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Thomas Fool #1
The Devil's Detective
Welcome to hell...
...where skinless demons patrol the lakes and the waves of Limbo wash against the outer walls, while the souls of the Damned float on their surface, waiting to be collected.
When an unidentified, brutalised body is discovered, the case is assigned to Thomas Fool, one of Hell's detectives, known as 'Information Men’. But how do you investigate a murder where death is commonplace and everyone is guilty of something?
A stunningly original blend of crime, horror and suspense, The Devil’s Detective is a bold new thriller that will shock and amaze.
...where skinless demons patrol the lakes and the waves of Limbo wash against the outer walls, while the souls of the Damned float on their surface, waiting to be collected.
When an unidentified, brutalised body is discovered, the case is assigned to Thomas Fool, one of Hell's detectives, known as 'Information Men’. But how do you investigate a murder where death is commonplace and everyone is guilty of something?
A stunningly original blend of crime, horror and suspense, The Devil’s Detective is a bold new thriller that will shock and amaze.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2015
109 people are currently reading
4256 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 389 reviews
December 24, 2015
(I received a free advanced copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for this review.)
Most of us like to act like our jobs are hell. But what if your job actually was in Hell? Then bitching about the broken microwave in the break room would seem kind of silly.
Hell may no longer go in for casting sinners into burning lakes of fire, but it’s still all about the eternal torment. Now human souls are fished out of the sea of Limbo and crammed into human meat suits and live a grubby existence where they are abused by the demons who treat them like second class citizens. The lucky ones may have some kind of factory or farm job where they get to toil all day and live in crowded shabby rooms with few comforts. Unlucky ones get jobs like being sex toys for the demons, and they have a very short shelf life.
And just because you’re dead and in Hell doesn’t mean you can’t be murdered. Demons routinely kill the humans which sends their souls back to Limbo. Thomas Fool is one of Hell’s Information Men, a kind of detective who gets his assignments via Hell’s vast bureaucracy and spends most of his time stamping paperwork Did Not Investigate for the many crimes committed by the demons against the humans. As he’s acting as an escort for a couple of angels on an official trip from Heaven, Fool is assigned to look into a brutal and unusual murder where there are no traces of the soul left in the body, and the Information Man finds himself actually following through on an investigation for once which causes ripples of change throughout Hell.
The idea of a detective in Hell could have been the premise for some kind of urban fantasy novel with a Fool being a smart-ass anti-hero with the rough edges of the setting sanded off for easy consumption. However, debut novelist Simon Kurt Unsworth does a very nice job of creating a Hell that really feels like hellish. The descriptions of the graphic violence don’t skimp on the horror, and he’s come up with some truly terrifying types of demons. There's also some nice world building done with Hell's history and how it operates.
What’s best is the tone he hits at making Hell feel like a place devoid of hope in such a regular everyday way that it’s the banality that is ultimately the worst part of it. With a grungy, dismal vibe to the place, and the blah meaninglessness of people doing thankless tasks for a faceless bureaucracy, it’s kind of like Fool is working for a large corporation in an atmosphere with no real pleasure. It's an especially nice touch that none of the humans have any memory of who they were or what their sin was. They just know that they did something they deserve to be punished for. The mystery part seemed kind of obvious to me,but there’s still a great ending I didn’t see coming.
All in all, this was a clever and unique debut novel that makes me hope we’ll be seeing more from Unsworth.
Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.
Most of us like to act like our jobs are hell. But what if your job actually was in Hell? Then bitching about the broken microwave in the break room would seem kind of silly.
Hell may no longer go in for casting sinners into burning lakes of fire, but it’s still all about the eternal torment. Now human souls are fished out of the sea of Limbo and crammed into human meat suits and live a grubby existence where they are abused by the demons who treat them like second class citizens. The lucky ones may have some kind of factory or farm job where they get to toil all day and live in crowded shabby rooms with few comforts. Unlucky ones get jobs like being sex toys for the demons, and they have a very short shelf life.
And just because you’re dead and in Hell doesn’t mean you can’t be murdered. Demons routinely kill the humans which sends their souls back to Limbo. Thomas Fool is one of Hell’s Information Men, a kind of detective who gets his assignments via Hell’s vast bureaucracy and spends most of his time stamping paperwork Did Not Investigate for the many crimes committed by the demons against the humans. As he’s acting as an escort for a couple of angels on an official trip from Heaven, Fool is assigned to look into a brutal and unusual murder where there are no traces of the soul left in the body, and the Information Man finds himself actually following through on an investigation for once which causes ripples of change throughout Hell.
The idea of a detective in Hell could have been the premise for some kind of urban fantasy novel with a Fool being a smart-ass anti-hero with the rough edges of the setting sanded off for easy consumption. However, debut novelist Simon Kurt Unsworth does a very nice job of creating a Hell that really feels like hellish. The descriptions of the graphic violence don’t skimp on the horror, and he’s come up with some truly terrifying types of demons. There's also some nice world building done with Hell's history and how it operates.
What’s best is the tone he hits at making Hell feel like a place devoid of hope in such a regular everyday way that it’s the banality that is ultimately the worst part of it. With a grungy, dismal vibe to the place, and the blah meaninglessness of people doing thankless tasks for a faceless bureaucracy, it’s kind of like Fool is working for a large corporation in an atmosphere with no real pleasure. It's an especially nice touch that none of the humans have any memory of who they were or what their sin was. They just know that they did something they deserve to be punished for. The mystery part seemed kind of obvious to me,but there’s still a great ending I didn’t see coming.
All in all, this was a clever and unique debut novel that makes me hope we’ll be seeing more from Unsworth.
Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.
March 4, 2015
*Available today!*
3.5 stars
All hope abandon, ye who enter here.
I picked up this book with the initial impression that I was in for an urban fantasy piece in which Hell (and angels and demons) would play a role, but that some of the story would inevitably take place in a concrete, corrupted human city. But no. This is full on, 24/7 Hell, all the time Hell, everything Hell. There is no reprieve. And very little hope. The hope is so miniscule you need a very expensive microscope to see it.
So yeah. Hell. In as much technicolor, cinematic horrorscape that you probably can't handle. Seriously, it's brutal. Claustrophobic and suffocating. Unsworth's painstaking, meticulous world-building of this feared and unknown domain is impressive to say the least. He spares no detail and isn't shy about unleashing buckets of effluvia, viscera, despair and derangement. This isn't your paranormal fantasy version of Hell where the Demons are sexy anti-heroes brooding about looking for bodices to rip open. Noooooo. These are deformed, mutated, merciless beasts seeking out any hole of any body to violate, and throw in some torture on the side for good measure.
Unsworth creates a Hell populated by innumerable species of Demons of varying size, hierarchy, power and cruelty. In this devilish brew, forsaken humans doomed to suffer Hell's torment, must co-exist. They are Demon slaves. Mere chattel. With meaningless jobs and tasks to perform in the ever present threat of Demon violence.
Thomas Fool is one of those humans, and one of Hell's Information Men. Normally, Fool's job consists of looking the other way -- of NOT investigating Hell's crimes. But when a human corpse shows up with its soul entirely gone, Fool is pushed into an investigation he is not ready for. He must learn his Detective's trade fast before whatever is consuming human souls turns its appetites on all of Hell itself.
