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Harry Dickson #9
The City of Unspeakable Fear
Miss Marple meets H.P. Lovecraft in Ray’s genre-defying tale of ghostly intrigue and murder Published in occupied Belgium in 1943 a few months after his celebrated novel Malpertuis, The City of Unspeakable Fear remains one of Jean Ray’s most curious works. Haunting an ambiguous interzone between detective novel, horror fiction and Anglophile parody, it follows the misadventures of presumed police officer Sidney Terence Triggs upon his retirement to the sleepy English country town of Ingersham. A cast of characters worthy of Dickens awaits him, from the sympathetic old clerk Ebenezer Doove to the druggist Theobold Pycroft, the eccentric department store owner Gregory Cobwell and a motley collection of other humorously humdrum inhabitants.
The emphatically commonplace quickly gives way to haunted melodrama as Triggs’s new neighbors begin to die violently or vanish. His false identity as a detective is put to the test under the threat of murderous phantoms as city and citizens come apart at the seams.
Jean Ray (1887–1964) is the best known of the multiple pseudonyms of Raymundus Joannes Maria de Kremer, a pivotal figure in the “Belgian School of the Strange,” who authored some 6,500 texts in his lifetime.
The emphatically commonplace quickly gives way to haunted melodrama as Triggs’s new neighbors begin to die violently or vanish. His false identity as a detective is put to the test under the threat of murderous phantoms as city and citizens come apart at the seams.
Jean Ray (1887–1964) is the best known of the multiple pseudonyms of Raymundus Joannes Maria de Kremer, a pivotal figure in the “Belgian School of the Strange,” who authored some 6,500 texts in his lifetime.
194 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
12 people are currently reading
408 people want to read
About the author
Jean Ray
271 books118 followersRaymundus Joannes de Kremer was a Flemish Belgian writer who used the pen names John Flanders and Jean Ray. He wrote both in Dutch and French.
He was born in Ghent, his father a minor port official, his mother the director of a girls' school. Ray was a fairly successful student but failed to complete his university studies, and from 1910 to 1919 he worked in clerical jobs in the city administration.
By the early 1920s he had joined the editorial team of the Journal de Gand. Later he also joined the monthly L'Ami du Livre. His first book, Les Contes du Whisky, a collection of fantastic and uncanny stories, was published during 1925.
During 1926 he was charged with embezzlement and sentenced to six years in prison, but served only two years. During his imprisonment he wrote two of his best-known long stories, The Shadowy Street and The Mainz Psalter. From the time of his release in 1929 until the outbreak of the Second World War, he wrote virtually non-stop.
Between 1933 and 1940, he produced over a hundred tales in a series of detective stories, The Adventures of Harry Dickson, the American Sherlock Holmes. He had been hired to translate a series from the German, but he found the stories so bad that he suggested to his Amsterdam publisher that he should re-write them instead. The publisher agreed, provided only that each story be about the same length as the original, and match the book's cover illustration. The Harry Dickson stories are admired by the film director Alain Resnais among others. During the winter of 1959-1960 Resnais met with Ray in the hope of making a film based on the Harry Dickson character, but nothing came of the project.
During the Second World War Ray's prodigious output slowed, but he was able to publish his best works in French, under the name Jean Ray: Le Grand Nocturne (1942), La Cité de l'Indicible Peur, also adapted into a film starring Bourvil, Malpertuis, Les Cercles de L'Epouvante (all 1943), Les Derniers Contes de Canterbury (1944) and Le Livre des Fantômes (1947).
After the war he was again reduced to hackwork, writing comic-strip scenarios by the name of John Flanders. He was rescued from obscurity by Raymond Queneau and Roland Stragliati, whose influence got Malpertuis reprinted in French during 1956.
A few weeks before his death, he wrote his own mock epitaph in a letter to his friend Albert van Hageland: Ci gît Jean Ray/homme sinistre/qui ne fut rien/pas même ministre ("Here lies Jean Ray/A man sinister/who was nothing/not even a minister").
He was born in Ghent, his father a minor port official, his mother the director of a girls' school. Ray was a fairly successful student but failed to complete his university studies, and from 1910 to 1919 he worked in clerical jobs in the city administration.
By the early 1920s he had joined the editorial team of the Journal de Gand. Later he also joined the monthly L'Ami du Livre. His first book, Les Contes du Whisky, a collection of fantastic and uncanny stories, was published during 1925.
During 1926 he was charged with embezzlement and sentenced to six years in prison, but served only two years. During his imprisonment he wrote two of his best-known long stories, The Shadowy Street and The Mainz Psalter. From the time of his release in 1929 until the outbreak of the Second World War, he wrote virtually non-stop.
