The Roaring Of The Labyrinth

Whilbert Stroop #2

by Clio Gray

An astonishingly accomplished second novel, marking the arrival of an exciting new talent on the crime scene

Astonishment Hall, a country estate on the border between Durham and Cumbria, is full of weird and wonderful exhibitions. It is truly a place of wonder. But when a valuable exhibit is stolen from the hall, it is only the first in a series of unpleasant and seemingly unconnected events. A bell tower is burnt to the ground, trapping a young boy inside, an outbreak of thefts plagues the valley, and a man is violently murdered and left to the crows and the snow. When his own investigations come to a dead end, the owner of Astonishment Hall, the Major, sends to London for help. And so Whilbert Stroop journeys north to try and find the answers to both his own search for a missing glass-worker, and the perplexing events at Astonishment Hall. Before long, Stroop finds himself embroiled in one man's terrifying and warped desire for vengeance against ancient wrongs, and another man's fight for survival.

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 9, 2007

About the author

Clio Gray has won many awards for her writing, including the Harry Bowling First Novel Award. She has been Man Booker Nominated, Long Listed for the Baileys, and Short Listed for the Cinnamon Prize. Born in Yorkshire, she spent her later childhood in Devon before returning to Yorkshire to go to university, after which she ended up in Scotland. For the past thirty years she has lived in the Highlands where she intends to remain.
Gray eschewed the usual route of marriage, mortgage, children, and instead spent her working life in libraries, filling her home with books and sharing that home with her dogs.
When she gets a few days off you can find her in her campervan scooting around the lesser known areas of Scotland and the Highlands that haven’t been brought to ruination by the dreadful tourist push called the NC500.

Reviews

[Sneha Narayan · Rating 2 out of 5]

(This review has spoilers)

This one was an average read. When I was in highschool I used to read such books where there are murders in the beginning and not very much happens until the end. I may have outgrown this type of storytelling.

The premise is definitely interesting. A series of murders and thefts is flanked by a tower burning to the ground taking a disabled boy with it. Detective Wilbert Stroop and his found-family Mabel, Jack and Thomas are tasked with finding out about a boy who sends a cryptic letter to his family and then disappears. Stroop has an inkling that these events might be connected. Are they? And if the murderer is still loose, can they catch them on time?

I think for me, the most difficult part was the writing style. There was a lot more description than I like or than I'm used to. I found myself skimming to the ends of paragraphs and pages hoping to skip the descriptions. The descriptions got so intense at some points that I started forgetting important plot turns that happen in the same scene but are 5 or 6 pages away because of the descriptions.

I also felt that the stakes weren't high enough for me. The people who died were introduced perhaps a chapter or maybe even just a couple of paragraphs before they met their death. None of the characters we care about are put into any sort of actual danger to their lives. It was hence hard for me to care if the murderer was caught.

I think a trope I struggle with even in today's movies and tv shows is having more than one murderer or criminal involved in the series of events that comprise the mystery. Perhaps I was too pampered as a child with Agatha Christies and R.L Stines, where either it involves multiple criminals but the plot is just convoluted enough to keep my attention or it involves a single murderer with an intelligent twisting of evidence and facts that keep you guessing. The reveal in the end of this book was anti-climactic, in my opinion, but others might enjoy it.

The one thing I liked about this book though is the two female characters, Violena and Mabel. I would not have complained if the entire book was just the two of them trying to solve it out of the haven that is the Astonishment Hall library. I thought their storylines, albeit being linked to their romantic attraction to the male characters, does not fail to remind us that they are intelligent people who are able to make suggestions of their own mind and accord.

Perhaps I needed to read the books in order. Despite the murder mystery being a stand alone story, I suppose the characters might have made more sense and I might have rooted for them more if I had read the first book in the series.

[Adriana Medina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't know this book was one in a series until I logged it in here on my Goodreads list when I started to read it, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more had I known who most of the characters were and their history. This story, overall, was just ok. In the beginning, I was terribly confused with all the different character perspectives and that's something I normally like in a good book, clean, seamless transitions from character to character. But I don't feel it was well executed here as I found myself not knowing who was who for a good part of the beginning of the story.

What I found most challenging was just trying to figure out the connection between Bellpenny and Dvoshka (if it was explained then I must have completely missed it because I STILL don't know!).

It had its moments where it grabbed your interest what with the grisly murders that occur which starts off this story, but I personally felt it was boring for the most part. Apart from that, this book did definitely give me a Sherlock Holmes-esque vibe due, of course, to the time period this takes place in, and how the way our main character would analyze and compute all the clues and the facts from each crime that occurs.

Honestly, most of the action and drama took place towards the end as the mystery started to unravel and the pieces started coming together, but I felt it was very anticlimactic.

[Emma Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some beautiful descriptions but often overly descriptive at the points where you want the story to get going. I admit to reading another book at the same time so perhaps my focus was lost but I spent a lot of time wondering what the point of it all was. The eventual reason for all the murders doesn't really seem to tally up with the body count: was it greed and the desire for gold or was it the literary inspiration that the murderer read? The plot didn't really hang together for me and I found myself skipping through the long descriptions towards the end. Disappointing read.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual and inventive historical thriller, with a touch of steampunk about the setting at the fictional Astonishment Hall. A surprisingly high body count, and great characters - but rather let down by the demise of the villain of the piece which I felt was a bit of an easy way out.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book quite disappointing. There was some interesting stuff and I found Stroop quite endearing. The rest of the characters though did not grip me at all

[Rachel Nowakowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is an absolute joy to read. I really liked this book. The characters are lovely, I like the odd names and it's absolutely enticed me to read more of them.