This is a book extremely dense with description, and understandably so because the author has cut himself out a big job to build Hell and its fiery inhabitants from scratch missing no detail, no matter how small. There is A LOT of narrative exposition to move the story and action along too. Dialogue is minimally used. And that means the book can read heavy and slow in parts. You have to be patient with it and soak up the landscape. Let it unfurl in your mind and agree to stay with it until the tale is done.
Now that the book is done, and I've laid it aside, I find flashes of it continuing to haunt me -- certain scenes appear to be burned onto my retinas. I can't unsee them. This is a dark book, but for those seeking a dark fantasy set in the darkest and most fearful place, then you might want to give this one a go.
A free copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for this review.
Also posted to my blog.
March 9, 2015
4.5 stars!
Thomas Fool is an Information Man and the setting is Hell with a capital H.
Turns out that an Information Man means Detective, even though not much detecting has ever been tried in Hell. He and two others start out on their journey to discover what is sucking souls dry while the reader hangs on for the ride. That's all I'm going to say about the plot, because it would be a disservice to interfere with the author's fine telling of this dark fantasy story.
The world building here is phenomenal -and the creativity and imagination? Outstanding! The pacing was fast and the mystery intriguing. The one drawback I felt was that the story was relentlessly dark and I had to take a quick break to read a short story here and there, to lighten my mood. For that, (which is a picky complaint, I admit), I deducted one half star.
This tale was impressive, intricate and imaginative. I'm looking forward to a sequel-I so hope there'll be one. In the meantime, I think I'll check out more of Mr. Unsworth's work. This visually striking imagery put me in mind of Clive Barker's work, (the Man of Plants and Flowers? I imagine him vividly!) Highly recommended for horror fans, but especially to fans of Barker!
Thomas Fool is an Information Man and the setting is Hell with a capital H.
Turns out that an Information Man means Detective, even though not much detecting has ever been tried in Hell. He and two others start out on their journey to discover what is sucking souls dry while the reader hangs on for the ride. That's all I'm going to say about the plot, because it would be a disservice to interfere with the author's fine telling of this dark fantasy story.
The world building here is phenomenal -and the creativity and imagination? Outstanding! The pacing was fast and the mystery intriguing. The one drawback I felt was that the story was relentlessly dark and I had to take a quick break to read a short story here and there, to lighten my mood. For that, (which is a picky complaint, I admit), I deducted one half star.
This tale was impressive, intricate and imaginative. I'm looking forward to a sequel-I so hope there'll be one. In the meantime, I think I'll check out more of Mr. Unsworth's work. This visually striking imagery put me in mind of Clive Barker's work, (the Man of Plants and Flowers? I imagine him vividly!) Highly recommended for horror fans, but especially to fans of Barker!
*A free copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This is it!*
February 8, 2015
Ever wondered about Hell, what it would be like, the pain, imprisonment, maybe some torture, red hot fire’s and demons. Well Hell sure isn’t empty and all the devils are most definitely in attendance. Now I've read many portrayals of hell over the years and I've got to say, this is one of the best, a place with little hope and no belief, disturbing and it felt real, believable.
Simon Kurt Unsworth's journey into hell is a searing vision, dark and dirty, man living with demon, forever hoping for ascendancy, hard work, rife with prostitution and murder. A true city of sin, almost a free for all, with no thought for consequence.
In fact the only form of repercussion is the Information man, Hells police and there's only three of them to investigate the plethora of violence, murder and irreverence that is commonplace in the anguish of an everlasting depravity.
If you're looking for hope you've come to the wrong place. This is Hell, and sins often go unnoticed and almost always unpunished.
Thomas Fool is an Information man and his life of avoiding hells interest and filing the many 'did not investigate' cases is about to change, he's about to become noticed. He's about to demand the attention of Hell and its denizens.
Hell calls and Fool must answer.
First of all, the Angels from heaven are here, the Bureaucracy of heaven trading with the Bureaucracy of Hell, a chance for redemption, the only slither of hope for the people in this depraved place and everyone dreams of ascendancy.
Then a murder, different from all the others, one they must investigate, the Archdeacons of Hell demand it. A body subjected to a violence that has split the soul and the flesh, the soul is gone, consumed. The search is on, something old and powerful, powerful enough to eat entire souls is on the loose. And the oldest place in hell, the home of the ancient demons bares the intense scrutiny of one man, as all around him riots to the tune of purgatory.
I had a feeling I'd like this and damn was I right, The Devils Detective is a debut novel and I have to say there was a wonderfully dark imagination and vision on show here. The world building for me was the highlight, ferocious and frenzied, violent and brimming with nightmarish demons from the smallest orphans to the scariest monsters wreathed in fire. Humans just existing, playthings for now but the tide will turn, it's time for change.
Got to put a quote in, although this is an advanced proof so it may not be in the final version but I thought it showed something of this place, of Hell.
"This is Hell, Balthazar, a place of savageries so vast and shifting that you cannot even conceive of their beginnings or endings, and only some of those are of the flesh. Souls burn here, little angel, but the flames are rarely seen."
Now I can only hope that more comes from this Hell, it feels like there could be other stories for this world to tell and it deserves to be revisited.
The Devils Detective was provided for review by Netgalley and Doubleday books and my thanks to both.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
Simon Kurt Unsworth's journey into hell is a searing vision, dark and dirty, man living with demon, forever hoping for ascendancy, hard work, rife with prostitution and murder. A true city of sin, almost a free for all, with no thought for consequence.
In fact the only form of repercussion is the Information man, Hells police and there's only three of them to investigate the plethora of violence, murder and irreverence that is commonplace in the anguish of an everlasting depravity.
If you're looking for hope you've come to the wrong place. This is Hell, and sins often go unnoticed and almost always unpunished.
Thomas Fool is an Information man and his life of avoiding hells interest and filing the many 'did not investigate' cases is about to change, he's about to become noticed. He's about to demand the attention of Hell and its denizens.
Hell calls and Fool must answer.
First of all, the Angels from heaven are here, the Bureaucracy of heaven trading with the Bureaucracy of Hell, a chance for redemption, the only slither of hope for the people in this depraved place and everyone dreams of ascendancy.
Then a murder, different from all the others, one they must investigate, the Archdeacons of Hell demand it. A body subjected to a violence that has split the soul and the flesh, the soul is gone, consumed. The search is on, something old and powerful, powerful enough to eat entire souls is on the loose. And the oldest place in hell, the home of the ancient demons bares the intense scrutiny of one man, as all around him riots to the tune of purgatory.
I had a feeling I'd like this and damn was I right, The Devils Detective is a debut novel and I have to say there was a wonderfully dark imagination and vision on show here. The world building for me was the highlight, ferocious and frenzied, violent and brimming with nightmarish demons from the smallest orphans to the scariest monsters wreathed in fire. Humans just existing, playthings for now but the tide will turn, it's time for change.
Got to put a quote in, although this is an advanced proof so it may not be in the final version but I thought it showed something of this place, of Hell.