Between 1933 and 1940, he produced over a hundred tales in a series of detective stories, The Adventures of Harry Dickson, the American Sherlock Holmes. He had been hired to translate a series from the German, but he found the stories so bad that he suggested to his Amsterdam publisher that he should re-write them instead. The publisher agreed, provided only that each story be about the same length as the original, and match the book's cover illustration. The Harry Dickson stories are admired by the film director Alain Resnais among others. During the winter of 1959-1960 Resnais met with Ray in the hope of making a film based on the Harry Dickson character, but nothing came of the project.
During the Second World War Ray's prodigious output slowed, but he was able to publish his best works in French, under the name Jean Ray: Le Grand Nocturne (1942), La Cité de l'Indicible Peur, also adapted into a film starring Bourvil, Malpertuis, Les Cercles de L'Epouvante (all 1943), Les Derniers Contes de Canterbury (1944) and Le Livre des Fantômes (1947).
After the war he was again reduced to hackwork, writing comic-strip scenarios by the name of John Flanders. He was rescued from obscurity by Raymond Queneau and Roland Stragliati, whose influence got Malpertuis reprinted in French during 1956.
A few weeks before his death, he wrote his own mock epitaph in a letter to his friend Albert van Hageland: Ci gît Jean Ray/homme sinistre/qui ne fut rien/pas même ministre ("Here lies Jean Ray/A man sinister/who was nothing/not even a minister").
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
June 19, 2023
Unlike Jean Ray’s overtly supernatural Malpertuis, likewise first published in 1943, the terrors here are a lot more ambiguous. As much a detective novel as it is horror, the intrusions of the strange and otherworldly may or may not have rational explanations.
It’s pretty humorous at times, featuring a recently retired police officer who moves to the small English village of Ingersham, where inexplicable apparitions, overwhelming feelings of fear, and sudden deaths are plaguing the community. The town depends on him to solve the weird occurrences, thinking he was a top-tier Scotland Yard detective as opposed to the pencil-pusher he actually was.
Shenanigans ensue, shifting from comical to creepy at the drop of a hat, with memorably eccentric Dickensian characters that make me want to check out some of the Sherlock Holmes pastiche-type work that Ray was involved in throughout the 30s. I loved how the townspeople would often tell ghostly tales that would become convoluted, Arabian Nights-like stories within stories within stories (one of which is a clever re-imagining of ”The Tell-tale Heart”).
Not quite in the same league as Malpertuis, “The Main Psalter,” or “The Shadowy Street,” imo, but an intriguing and worthwhile read nonetheless. Hats off to Scott Nicholay and Wakefield Press for finally making this available in English.
It’s pretty humorous at times, featuring a recently retired police officer who moves to the small English village of Ingersham, where inexplicable apparitions, overwhelming feelings of fear, and sudden deaths are plaguing the community. The town depends on him to solve the weird occurrences, thinking he was a top-tier Scotland Yard detective as opposed to the pencil-pusher he actually was.
Shenanigans ensue, shifting from comical to creepy at the drop of a hat, with memorably eccentric Dickensian characters that make me want to check out some of the Sherlock Holmes pastiche-type work that Ray was involved in throughout the 30s. I loved how the townspeople would often tell ghostly tales that would become convoluted, Arabian Nights-like stories within stories within stories (one of which is a clever re-imagining of ”The Tell-tale Heart”).
Not quite in the same league as Malpertuis, “The Main Psalter,” or “The Shadowy Street,” imo, but an intriguing and worthwhile read nonetheless. Hats off to Scott Nicholay and Wakefield Press for finally making this available in English.
March 30, 2022
La scrittura elegante, piacevole, leggera di Jean Ray ci porta a Ingersham, un piccolo paesino nella campagna inglese, dove la vita scorre tranquilla e immutabile. Fino all'arrivo di "Sigma" Triggs, imbrattacarte della polizia di Londra in pensione. Il suo arrivo sconvolge la città e una serie di presenze, fantasmi e fatti inspiegabili inizia (o continua?) a terrorizzare la cittadina mietendo vittime.
Più thriller o poliziesco che horror, soprattutto quando tutto viene svelato nel finale, questa bella opera di Jean Ray non manca di portare alcuni momenti particolarmente inquietanti (la scena del manichino!), ma il tutto senza intaccare la leggerezza dell'opera. Sì, perché la lettura delle 210 pagine circa fila via liscia e senza nemmeno accorgersi ci si trova alla fine, avendo appena fatto in tempo a conoscere i personaggi (consiglio di prendere appunti su di loro, soprattutto se avete la memoria corta come la mia!) e i luoghi.
Sarebbe da rileggere subito dopo averlo finito, con ben chiaro in mente lo schema dei fatti per cogliere le sfumature, i dettagli e gli indizi...
