encompassed most of the female percentage of our office.
“I’ve just been on the web booking tickets for a few gigs. You ever heard of a band called Peachy Cheeks?”
“I don’t think so, no.”
“Boner?”
A shy little shake of her head.
“Arse Banits?”
Barbara thought for a moment. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”
Peter shrugged, “I’m not surprised. This stuff’s a little out there. It’s…” He broke off for a stagey chuckle. “It’s not exactly what you’d call mainstream.”
I suspect that the ending will put some readers off as you never see it coming. The reader will make assumptions as to who is behind the plot to overthrow London, but you will be wrong. Let me put it this way, it is shocking and you never expect it, but go with it and enjoy the fact it is not conventional type of ending.
What I didn’t like:
My only real complaint is that humor goes away in the last half of the novel.
Last word:
Absolute mind blowing adventure that you will have to read to believe. Jonathan Barnes has made it onto must read list. Oh yeah, always remember to “Trust the Process”.
My Rating