"This is Hell, Balthazar, a place of savageries so vast and shifting that you cannot even conceive of their beginnings or endings, and only some of those are of the flesh. Souls burn here, little angel, but the flames are rarely seen."
Now I can only hope that more comes from this Hell, it feels like there could be other stories for this world to tell and it deserves to be revisited.
The Devils Detective was provided for review by Netgalley and Doubleday books and my thanks to both.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
April 9, 2015
This was a powerful, thoughtful, sometimes-gory, and all-the-times kick-ass novel.
(Oh, man, I used an animated gif. THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!)
We follow Thomas Fool (great name, right??) as he investigates crimes in Hell. Not like "I have to pay taxes and go to work? This place is HELL!" but like "Here be the souls of the damned, toiling for eternity." There's a slight difference. Sometimes.
He is one of Hell's Information Men (another great name). Usually he just stamps the crime reports with what amounts to "Eh, whaddayagonnadew?" But this time, there's a serial killer in the hoary Netherworld, and he's not just droppin' bodies, he's poppin' SOULS! Souls that explode in a blueish light. Like a glow. Almost like a...
I really dug the descriptions of Hell. It's not Old Testament Hell, with whips and cloven hooves and screaming sinners bent on racks. It has evolved with the mindset of humans, and is now a frustrating bureaucratic nightmare. (Sound familiar?) But still with demon-birds and demon-rapes and forced poo-eating and uncomfortable clothes. Some things are too classic to go out of style.
So, excellent world-building + memorable characters + a never-before-seen landscape + classic fuckin' noir = one of the best books I've read this year. Cheers!
(Oh, man, I used an animated gif. THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!)
We follow Thomas Fool (great name, right??) as he investigates crimes in Hell. Not like "I have to pay taxes and go to work? This place is HELL!" but like "Here be the souls of the damned, toiling for eternity." There's a slight difference. Sometimes.
He is one of Hell's Information Men (another great name). Usually he just stamps the crime reports with what amounts to "Eh, whaddayagonnadew?" But this time, there's a serial killer in the hoary Netherworld, and he's not just droppin' bodies, he's poppin' SOULS! Souls that explode in a blueish light. Like a glow. Almost like a...
I really dug the descriptions of Hell. It's not Old Testament Hell, with whips and cloven hooves and screaming sinners bent on racks. It has evolved with the mindset of humans, and is now a frustrating bureaucratic nightmare. (Sound familiar?) But still with demon-birds and demon-rapes and forced poo-eating and uncomfortable clothes. Some things are too classic to go out of style.
So, excellent world-building + memorable characters + a never-before-seen landscape + classic fuckin' noir = one of the best books I've read this year. Cheers!
October 7, 2016
When I started The Devil’s Detective I knew it might be a bit of a challenge but it called to me. It’s been described as bleak and has also been compared to Barker and though I’ve always adored Barker’s work, I’ve always had to give him my 100% attention because his stuff is rich with description and layer upon layer of dread.
I’m not going to lie. This book made me work. It’s filled with a despair that I just can’t put into words. The author painstakingly recreates Hell as a place you’d never, ever want to visit but not because there is some evil entity setting your ass on fire. No, in this version of Hell you don’t even know why you’re here so there’s not even a sense of “I was an asshole. I deserve this.” You arrive with no memory, are given a job and then you’re not allowed to do it properly. Talk about an exercise in frustration! Your existence is one of despair, tedium and malaise. And that’s all there is.
The story follows an “Information Man” called Fool who is dispatched to investigate the dead bodies that turn up in Hell (it is Hell and overrun with demons, after all). Fool catalogues endless crimes and murders but no one follows up on any of it until one day he runs across a body whose soul appears to have been eaten. Deliciousness! But that’s weird, even in Hell, so The Powers that Be get their ears all perked up and Fool is given a mission as well as a forbidden smidge of hope that maybe, perhaps this one case will be one he’ll actually get to solve.
The best part about this book is the imagery. The characters, if I’m being honest, are rather uninteresting. There’s a female or two and they’re pretty useless creatures, whining and wailing and lamenting and carrying on. Meh, go away. I have no patience for you. A livelier Fool would’ve made this one go down easier but he’s too bland for my taste. The descriptions are 100% what kept me reading but at a bit of a snail’s pace. I never felt an undying urge to keep going to see if he solved the mystery but keep going I did. I don’t regret it though because as I said the imagery and savagery is worth the time.
“He raised his head, feeling something that had to be blood roll down the side of his face. He lifted a hand to it, finding a short tear just below his hairline, another wound that would scar to a keloid ridge and add to the story of his time here, a story written across his skin in the language of Hell.”
I’m not going to lie. This book made me work. It’s filled with a despair that I just can’t put into words. The author painstakingly recreates Hell as a place you’d never, ever want to visit but not because there is some evil entity setting your ass on fire. No, in this version of Hell you don’t even know why you’re here so there’s not even a sense of “I was an asshole. I deserve this.” You arrive with no memory, are given a job and then you’re not allowed to do it properly. Talk about an exercise in frustration! Your existence is one of despair, tedium and malaise. And that’s all there is.
The story follows an “Information Man” called Fool who is dispatched to investigate the dead bodies that turn up in Hell (it is Hell and overrun with demons, after all). Fool catalogues endless crimes and murders but no one follows up on any of it until one day he runs across a body whose soul appears to have been eaten. Deliciousness! But that’s weird, even in Hell, so The Powers that Be get their ears all perked up and Fool is given a mission as well as a forbidden smidge of hope that maybe, perhaps this one case will be one he’ll actually get to solve.
The best part about this book is the imagery. The characters, if I’m being honest, are rather uninteresting. There’s a female or two and they’re pretty useless creatures, whining and wailing and lamenting and carrying on. Meh, go away. I have no patience for you. A livelier Fool would’ve made this one go down easier but he’s too bland for my taste. The descriptions are 100% what kept me reading but at a bit of a snail’s pace. I never felt an undying urge to keep going to see if he solved the mystery but keep going I did. I don’t regret it though because as I said the imagery and savagery is worth the time.
“He raised his head, feeling something that had to be blood roll down the side of his face. He lifted a hand to it, finding a short tear just below his hairline, another wound that would scar to a keloid ridge and add to the story of his time here, a story written across his skin in the language of Hell.”
July 14, 2020
This Hell is unlike anything I imagined.
Hell is a sort of bureaucratic torture society revealed through the eyes of Thomas Fool, an investigator who never had to solve a mystery. Crimes committed in Hell are to be expected since demons torture humans and feed on their pain and terror. Victims have no hope for justice and crime is sometimes reported, but its just catalogued, not investigated.....until the new blue-ribbon crimes.
This is not a book for sensitive people. It is gory and brutal....pretty much like you'd expect Hell to be.
Hell is a sort of bureaucratic torture society revealed through the eyes of Thomas Fool, an investigator who never had to solve a mystery. Crimes committed in Hell are to be expected since demons torture humans and feed on their pain and terror. Victims have no hope for justice and crime is sometimes reported, but its just catalogued, not investigated.....until the new blue-ribbon crimes.