COSA MI È PIACIUTO
- Stile dell'autore
- Storia intrigante
- Atmosfere inglesi
COSA NON MI È PIACIUTO
- Non provoca paura
- Tanti personaggi tra cui raccapezzarsi
Più thriller o poliziesco che horror, soprattutto quando tutto viene svelato nel finale, questa bella opera di Jean Ray non manca di portare alcuni momenti particolarmente inquietanti (la scena del manichino!), ma il tutto senza intaccare la leggerezza dell'opera. Sì, perché la lettura delle 210 pagine circa fila via liscia e senza nemmeno accorgersi ci si trova alla fine, avendo appena fatto in tempo a conoscere i personaggi (consiglio di prendere appunti su di loro, soprattutto se avete la memoria corta come la mia!) e i luoghi.
Sarebbe da rileggere subito dopo averlo finito, con ben chiaro in mente lo schema dei fatti per cogliere le sfumature, i dettagli e gli indizi...
COSA MI È PIACIUTO
- Stile dell'autore
- Storia intrigante
- Atmosfere inglesi
COSA NON MI È PIACIUTO
- Non provoca paura
- Tanti personaggi tra cui raccapezzarsi
May 23, 2025
Well written, fun mystery set in a small fictional village in England. Dickens meets Miss Marple by way of Susan Hill’s ghost stories. Funny characters and not as scary as it’s marketed. My first intro to Jean Ray, and now I’ll be reading more.
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December 31, 2023
I am not the target audience for this.
This book feels...silly. And not in a fun way, but in a "time-being-wasted" way. I can't deny that Jean Ray is an excellent writer, with an amazing grasp for language -- and the translator did a marvelous job rendering that into English. But at the same time, much of this book feels pointless. I read three chapters on a plane ride and realized most of the time was unnecessarily spent reading Ray's endless descriptions of household items. Again, Ray's writing is deft (at least as rendered by the translator), but it all feels too twee to be taken seriously and too earnest to be genuinely amusing.
The characters were all oddly distant and colourless, the "plot" (such as it was) proved unfocused and unengaging, and overall it felt less like a novel than a stitched together series of unrelated vignettes. The various historical references were neat, I guess, and the Dickens references were nice, but that's likely the problem -- I can use words like "neat" or "nice," but even then I'm only doing so half-heartedly.
Would I read something by Jean Ray again? After this, absolutely not. I had an easier time getting ahold of this than his more famous Malpertuis: The Classic Modern Gothic Novel, but City has pretty much killed all interest I had in his work. I can't believe how many better, more engaging books I didn't get around to simply so I could keep trudging through this quagmire of literary tedium.
This book feels...silly. And not in a fun way, but in a "time-being-wasted" way. I can't deny that Jean Ray is an excellent writer, with an amazing grasp for language -- and the translator did a marvelous job rendering that into English. But at the same time, much of this book feels pointless. I read three chapters on a plane ride and realized most of the time was unnecessarily spent reading Ray's endless descriptions of household items. Again, Ray's writing is deft (at least as rendered by the translator), but it all feels too twee to be taken seriously and too earnest to be genuinely amusing.
The characters were all oddly distant and colourless, the "plot" (such as it was) proved unfocused and unengaging, and overall it felt less like a novel than a stitched together series of unrelated vignettes. The various historical references were neat, I guess, and the Dickens references were nice, but that's likely the problem -- I can use words like "neat" or "nice," but even then I'm only doing so half-heartedly.
Would I read something by Jean Ray again? After this, absolutely not. I had an easier time getting ahold of this than his more famous Malpertuis: The Classic Modern Gothic Novel, but City has pretty much killed all interest I had in his work. I can't believe how many better, more engaging books I didn't get around to simply so I could keep trudging through this quagmire of literary tedium.
May 9, 2024
Has a hell of a back cover hook of “mystery or horror story, you decide”, and does a lot of interesting things at once- small town where nothing is at it seems, detective chasing down inexplicable seemingly supernatural deaths and disappearances, guys telling spooky stories in rainy rooms, bumbling detective stumbling his way into clues, Flemish author who’s never been to England writing a loving ode to Dickens and England- but somehow this never seemed to click into focus for me, I think in part because it never allowed itself to commit to one vibe, one atmosphere, or even really to its procedural elements. Parts of this dazzled me- the final chapter is a beautiful evocation of the indifference of the supernatural, some of the ghost tales were good, some of the detective stuff was genuinely funny to me- but it never grabbed me as a whole at any point. A shame, but was enough here and it’s short enough that I can’t begrudge it too much.
August 9, 2017
It's in this book that I understand that the horrifics things were never in the light or in the dark but in between and more important, we are all monsters.
January 14, 2025
People are calling this novel Lovecraftian but, to be honest, I find it to be much more Lynchian. While perhaps not as surreal as many of Lynch’s films, ‘City’ feels like a precursor to ‘Twin Peaks’ with perhaps Andy as the main character (and Cooper is Basket). Even the epilogue seems to anticipate ‘The Return’. I wonder if Lynch is familiar with Jean Ray.
June 28, 2021
Un salto in un tempo letterario dove i grandi maestri forgiavano le storie che sarebbero state fondamenta indissolubili del terrore narrativo. La città della paura indicibile è uno di questi pilastri, fra i tanti, perché riesce a rendere sincero il brivido che riesce a far scorrere pagina dopo pagina. Un orrore ignoto che aleggia e accompagna il lettore per mano, una mano spettrale, inquietante, nella soluzione di un enigma occulto che non è dato risolvere. È questa possibilità, che l'orrore non sia spiegabile, come lo stesso HPL ha raccontato, a rendere immortale l'incubo di Jean Ray. Se non c'è un perché, se non possiamo spiegarlo, allora possiamo solo cedere al terrore.
August 14, 2023
Un relato de terror bastante original, se percibe una fuerte influencia de la novela detectivesca.
Decir qué es lo original de este libro sería adelantar su desenlace, pero como buena novela de misterio, nada es lo que uno cree y todo detalle de la historia tiene una razón.
Decir qué es lo original de este libro sería adelantar su desenlace, pero como buena novela de misterio, nada es lo que uno cree y todo detalle de la historia tiene una razón.
July 14, 2023
The City of Unspeakable Fear, despite being published only a few months after Jean Ray's work Malpertuis, is an incredibly different book, to the extent that if I didn't know I would never have guessed that they'd been written by the same author. Whereas Malpertuis is an entirely unique and unpredictable amalgam of horror and fantasy, The City of Unspeakable Fear is Ray's homage to British detective stories, the various mysteries made a bit more interesting thanks to a supernatural veneer. While this work lacks the stunning originality of Malpertuis, The City of Unspeakable Fear is still a good read however because of the simple fact that it's a fun time.
Protagonist "Sigma" Triggs is dragged into investigating a series of strange events that begin to occur after he retires to a small English country town. Triggs is a fascinating character by virtue of being so middle-of-the-road. He's not hyper-competent like most protagonists in detective fiction, but his "little grey cells" aren't asleep at the wheel either, meaning he's not a character you laugh at. He's smart but not brilliant, plus he's brave, making him easy to root for. Likewise, the storyteller Ebenezer Doove is a fun partner for Triggs, and I enjoyed the pair paying house calls as the small town suffers an absurdly comical number of crimes and deaths in quick succession. With likable protagonists, a small town going to the dogs, and the specter of the supernatural looming over everything, The City of Unspeakable Fear is a quick and enjoyable read.
That being said, while the book is an interesting swirl of mid-century detective fiction and horror, neither of its constituent parts truly impressed me. Unlike the other books I’ve read by Ray, and despite what images its title likely brings to mind, The City of Unspeakable Fear is relatively light on horror. There are a few tense scenes, but I never got the feeling that Ray actually wanted this short novel to inspire any terror. Looked at through a modern lens the whole thing feels more Scooby-Doo than The Shining, though of course it has a much higher body count than the former.
In terms of the detective story part of the book, I fully acknowledge that I’m spoiled by all the Agatha Christie I’ve been reading over the last year and a half, but the fact remains that The City of Unspeakable Fear doesn’t do much that’s very compelling. This isn’t one of those mysteries with various clues that you can put together and solve before the final reveal, instead you can guess certain explanations based on genre familiarity but otherwise you have to content yourself with waiting for the conclusion to spell out exactly what’s going on. To be clear the book doesn’t do a bad job with its detective story elements, it’s a faithful rendition of how the genre stood at the time, but it doesn’t rise above that.
So, overall, fun but not very noteworthy, in stark contrast to Malpertuis. Perhaps it’s unfair of me to hold The City of Unspeakable Fear to the standard that Ray set with his masterpiece, but I can’t help being a bit disappointed when it feels like Ray was playing it safe, which is what I came away feeling about this one. As always, the Wakefield Press edition is excellent, and translator Scott Nicolay has done a great job. I give The City of Unspeakable Fear a 3.5/5, rounding down.
Protagonist "Sigma" Triggs is dragged into investigating a series of strange events that begin to occur after he retires to a small English country town. Triggs is a fascinating character by virtue of being so middle-of-the-road. He's not hyper-competent like most protagonists in detective fiction, but his "little grey cells" aren't asleep at the wheel either, meaning he's not a character you laugh at. He's smart but not brilliant, plus he's brave, making him easy to root for. Likewise, the storyteller Ebenezer Doove is a fun partner for Triggs, and I enjoyed the pair paying house calls as the small town suffers an absurdly comical number of crimes and deaths in quick succession. With likable protagonists, a small town going to the dogs, and the specter of the supernatural looming over everything, The City of Unspeakable Fear is a quick and enjoyable read.