This is not a book for sensitive people. It is gory and brutal....pretty much like you'd expect Hell to be.
November 6, 2019
"This is Hell, Balthazar, a place of savageries so vast and shifting that you cannot even conceive of their beginnings or endings, and only some of those are of the flesh. Souls burn here, little angel, but the flames are rarely seen."
I mentioned recently that I have an ex-Baptist's fascination with Hell. Catholics get all the credit for their morbidity and guilt, but then Catholics also have Michelangelo—there's room in the Catholic worldview, at least theoretically, for sensuality and aesthetic beauty and visions of glory. For Dante, after all, Inferno is just a stop on the road to Paradiso.
But who's the Michelangelo of Protestant fundamentalism? Where are our cathedrals and artistic masterworks? The Pilgrim's Progress? "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"? Baptists and other puritans don't make art, because art is an imaginative practice and they're not supposed to imagine anything at all, except all the horrible things that will happen to them if they stop to ask questions. Since Hell is the one thing they're allowed to envision they think about it constantly, until they don't even have to die to go there, it's a waking reality. You ask me, Catholic guilt's got nothing on that kind of misery. (Incidentally, Go Tell It on the Mountain is the best literary depiction of this damnation mentality I know of; it could also only have been written by someone who had long since left the faith behind.)
One of the blurbs for The Devil's Detective calls it a "Dantean spin on the police procedural," but like most blurbs that's a nice-sounding lie. There's a very clear logic, a karmic sort of fairness, to Dante's [Catholic] Hell. The damned may be tormented, but they can't say they don't understand exactly what they're doing there. What Simon Kurt Unsworth gives us here, though, is much worse: this is a Calvinist Hell, full of people who don't even remember the events of their prior lives and have no idea what, if anything, they're being punished for. They show up, they're given a job to do, and they try to keep their heads down till inevitably their bodies are destroyed in some gruesome way and their souls sent back to Limbo to start the process anew. Occasionally a handful are selected to be "elevated" to Heaven, but even this is an entirely random process, totally unrelated to cosmic justice or individual merit. "Kafkaesque" is an overused word, but it's a pretty apt one in this case, and straightforwardly enough the governing body of Unsworth's Hell is called The Bureaucracy.
Our protagonist, Thomas Fool, is an "Information Man"—a member of Hell's police force, essentially, and one of only three such figures still alive and working. Like everyone in Hell he was assigned this job without explanation, and like everyone in Hell he has learned to do it as unobtrusively as possible: crimes go uninvestigated, the hierarchy of abuse between demons and humans is maintained. Fool knows there's nothing more dangerous in this place than to draw attention to yourself, to give yourself any mission or purpose beyond simple survival, to (Hell forbid) form meaningful attachments with other people or dare to dream of a better existence. In Hell as it is on Earth: to question the divine order is only to risk even severer punishment than the one you've already been saddled with. And yet, faced with a new and particularly brutal string of murders—not just bodies now, but souls—he can’t help but be drawn in.
I'm not much of mystery reader ordinarily, but I can't resist a detective story with an unconventional setting or setup. Solving the case is rarely the point for me—this one was particularly easy to crack—but I like the way the genre allows the reader to travel with ease through all the social and political strata of a given society. In The Devil's Detective, as in The Yiddish Policemen's Union or The Name of the Rose or any number of other unconventional mysteries, the investigation itself is really just a means by which we're permitted to explore a weird and insular and morally complex world.
This particular world is an especially gory and unforgiving one even by hardboiled standards (Unsworth takes at least as many cues from Clive Barker-style horror fantasy as he does from police procedurals), but he's a good enough writer to justify it and anyway, what do you expect from H-E-doublehockeysticks? Sure it gets a little contrived in the third act, but the twists land well enough and the ending is just as bleak as it should be. Anything less, in this particular case, would've felt like a cop-out. There's even some fun free will vs. determinism (or, um, Calvinism vs. Arminianism?) stuff to chew on—do we really make our own choices or are our actions preordained, etc.—for those philosophically inclined. It's not Dostoevsky or anything, but I've read much worse books with much higher pretentions.
So anyway. A nasty brutish blend of my worst childhood traumas, the most unpleasant bits of at least a couple pretty unpleasant genres, and a mystery which ultimately raises more questions, many of them esoteric, than it answers? Hell yeah! What's not to love? I had a lot of fun (or, y'know, something close enough) with this one, and will be checking out the sequel* very soon.
* See here for my review of The Devil's Evidence.
I mentioned recently that I have an ex-Baptist's fascination with Hell. Catholics get all the credit for their morbidity and guilt, but then Catholics also have Michelangelo—there's room in the Catholic worldview, at least theoretically, for sensuality and aesthetic beauty and visions of glory. For Dante, after all, Inferno is just a stop on the road to Paradiso.
But who's the Michelangelo of Protestant fundamentalism? Where are our cathedrals and artistic masterworks? The Pilgrim's Progress? "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"? Baptists and other puritans don't make art, because art is an imaginative practice and they're not supposed to imagine anything at all, except all the horrible things that will happen to them if they stop to ask questions. Since Hell is the one thing they're allowed to envision they think about it constantly, until they don't even have to die to go there, it's a waking reality. You ask me, Catholic guilt's got nothing on that kind of misery. (Incidentally, Go Tell It on the Mountain is the best literary depiction of this damnation mentality I know of; it could also only have been written by someone who had long since left the faith behind.)
One of the blurbs for The Devil's Detective calls it a "Dantean spin on the police procedural," but like most blurbs that's a nice-sounding lie. There's a very clear logic, a karmic sort of fairness, to Dante's [Catholic] Hell. The damned may be tormented, but they can't say they don't understand exactly what they're doing there. What Simon Kurt Unsworth gives us here, though, is much worse: this is a Calvinist Hell, full of people who don't even remember the events of their prior lives and have no idea what, if anything, they're being punished for. They show up, they're given a job to do, and they try to keep their heads down till inevitably their bodies are destroyed in some gruesome way and their souls sent back to Limbo to start the process anew. Occasionally a handful are selected to be "elevated" to Heaven, but even this is an entirely random process, totally unrelated to cosmic justice or individual merit. "Kafkaesque" is an overused word, but it's a pretty apt one in this case, and straightforwardly enough the governing body of Unsworth's Hell is called The Bureaucracy.
Our protagonist, Thomas Fool, is an "Information Man"—a member of Hell's police force, essentially, and one of only three such figures still alive and working. Like everyone in Hell he was assigned this job without explanation, and like everyone in Hell he has learned to do it as unobtrusively as possible: crimes go uninvestigated, the hierarchy of abuse between demons and humans is maintained. Fool knows there's nothing more dangerous in this place than to draw attention to yourself, to give yourself any mission or purpose beyond simple survival, to (Hell forbid) form meaningful attachments with other people or dare to dream of a better existence. In Hell as it is on Earth: to question the divine order is only to risk even severer punishment than the one you've already been saddled with. And yet, faced with a new and particularly brutal string of murders—not just bodies now, but souls—he can’t help but be drawn in.