That being said, while the book is an interesting swirl of mid-century detective fiction and horror, neither of its constituent parts truly impressed me. Unlike the other books I’ve read by Ray, and despite what images its title likely brings to mind, The City of Unspeakable Fear is relatively light on horror. There are a few tense scenes, but I never got the feeling that Ray actually wanted this short novel to inspire any terror. Looked at through a modern lens the whole thing feels more Scooby-Doo than The Shining, though of course it has a much higher body count than the former.
In terms of the detective story part of the book, I fully acknowledge that I’m spoiled by all the Agatha Christie I’ve been reading over the last year and a half, but the fact remains that The City of Unspeakable Fear doesn’t do much that’s very compelling. This isn’t one of those mysteries with various clues that you can put together and solve before the final reveal, instead you can guess certain explanations based on genre familiarity but otherwise you have to content yourself with waiting for the conclusion to spell out exactly what’s going on. To be clear the book doesn’t do a bad job with its detective story elements, it’s a faithful rendition of how the genre stood at the time, but it doesn’t rise above that.
So, overall, fun but not very noteworthy, in stark contrast to Malpertuis. Perhaps it’s unfair of me to hold The City of Unspeakable Fear to the standard that Ray set with his masterpiece, but I can’t help being a bit disappointed when it feels like Ray was playing it safe, which is what I came away feeling about this one. As always, the Wakefield Press edition is excellent, and translator Scott Nicolay has done a great job. I give The City of Unspeakable Fear a 3.5/5, rounding down.
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May 20, 2023"- Alors, n'insistons pas trop ; moi-même, d'ailleurs, je n'en connais pas grand chose, mais un des axiomes de cette curieuse et savante théorie, c'est qu'à la source des crimes les plus audacieux se trouve la peur.
- Ça, murmura Triggs, ça... Il ne faut pas être un trop grand savant pour le dire ou le comprendre.
- Voir... Ceci posé, installons-nous dans Ingersham ou plutôt dans sa névrose.
- Hein ? C'est un mot bien difficile.
- Cette névrose est celle des petites villes de province en général ; je ne dis pas qu'elle n'a pas quelque chose de particulier à Ingersham, mais n'anticipons pas. La petite ville a pour principales occupations : manger, boire, bavarder, se mêler des affaires du voisin, détester l'étranger et tout ce qui est sujet à troubler la quiétude nécessaire aux belles digestions et aux profitables entretiens.
La raison d'un tel trouble, Triggs, c'est la névrose de la petite cité, et ici névrose est synonyme de crainte.
Or, voici que, dans une pareille bourgade, s'installe, par un beau jour, un policier".
Petite découverte dans les galeries Bortier du maître gantois de l'irrationnel, auteur d'un des plus grand livre de la littérature belge "Malpertuis" et du Sherlock Holmes américain "Harry Dickson". 😱
Le plus étrange du livre : des mots incompréhensibles ... ce qu'ils décrivent ne semblent plus exister ! 🫣
- Ça, murmura Triggs, ça... Il ne faut pas être un trop grand savant pour le dire ou le comprendre.
- Voir... Ceci posé, installons-nous dans Ingersham ou plutôt dans sa névrose.
- Hein ? C'est un mot bien difficile.
- Cette névrose est celle des petites villes de province en général ; je ne dis pas qu'elle n'a pas quelque chose de particulier à Ingersham, mais n'anticipons pas. La petite ville a pour principales occupations : manger, boire, bavarder, se mêler des affaires du voisin, détester l'étranger et tout ce qui est sujet à troubler la quiétude nécessaire aux belles digestions et aux profitables entretiens.
La raison d'un tel trouble, Triggs, c'est la névrose de la petite cité, et ici névrose est synonyme de crainte.
Or, voici que, dans une pareille bourgade, s'installe, par un beau jour, un policier".
Petite découverte dans les galeries Bortier du maître gantois de l'irrationnel, auteur d'un des plus grand livre de la littérature belge "Malpertuis" et du Sherlock Holmes américain "Harry Dickson". 😱
Le plus étrange du livre : des mots incompréhensibles ... ce qu'ils décrivent ne semblent plus exister ! 🫣
June 24, 2024
This is such an odd little book. I don't precisely what I expected going in, besides an excellent translation and research by Scott Nicolay, but this certainly defied whatever expectations I had of the francophone master of the weird. Now, this was the first Jean Ray I read, so I was coming to this clean without a lot of preconceived notions, your mileage may vary if you're already a fan.
As summaries indicate, this story is a strange melange of detective novel, M.R. James-ish ghost story, horror/the weird, and Dickensian style tongue-in-cheek comedy. After some startlingly funny bits and turns of phrase early on, I settled in to read it as a distinctly comedic detective story with shades of darker scooby-doo as told by an admirer of Dickens. Which was incredibly fulfilling. But as one proceeds through the work, it does grow increasingly dark, has a dread that slowly builds. So I immediately set about re-reading it with the mindset that it was exclusively a slow building, dreadful tale. In both ways it was deeply engaging and satisfying. So decide going in, or don't and take it as it goes, but know you're in for a wonderful crafted and entertaining time.
As summaries indicate, this story is a strange melange of detective novel, M.R. James-ish ghost story, horror/the weird, and Dickensian style tongue-in-cheek comedy. After some startlingly funny bits and turns of phrase early on, I settled in to read it as a distinctly comedic detective story with shades of darker scooby-doo as told by an admirer of Dickens. Which was incredibly fulfilling. But as one proceeds through the work, it does grow increasingly dark, has a dread that slowly builds. So I immediately set about re-reading it with the mindset that it was exclusively a slow building, dreadful tale. In both ways it was deeply engaging and satisfying. So decide going in, or don't and take it as it goes, but know you're in for a wonderful crafted and entertaining time.
November 20, 2023
La penna immaginifica di Jean Ray traccia un quadro un po' appannato. Le premesse sono ottime, ma il meccanismo si inceppa rendendo tutto abbastanza prevedibile. Va da se che il "già visto" per un romanzo scritto negli anni 40' è un giudizio ingeneroso e andrebbe fatta sempre la tara in casi come questi, visto che a distanza di ottanta anni qualsiasi idea considerata originale a suo tempo, può diventare clichè per il lettore di oggi. Le atmosfere ci sono, comunque; e anche una certa originalità dei personaggi.
Gustose le scene dei pranzi luculliani, tipici dell'imagginario di Ray. Il che mi farebbe pensare a Ray come paradossalle antesignano del noir mediterraneo (un belga!).
Tuttavia mi pare che in alcuni momenti (spesso) si assista a cali di ritmo. E il finale gestito in modalità "deus ex machina" non rende giustizia a questa storia, fatta di fantasmi e ironia.
Una lettura gradevole, ma non indimenticabile.
Gustose le scene dei pranzi luculliani, tipici dell'imagginario di Ray. Il che mi farebbe pensare a Ray come paradossalle antesignano del noir mediterraneo (un belga!).
Tuttavia mi pare che in alcuni momenti (spesso) si assista a cali di ritmo. E il finale gestito in modalità "deus ex machina" non rende giustizia a questa storia, fatta di fantasmi e ironia.
Una lettura gradevole, ma non indimenticabile.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2024
Ci voleva Jean Ray per farmi appassionare a un giallo fino al punto di fregarmene di scoprire il colpevole e lasciarmi intrattenere dalla lettura.
Sarà per il fatto che Ray non prova mai ad essere serio e quando ci prova il risultato risulta comunque ironico. Oppure sarà per il fatto che ci ho messo poco a entrare in sintonia con il protagonista Sigma Triggs, ispettore (o quasi) in pensione, bonario, paffuto e sicuramente lontano dallo stereotipo del grande genio deduttivo alla Holmes o Poirot.
Triggs è più simile a un Greg Lestrade o a un Léonce Caponi, quasi un Groucho senza battute e senza Dylan.
L’investigatore dell’occulto lo cito perchè questa storia ha un componente di mistero occulto che si attiva quando Triggs decide di trascorrere il meritato congedo nel piccolo e all’apparenza placido borgo di Ingersham.
Ma non ha fatto i conti con Loro.
Soprattutto non sa che c’è un detto: anche se non esistono i fantasmi, esistono le storie che ne parlano.
E invece…
Sarà per il fatto che Ray non prova mai ad essere serio e quando ci prova il risultato risulta comunque ironico. Oppure sarà per il fatto che ci ho messo poco a entrare in sintonia con il protagonista Sigma Triggs, ispettore (o quasi) in pensione, bonario, paffuto e sicuramente lontano dallo stereotipo del grande genio deduttivo alla Holmes o Poirot.
Triggs è più simile a un Greg Lestrade o a un Léonce Caponi, quasi un Groucho senza battute e senza Dylan.
L’investigatore dell’occulto lo cito perchè questa storia ha un componente di mistero occulto che si attiva quando Triggs decide di trascorrere il meritato congedo nel piccolo e all’apparenza placido borgo di Ingersham.
Ma non ha fatto i conti con Loro.
Soprattutto non sa che c’è un detto: anche se non esistono i fantasmi, esistono le storie che ne parlano.
E invece…
February 9, 2019
Introduction; there was a murder in front of Morgan’s bar in the City , a sailor was shot . inspector Dickson has to resolve this but there is
mysteries around the murder and the city where he was murdered , Ham.
What I like; it was a short story, i read it fast. The author did not make paragraphs to describe each character. The summary of the story helped to know exactly what was going on and put us in context.
What I dislike ; the problem with short story is the character’s action and storytelling is short and sometimes I got lost ;i did know what was happening until the very end. He put a glimpse of « fantastic » so i was dissapointed when the explication of the murder was not reslly realistic. Then, how Molly was a servant for 3 years to Mrs Hasslop but did not notice that except the ladies and Mr doove, there is absonotely no one living in Ham ?
mysteries around the murder and the city where he was murdered , Ham.