I'm not much of mystery reader ordinarily, but I can't resist a detective story with an unconventional setting or setup. Solving the case is rarely the point for me—this one was particularly easy to crack—but I like the way the genre allows the reader to travel with ease through all the social and political strata of a given society. In The Devil's Detective, as in The Yiddish Policemen's Union or The Name of the Rose or any number of other unconventional mysteries, the investigation itself is really just a means by which we're permitted to explore a weird and insular and morally complex world.
This particular world is an especially gory and unforgiving one even by hardboiled standards (Unsworth takes at least as many cues from Clive Barker-style horror fantasy as he does from police procedurals), but he's a good enough writer to justify it and anyway, what do you expect from H-E-doublehockeysticks? Sure it gets a little contrived in the third act, but the twists land well enough and the ending is just as bleak as it should be. Anything less, in this particular case, would've felt like a cop-out. There's even some fun free will vs. determinism (or, um, Calvinism vs. Arminianism?) stuff to chew on—do we really make our own choices or are our actions preordained, etc.—for those philosophically inclined. It's not Dostoevsky or anything, but I've read much worse books with much higher pretentions.
So anyway. A nasty brutish blend of my worst childhood traumas, the most unpleasant bits of at least a couple pretty unpleasant genres, and a mystery which ultimately raises more questions, many of them esoteric, than it answers? Hell yeah! What's not to love? I had a lot of fun (or, y'know, something close enough) with this one, and will be checking out the sequel* very soon.
* See here for my review of The Devil's Evidence.
July 22, 2016
I was expecting something like Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim, but what I got what more like the Hellish visions of Clive Barker. Warning for the uninitiated: DO NOT READ WHILE EATING. There are more than a few scenes in which the descriptive power of the author is in direct confrontation with the possibility of keeping anything down. I want to say something about small demons and semen, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. And the poor souls who work in the fields. *shudder* Sometimes I had to look away. Seriously.
But it is precisely this ability to covey the sheer mind numbing horror and hopelessness of Hell that makes this book so damn good. Unsworth's Hell IS hell. The dank, dangerous, sickening environment. The petty bureaucracy. The unfairness, the pointlessness, the inescapable repetition of days without hope, without change, without end. The shrug of shoulders meaning 'this is the way it is'. Even reading it drags you down into a pit bordering on despair. Or would...if not for the wonderful Thomas Fool, Information Man, investigator of all things murderous. Angry, angry Fool and the ways in which he is growing, developing, contrasting with the stagnant world around him. Pushing back against the tide. Oh what a character he is. And I am so very interested in where he is going to take us.
This is a deliciously dark and terrifying debut from Unsworth, the kind of creative imagination that is both worrying and exciting. Clever, chilling, and genuinely different, the book defies characterisation and offers a truly nightmarish vision that is impossible to ignore. Thankfully, I already have a review copy of The Devil's Evidence so I don't have to wait to jump right back into this world.
But it is precisely this ability to covey the sheer mind numbing horror and hopelessness of Hell that makes this book so damn good. Unsworth's Hell IS hell. The dank, dangerous, sickening environment. The petty bureaucracy. The unfairness, the pointlessness, the inescapable repetition of days without hope, without change, without end. The shrug of shoulders meaning 'this is the way it is'. Even reading it drags you down into a pit bordering on despair. Or would...if not for the wonderful Thomas Fool, Information Man, investigator of all things murderous. Angry, angry Fool and the ways in which he is growing, developing, contrasting with the stagnant world around him. Pushing back against the tide. Oh what a character he is. And I am so very interested in where he is going to take us.
This is a deliciously dark and terrifying debut from Unsworth, the kind of creative imagination that is both worrying and exciting. Clever, chilling, and genuinely different, the book defies characterisation and offers a truly nightmarish vision that is impossible to ignore. Thankfully, I already have a review copy of The Devil's Evidence so I don't have to wait to jump right back into this world.
January 16, 2015
3.5
If you don't have a decent amount of happiness in reserve somewhere, it would be hard to read his book. It is one of the most depressing stories I've read so far. It seems much longer than it is. That's why it is so hard to rate it. However, it doesn't go bellow I liked it and for a debut novel that's pretty good.
Hell in Devil's Detective is a place where fire and burning are replaced with something more subtle and that makes it even worse. The doomed can see Heaven in the sky. A demon fishes souls from Limbo. They get bodies and then they are sent to work as factory workers or prostitutes, or in a very rare case as Information Men. The only thing people know is there was a sin, but not what it was.
Fished from Limbo six years ago with no memories of his sin, Thomas Fool is one of those Men. They are Hell's police, sort of. Since it is Hell, it's not surprising that all the reports of beatings, rape or murder get a DNI (did not investigate) and are sent back. Until they get a blue ribbon. They are the only ones with guns in Hell and yet they are doomed not to bring any justice into their world. There are hundreds, even more of those unsolved cases and they managed to close maybe twenty or so.
A man has been murdered and his soul is missing. Not even Hell's Questioners, who talk to souls and flesh, can get anything from the corpse. This death gets a blue ribbon and Information Men must investigate.
From there on, Thomas Fool follows a trail of dead bodies and lies to something he never expected. He changes through the book, but I never got to like his character. Now when I think about it, he didn't leave any lasting impression. I wanted the crimes solved, but it could have been anyone solving them. This is important because through him, other characters did leave a very strong impression and when something happened to some of them it was really hard to continue reading. It doesn't help that you are constantly reminded of them.
While they are investigating, there is a delegation of four angels in Hell. It's another depressing tidbit: every now and then there is an event (Elevation) when angels and demons trade souls. Some of the doomed are randomly forgiven their sins and elevated to Heaven. There are no rules on who, it's just is. No hope is better than this glimmer of it.
The word fool was overused. Either it was used as his name (which seems a deliberate choice) or an insult or a combination of the two. In any case, little *insert an adjective* Fool got a bit tedious after a while. He constantly calls himself names.
Death is not the worst thing in this book. People do certain things, they hope for Elevation, hope to be saved from Hell in different ways. The most depressing ones for me are those working in the fields. Let's just say the way they do it will leave you fascinated, disgusted and definitely depressed.
There is only one female character in this book and she is too stupid to live. One. More than once her decision made a mess of things, she is either screaming or crying and only once did I think she did well when she slapped a despicable character.
Later in the book women are mentioned only a couple of times, but never as characters - as mothers of half-demon children that are left in various orphanages, as female prostitutes (called Marys) who live in a separate part of Hell than men prostitutes (called Genevieves).
There are lots of deaths, but only few characters are important enough to be missed in the story. Some of them are plain hard to accept. On the one hand, you are being constantly reminded that someone who could have been valuable is gone (thanks to stupidity of another), and on the other Thomas Fool seems so detached at times that makes it easier to read about it if not like.
I hope this is a stand alone book. There is so much potential for a series featuring Information Men, but I don't know if I could read a sequel, but it has nothing to do with the way it is written.
Uncorrected copy provided by Doubleday Books via NetGalley.
If you don't have a decent amount of happiness in reserve somewhere, it would be hard to read his book. It is one of the most depressing stories I've read so far. It seems much longer than it is. That's why it is so hard to rate it. However, it doesn't go bellow I liked it and for a debut novel that's pretty good.