What I like; it was a short story, i read it fast. The author did not make paragraphs to describe each character. The summary of the story helped to know exactly what was going on and put us in context.
What I dislike ; the problem with short story is the character’s action and storytelling is short and sometimes I got lost ;i did know what was happening until the very end. He put a glimpse of « fantastic » so i was dissapointed when the explication of the murder was not reslly realistic. Then, how Molly was a servant for 3 years to Mrs Hasslop but did not notice that except the ladies and Mr doove, there is absonotely no one living in Ham ?
July 24, 2025
Released just a few months after Ray's masterpiece Malpertuis, The City of Unspeakable Fear is a totally different kind of book. Described in the blurb as "Miss Marple meets H.P. Lovecraft", it isn't really that either. On one level it's a parody of Golden Age detective stories, and a love letter by Ray to his Anglophilia, but on a deeper level it's an existentialist riff on Arthur Conan Doyle filled with nested narratives, shifting identities, and red herrings. The afterword by Scott Nicolay connects it with F for Fake by Orson Welles. It is a book about fakery, and storytelling, and it's one of the first genre-bending works of its kind; that doesn't always mean it's successful, but it is original, and Ray deserves to be better known. There's also a film adaptation by Jean-Pierre Mocky titled The Big Scare which is floating around on private trackers with custom English subs.
May 1, 2024
Questo titolo viene paragonato, sulla quarta di copertina, come un mix tra H. P. Lovecraft e Agatha Christie. Senza andare troppo sullo spoiler a me ha ricordato molto, invece, le vibes (in chiave ovviamente più adulta e matura) che mi davano le puntate di Scooby-Doo quando ero una bambina.
Quella leggera inquietudine quando ci si imbatte in qualcosa di sovrannaturale, con il terrore invece dei nostri protagonisti che vivono il tutto (qui il nostro protagonista un po' fifone e sfigatello è "Sigma") ma il tutto spolverato con una leggera ironia.
Se cercate, quindi, un titolo horror e spaventoso non è questo il libro adatto. Qui avremo sì tanti eventi inquietanti e all'apparenza inspiegabili, tutti concentrati a Ingersham dopo l'arrivo del nostro ispettore, ma tutto è scritto in maniera molto leggera, scorrevole e con tanta ironia che fanno sì che la pagine si facciano leggere una dopo l'altra senza che noi ce ne possiamo rendere conto.
Io mi sono approcciata a questo titolo pensando che fosse un'opera più dell'orrore ma non ne sono comunque rimasta delusa. Il difetto più grande, forse, è concentrare in 200 pagine una indagine che metterà in scena tantissimi personaggi.
Dopo un po' facevo fatica a ricordarmi chi era chi, che cosa faceva, il suo lavoro etc... tant'è che se non avete il tempo (come capita a me) di poter leggere il libro ogni giorno o tutto d'un fiato ci si perde tra le pagine e poi tocca, ogni tanto, tornare indietro per capirci qualcosa (non vi è un indice degli abitanti di Ingersham).
Anche sul finale sono dovuta andare un po' a ritroso per ricordarmi di tutti i personaggi e degli eventi in cui erano stati coinvolti perchè succede veramente di tutto contrato in poco più di 200 pagine.
Nel complesso è stata una lettura piacevole e in futuro vorrei recuperare altro di Jean Ray.
Quella leggera inquietudine quando ci si imbatte in qualcosa di sovrannaturale, con il terrore invece dei nostri protagonisti che vivono il tutto (qui il nostro protagonista un po' fifone e sfigatello è "Sigma") ma il tutto spolverato con una leggera ironia.
Se cercate, quindi, un titolo horror e spaventoso non è questo il libro adatto. Qui avremo sì tanti eventi inquietanti e all'apparenza inspiegabili, tutti concentrati a Ingersham dopo l'arrivo del nostro ispettore, ma tutto è scritto in maniera molto leggera, scorrevole e con tanta ironia che fanno sì che la pagine si facciano leggere una dopo l'altra senza che noi ce ne possiamo rendere conto.
Io mi sono approcciata a questo titolo pensando che fosse un'opera più dell'orrore ma non ne sono comunque rimasta delusa. Il difetto più grande, forse, è concentrare in 200 pagine una indagine che metterà in scena tantissimi personaggi.
Dopo un po' facevo fatica a ricordarmi chi era chi, che cosa faceva, il suo lavoro etc... tant'è che se non avete il tempo (come capita a me) di poter leggere il libro ogni giorno o tutto d'un fiato ci si perde tra le pagine e poi tocca, ogni tanto, tornare indietro per capirci qualcosa (non vi è un indice degli abitanti di Ingersham).
Anche sul finale sono dovuta andare un po' a ritroso per ricordarmi di tutti i personaggi e degli eventi in cui erano stati coinvolti perchè succede veramente di tutto contrato in poco più di 200 pagine.
Nel complesso è stata una lettura piacevole e in futuro vorrei recuperare altro di Jean Ray.
August 24, 2024
My first introduction to Ray, and one that makes me excited to read the rest of his work. A tight, satisfying mystery that allows itself to also be a horror and a comedy to satisfying effect. The afterword by Scott Nicolay, its translator, constitutes an excellent narrative itself, pointing to the coincidences that make up the story and weaving them together with the coincidences in the creators associated with Ray's work. As Ray was shamelessly inspired by Dickens, Chaucer, and Doyle, I feel an urge to pillory a great deal from this work for my own writings.
August 23, 2025
Este libro me ha recordado mucho a los libros que tenía que leer para la asignatura de inglés en el instituto.
Se trata de un pequeño relato de detectives localizado en Inglaterra y aunque roce lo sobrenatural es muy parecido a los clásicos de misterio. Me ha faltado quizás que el libro fuese un poco más largo e introdujese más desarrollo de personajes pero entiendo que al pertenecer a un universo literario simplemente es una pieza del puzle en la que no se ve mucha imagen.
Me ha gustado y me ha traído mucho recuerdos
Se trata de un pequeño relato de detectives localizado en Inglaterra y aunque roce lo sobrenatural es muy parecido a los clásicos de misterio. Me ha faltado quizás que el libro fuese un poco más largo e introdujese más desarrollo de personajes pero entiendo que al pertenecer a un universo literario simplemente es una pieza del puzle en la que no se ve mucha imagen.
Me ha gustado y me ha traído mucho recuerdos
June 23, 2020
Découverte de l'auteur. J'ai dans l'ensemble bien aimé l'histoire.
Malheureusement le style est très alambiqué, les tournures sont parfois très emphatique. Ajouté à cela pléthore de vocabulaire inconnu: viridine, marmorite, risse, brande, etc. Le tout rend la lecture difficile, voire pénible dans certains cas.
Je tenterai une autre roman pour comparer.
Malheureusement le style est très alambiqué, les tournures sont parfois très emphatique. Ajouté à cela pléthore de vocabulaire inconnu: viridine, marmorite, risse, brande, etc. Le tout rend la lecture difficile, voire pénible dans certains cas.
Je tenterai une autre roman pour comparer.
January 3, 2025
A gothic mystery novel à la Doyle. An Ichabod Crane type dropped into another haunted village of the English countryside. Has the cleanliness of Dickens, too, who is mentioned often. Like a pleasant, pulpy serial I could imagine reading under the blanket as a child when I was deep in the throes of horror.
January 22, 2025
I found the central character pretty amusing, as a guy who isn't really a detective but also not assertive enough to tell anyone he isn't one. But then the events of the book kinda let the whole thing down. It's one of those rare situations where the characters are great, but the plot just isn't really there.
November 1, 2023
Tutto sommato una storia godibile e una scrittura piuttosto sagace. La struttura un po' singultante e il sovraffollamento di nomi finiscono per confondere. Ma davvero apprezzabili le atmosfere uggiose e confortevoli della campagna inglese che fanno da sfondo alla vicenda. Più spooky che altro.
February 23, 2024
Alas, the parody of inept British rural detective stories did not appeal to me. I hoped for more atmosphere, less bumbling and silliness. Well-written, just very much not my thing. Ah well, did not finish it.
August 25, 2025
J’ai eu beaucoup de mal avec le ton. On vend le livre comme quelque chose d’horrifique épouvante 1er degré mais en fait c’est une espèce de comédie, on prends l’histoire de moins au sérieux et on s’ennuie de plus en plus. J’ai même pas réussi à finir
October 6, 2025
A metà strada tra un racconto di Agatha Christie e un horror di Mario Bava, con punte di weird decisamente croccanti. Davvero molto carino, viene voglia di recuperare altri libri dell’autore.
(nota di merito: l’edizione è super curata e richiama un po’ le riviste pulp anni ‘50, figo!)
(nota di merito: l’edizione è super curata e richiama un po’ le riviste pulp anni ‘50, figo!)
October 16, 2022
The Mistery Machine parcheggia fuori Ingersham.
January 21, 2023
Molto carino, la prima parte è però parecchio noiosetta. Un giallo che si fa leggere. Sono stato traviato dal titolo, pensavo fosse stile e tematiche lovecraftiane, cosa che invece non è.
October 18, 2023
A fine novel equal parts Skerlock Holmes,Edgar Allan Poe, P.G Wodehouse, and Agatha Christie. A strange but unique mixture of equal parts is cosy and grotesque.
January 2, 2024
More people need to read this. It's like Hot Fuzz meets Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens
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