Hell in Devil's Detective is a place where fire and burning are replaced with something more subtle and that makes it even worse. The doomed can see Heaven in the sky. A demon fishes souls from Limbo. They get bodies and then they are sent to work as factory workers or prostitutes, or in a very rare case as Information Men. The only thing people know is there was a sin, but not what it was.
Fished from Limbo six years ago with no memories of his sin, Thomas Fool is one of those Men. They are Hell's police, sort of. Since it is Hell, it's not surprising that all the reports of beatings, rape or murder get a DNI (did not investigate) and are sent back. Until they get a blue ribbon. They are the only ones with guns in Hell and yet they are doomed not to bring any justice into their world. There are hundreds, even more of those unsolved cases and they managed to close maybe twenty or so.
A man has been murdered and his soul is missing. Not even Hell's Questioners, who talk to souls and flesh, can get anything from the corpse. This death gets a blue ribbon and Information Men must investigate.
From there on, Thomas Fool follows a trail of dead bodies and lies to something he never expected. He changes through the book, but I never got to like his character. Now when I think about it, he didn't leave any lasting impression. I wanted the crimes solved, but it could have been anyone solving them. This is important because through him, other characters did leave a very strong impression and when something happened to some of them it was really hard to continue reading. It doesn't help that you are constantly reminded of them.
While they are investigating, there is a delegation of four angels in Hell. It's another depressing tidbit: every now and then there is an event (Elevation) when angels and demons trade souls. Some of the doomed are randomly forgiven their sins and elevated to Heaven. There are no rules on who, it's just is. No hope is better than this glimmer of it.
The word fool was overused. Either it was used as his name (which seems a deliberate choice) or an insult or a combination of the two. In any case, little *insert an adjective* Fool got a bit tedious after a while. He constantly calls himself names.
Death is not the worst thing in this book. People do certain things, they hope for Elevation, hope to be saved from Hell in different ways. The most depressing ones for me are those working in the fields. Let's just say the way they do it will leave you fascinated, disgusted and definitely depressed.
There is only one female character in this book and she is too stupid to live. One. More than once her decision made a mess of things, she is either screaming or crying and only once did I think she did well when she slapped a despicable character.
Later in the book women are mentioned only a couple of times, but never as characters - as mothers of half-demon children that are left in various orphanages, as female prostitutes (called Marys) who live in a separate part of Hell than men prostitutes (called Genevieves).
There are lots of deaths, but only few characters are important enough to be missed in the story. Some of them are plain hard to accept. On the one hand, you are being constantly reminded that someone who could have been valuable is gone (thanks to stupidity of another), and on the other Thomas Fool seems so detached at times that makes it easier to read about it if not like.
I hope this is a stand alone book. There is so much potential for a series featuring Information Men, but I don't know if I could read a sequel, but it has nothing to do with the way it is written.
Uncorrected copy provided by Doubleday Books via NetGalley.
March 23, 2015
So, The Devil’s Detective then – a brilliantly imaginative, darkly violent yet very compelling tale, taking us on a round trip to Hell and back…
Honestly even though this was Hell quite literally, it was so entertaining you ALMOST want to live there…only almost mind. We meet Thomas Fool, he is an information man. When you land in Hell you have no memory of what you have done to deserve being there – you are allocated a role in “life” and that is it. The conditions are truly terrible, there is damnation around every corner and the only hope of escape is to be elevated by the Angels, a random happening that has no rhyme nor reason. Thomas investigates crime. Sort of. Mostly he stamps things and sends them back but suddenly a murder occurs that must seemingly be actually solved. Thus starts a real awakening for Thomas and a truly rip roaring and often scary adventure for us.
First of all I have to give a nod to the terrific world building here – the Heaven/Hell dynamic is beautifully drawn, a political landscape with its own hierarchy, even if it makes no sense to anyone in it. Descriptively speaking you will definitely feel the heat – there is a devilishly twisted landscape to be found with surprises everywhere, magnificently twisted creatures inhabiting every corner and an ever ebbing and flowing landscape brought to vivid horrific life.
Then there are some really really great characters. I adored Fool, the way he talked himself in and out of things without really understanding why, falling from one moment to another, developing friendships (almost unheard of) questioning the law (not always a good idea) but ending up absolutely determined to do his job. For a tale such as this there is a lot of emotion to be had there (I was gutted at some of the things that happened and mad as, well, hell, about others) the character arcs are utterly gripping and very original.
It is a heady mix of crime, horror and fantasy – not easy to pull off but done elegantly here – I wouldnt really like to put a label on it at all. We have an enigmatically drawn mystery, a true horror movie feel alongside an almost urban fantasy. Hell may be Hell but there is a lot of worldly comparisons to be made, the demons aside (or maybe not who knows what lurks in our shadows?) and as such the whole thing is grounded and eminently readable.
I loved it. The only thing now is, will there be more? I want more. For a start I havent been to Heaven yet…
Highly Recommended
Happy Reading Folks!
Honestly even though this was Hell quite literally, it was so entertaining you ALMOST want to live there…only almost mind. We meet Thomas Fool, he is an information man. When you land in Hell you have no memory of what you have done to deserve being there – you are allocated a role in “life” and that is it. The conditions are truly terrible, there is damnation around every corner and the only hope of escape is to be elevated by the Angels, a random happening that has no rhyme nor reason. Thomas investigates crime. Sort of. Mostly he stamps things and sends them back but suddenly a murder occurs that must seemingly be actually solved. Thus starts a real awakening for Thomas and a truly rip roaring and often scary adventure for us.
First of all I have to give a nod to the terrific world building here – the Heaven/Hell dynamic is beautifully drawn, a political landscape with its own hierarchy, even if it makes no sense to anyone in it. Descriptively speaking you will definitely feel the heat – there is a devilishly twisted landscape to be found with surprises everywhere, magnificently twisted creatures inhabiting every corner and an ever ebbing and flowing landscape brought to vivid horrific life.
Then there are some really really great characters. I adored Fool, the way he talked himself in and out of things without really understanding why, falling from one moment to another, developing friendships (almost unheard of) questioning the law (not always a good idea) but ending up absolutely determined to do his job. For a tale such as this there is a lot of emotion to be had there (I was gutted at some of the things that happened and mad as, well, hell, about others) the character arcs are utterly gripping and very original.
It is a heady mix of crime, horror and fantasy – not easy to pull off but done elegantly here – I wouldnt really like to put a label on it at all. We have an enigmatically drawn mystery, a true horror movie feel alongside an almost urban fantasy. Hell may be Hell but there is a lot of worldly comparisons to be made, the demons aside (or maybe not who knows what lurks in our shadows?) and as such the whole thing is grounded and eminently readable.
I loved it. The only thing now is, will there be more? I want more. For a start I havent been to Heaven yet…
Highly Recommended
Happy Reading Folks!
March 30, 2016
This was a truly interesting read - I saw several references to it and a lot of praise given to it and I saw it going cheap (excellent copy second hand) so why not, and I must admit I wasn't disappointed.
The book basically is a detective novel set in Hell - and this is not the stylised version you see in some books where supernatural and the incredible walk side by side and its the "mundane" that is the odd one out- no this is where harsh realities and petty injustices carry on day and night slowly destroying you spirit and will while the world around you carries on all too familiar.
So is it a gritty detective story yes it is - is it a supernatural adventure with weird and wonderful characters and environments yes it is and is it some sort of character piece where we see the thoughts and workings of a simple man in an extraordinary situation - most certainly. However this book is more than just the sum of its parts.
So reading this book I realise now after finishing it that its what you want it to be. You can take away from it all sorts of different stories and I suspect if were to read it again I would see something totally new and unexpected each time. This is a clever if depressing book to read at times however know that soon there will be sequel I suddenly see hope for Thomas Fool and I think that too many people thought they knew the man and made him in to their tool - now I want to see if he will be played a second time and that I guess is every authors dream - to get their readers eager for their next creation.
The book basically is a detective novel set in Hell - and this is not the stylised version you see in some books where supernatural and the incredible walk side by side and its the "mundane" that is the odd one out- no this is where harsh realities and petty injustices carry on day and night slowly destroying you spirit and will while the world around you carries on all too familiar.
So is it a gritty detective story yes it is - is it a supernatural adventure with weird and wonderful characters and environments yes it is and is it some sort of character piece where we see the thoughts and workings of a simple man in an extraordinary situation - most certainly. However this book is more than just the sum of its parts.
So reading this book I realise now after finishing it that its what you want it to be. You can take away from it all sorts of different stories and I suspect if were to read it again I would see something totally new and unexpected each time. This is a clever if depressing book to read at times however know that soon there will be sequel I suddenly see hope for Thomas Fool and I think that too many people thought they knew the man and made him in to their tool - now I want to see if he will be played a second time and that I guess is every authors dream - to get their readers eager for their next creation.
March 2, 2015
Noir in hell. This is not your grandmothers hell either. This is unrelenting pain, suffering and sadness. We get a 360 degree view of hell. How the souls from limbo enter the suffering bodies, the constant fear of demons and the relentless death.
Mr. Unsworth has crafted a unique vision with this volume.
Surely not for those easily offended.
Mr. Unsworth has crafted a unique vision with this volume.
Surely not for those easily offended.
February 13, 2015
When I first heard of this book, I found the idea of a detective in Hell irresistible and had to give this a try. Thomas Fool is an Information Man in Hell, who spends most of his day stamping crime reports, “Did Not Investigate.” However, when he is asked to actually investigate a murder, he finds that he actually enjoys doing his job and that does not do at all. In Hell it is best not to be noticed, but Fool finds that he is destined to be noticed by far too many and that means danger.
In this debut novel, the author paints an intriguing portrait of the underworld. Yes, much of it is how you imagine. There are demons – lots of them – and men are very much second class citizens. However, times have changed and mankind are now plucked from limbo, given bodies and spend their time in a joyless and dangerous place, with no memory of why they ended up there. Hell is, in some ways, presented as a ruined and dangerous city. Mankind is reduced to suffer endless physical toil or as the playthings of the demons. However, in Hell you can still die and when someone – or something – is separating men’s bodies from their souls, it is up to Thomas Fool to discover the culprit.
To compound Fool’s problems, there is a delegation visiting from Heaven. For, Hell, like Heaven, has its own Bureaucracy. Fool has to answer to the demon, Rhakshasas, and to the human representative, Elderflower. Charged with babysitting the Heavenly visitors; in Hell to choose some of the Sorrowful for Elevation (it is possible, although unlikely, to either be one of the Fallen from the Heavens, or to Elevate into Paradise), Fool finds himself given the feather of an Angel and it becomes a prized possession. However, that too is noticed. From bars populated by the lost, in a city where you can almost feel the dirt and squalor and helplessness, Fool condemns himself for wanting to know the ‘why’ and the ‘who’ and attempts to survive the interest of the Heavenly visitors, the sinister Man of Plants and Flowers and the attention of the demons. You cannot help but feel our hero is being toyed with throughout this novel and I really hope that this book has a sequel or, even better, continues into a series.
A realistic, unusual and interesting crime novel with an imaginative and realistic setting. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
In this debut novel, the author paints an intriguing portrait of the underworld. Yes, much of it is how you imagine. There are demons – lots of them – and men are very much second class citizens. However, times have changed and mankind are now plucked from limbo, given bodies and spend their time in a joyless and dangerous place, with no memory of why they ended up there. Hell is, in some ways, presented as a ruined and dangerous city. Mankind is reduced to suffer endless physical toil or as the playthings of the demons. However, in Hell you can still die and when someone – or something – is separating men’s bodies from their souls, it is up to Thomas Fool to discover the culprit.
To compound Fool’s problems, there is a delegation visiting from Heaven. For, Hell, like Heaven, has its own Bureaucracy. Fool has to answer to the demon, Rhakshasas, and to the human representative, Elderflower. Charged with babysitting the Heavenly visitors; in Hell to choose some of the Sorrowful for Elevation (it is possible, although unlikely, to either be one of the Fallen from the Heavens, or to Elevate into Paradise), Fool finds himself given the feather of an Angel and it becomes a prized possession. However, that too is noticed. From bars populated by the lost, in a city where you can almost feel the dirt and squalor and helplessness, Fool condemns himself for wanting to know the ‘why’ and the ‘who’ and attempts to survive the interest of the Heavenly visitors, the sinister Man of Plants and Flowers and the attention of the demons. You cannot help but feel our hero is being toyed with throughout this novel and I really hope that this book has a sequel or, even better, continues into a series.
A realistic, unusual and interesting crime novel with an imaginative and realistic setting. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
September 7, 2017
Was Dante the first author to take his readers on a fictional trip to the underworld? I'm actually not sure, but since then many have followed the suit and served up their own takes on the destination. Unsworth chose quite a famous setting for his debut novel, much to live up to, much to compare with...and has done a genuinely admirable job of it. His vision is bleak, horrific, visceral, frighteningly realistic and stark. Absolutely wild imagination and creativity and so strikingly vivid. He has a way with words and imagery that creates an uncomfortably authentic, fascinating, atmospheric universe with such well thought out logistics and schematics...it's a completely engrossing read. The eponymous detective, the moral man in an immoral place, is a terrific protagonist and, though I'm normally not into series, sequels or any such milking off the original, this lead and this story certainly can use further exploring. This isn't for everyone and possibly too dark for some (it's easy to imagine a casual mystery fan attracted by the premise checking this out and fleeing screaming in terror), but for serious seasoned genre fans this is a real treat. Recommended.
July 15, 2020
Pretty interesting idea for a story. Hell isn't all lakes of fire and torture devices, but instead a really crappy land where everyone has a job they hate, demons can do whatever they want to humans, and no one knows why they are in hell. Murder, rape, abuse, and general despair is the typical day for a human so Hell is at least keeping its brand strong.
Into this metaphysical misery we find a group of Information Men (though one is a woman, Hell never lets a chance to be sexist go unused) who are charged with finding a particularity heinous murderer. One that now only brutally kills its victims but also devours their souls so they have no chance of being reborn in Hell or being randomly elevated to heaven (making Hell even worse with that minuscule little hope that one day a soul might be free of Hell's misery forever).
In the course of the investigation we explore this modernized Hell and see all the many forces that exert influence over the once fiery domain. There are clearly many clashing agendas and forces in Hell, but since the story is told form the perspective of an Information Man, we are often left as bewildered and confused as the character.
While I had a pretty accurate inkling of the final villain I appreciated the "Hell" building in this book and will likely check out the subsequent books of the series.
Into this metaphysical misery we find a group of Information Men (though one is a woman, Hell never lets a chance to be sexist go unused) who are charged with finding a particularity heinous murderer. One that now only brutally kills its victims but also devours their souls so they have no chance of being reborn in Hell or being randomly elevated to heaven (making Hell even worse with that minuscule little hope that one day a soul might be free of Hell's misery forever).
In the course of the investigation we explore this modernized Hell and see all the many forces that exert influence over the once fiery domain. There are clearly many clashing agendas and forces in Hell, but since the story is told form the perspective of an Information Man, we are often left as bewildered and confused as the character.
While I had a pretty accurate inkling of the final villain I appreciated the "Hell" building in this book and will likely check out the subsequent books of the series.
May 13, 2015
Really 3.5 stars.
Murders are occurring in Hell, what a surprise. However what is shocking is this particular set of murders where the souls are being devoured is being investigated by information man Thomas Fool.
Not a fun, happy novel, but then again I guess only the reader is to blame if they expect a novel set in hell to be sunshine and lollipops.
Unsworth does an admirable job world building and setting the reader in hell with Fool and given the location there is no shortage of suspects in the mystery. Although calling this a mystery kind of short changes the novel as it is a mystery, literary thriller and existential novel for the 21st century. Another reviewer commented on the repetition of Fool throughout and I echo his critique in that sense, otherwise a very strong book.
Murders are occurring in Hell, what a surprise. However what is shocking is this particular set of murders where the souls are being devoured is being investigated by information man Thomas Fool.
Not a fun, happy novel, but then again I guess only the reader is to blame if they expect a novel set in hell to be sunshine and lollipops.
Unsworth does an admirable job world building and setting the reader in hell with Fool and given the location there is no shortage of suspects in the mystery. Although calling this a mystery kind of short changes the novel as it is a mystery, literary thriller and existential novel for the 21st century. Another reviewer commented on the repetition of Fool throughout and I echo his critique in that sense, otherwise a very strong book.
January 20, 2023
This was one of the titles I had some-how collected over the years to read and never got round to it - till now to read.
So with that in mind I had no idea what I was letting myself in for although initially reading the blurb I was very intrigued. I would highly recommend anyone reading on this book as the premise is somewhat different from the general faire.
I think for me was that this story has many different layers of story to tell - from the main characters (Fool) antics to the politics and maneuvering of those around him. This is one of those books I suspect you need to sit down and decompress to spot all of the subtle and yes sometimes no so subtle plots.
I believe there is a sequel to this book - I wonder if I have a copy of that one lurking somewhere too?
So with that in mind I had no idea what I was letting myself in for although initially reading the blurb I was very intrigued. I would highly recommend anyone reading on this book as the premise is somewhat different from the general faire.
I think for me was that this story has many different layers of story to tell - from the main characters (Fool) antics to the politics and maneuvering of those around him. This is one of those books I suspect you need to sit down and decompress to spot all of the subtle and yes sometimes no so subtle plots.
I believe there is a sequel to this book - I wonder if I have a copy of that one lurking somewhere too?
March 25, 2015
Review copy
Angels, demons, humans, Hell and a series of murders. Regardless of whether you believe in a literal Hell or not, The Devil's Detective will give your imagination a strenuous work-out. Simon Kurt Unsworth's debut novel introduces us to Thomas Fool, an Information Man, a detective of sorts who is tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding a series of unusual deaths.
Fool is one of three investigators with specific rights laid out in The Information Man's Guide to the Rules and Offices of Hell. There's been no training for this job. It's strictly learn as you go.
In addition to the ongoing investigations there is a small group of emissaries from Heaven who have come to Hell tasked with Elevating a number of humans to Heaven. Selection is random, it's not like you get time off from eternal damnation for good behavior.
The author has done an amazing job of world building and I can promise you, this is not the Hell you may be used to. To say The Devil's Detective is different would be a major understatement. This is not the light-hearted, fun, Hell of a Sandman Slim novel, and it's certainly not a religious treatise on the subject, but The Devil's Detective is definitely a compulsive read.
Available in hardcover, paperback and a variety of ebook formats, The Devil's Detective is published by Doubleday.
Not for everyone, but recommended, particularly if you are feeling adventurous.
Angels, demons, humans, Hell and a series of murders. Regardless of whether you believe in a literal Hell or not, The Devil's Detective will give your imagination a strenuous work-out. Simon Kurt Unsworth's debut novel introduces us to Thomas Fool, an Information Man, a detective of sorts who is tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding a series of unusual deaths.
Fool is one of three investigators with specific rights laid out in The Information Man's Guide to the Rules and Offices of Hell. There's been no training for this job. It's strictly learn as you go.
In addition to the ongoing investigations there is a small group of emissaries from Heaven who have come to Hell tasked with Elevating a number of humans to Heaven. Selection is random, it's not like you get time off from eternal damnation for good behavior.
The author has done an amazing job of world building and I can promise you, this is not the Hell you may be used to. To say The Devil's Detective is different would be a major understatement. This is not the light-hearted, fun, Hell of a Sandman Slim novel, and it's certainly not a religious treatise on the subject, but The Devil's Detective is definitely a compulsive read.
Available in hardcover, paperback and a variety of ebook formats, The Devil's Detective is published by Doubleday.
Not for everyone, but recommended, particularly if you are feeling adventurous.
April 11, 2015
Set in a version of hell, where hopelessness is the operative word, this detective story focuses on the efforts of an "Information Man" named Thomas Fool to hunt down a killer wreaking havoc on humans while angering demons as he kills off several in his investigation. Fool is also tasked with escorting a delegation from Heaven for negotiations to determine which residents will be elevated or lowered. The investigation lacks a clear sense of direction or focus, with Fool blundering into leads. Good premise/potential but too slow, repetitive, unfocused, and not nearly enough character development, possibly because they all seem to die off. "It lacks heart, soul and humor and there was no reward at the end," said another reviewer.
January 28, 2019
Five stars for the setting and the author's descriptive ability, two stars for the story because I guessed the ending within the first twenty pages. There were some really cool scenes throughout and definitely a lot of originality but it never really came together for me and it seemed like a bunch of short stories rather than a cohesive whole. I really liked the main character and for that I'll probably buy book two but not right away. One big gripe is that it seemed like the author overused the phrase "smelled like charred skin and burnt hair", I get it was set in hell and a lot of it probably smells like that but every other page had that description (seemed like) and it got pretty old IMO.
Read
July 20, 2017Wow, that was bleak. A detective novel set in Hell: I sort of anticipated Johannes Cabal type comedy or maybe Sandman Slim all guns blazing, but this was more existential utter misery, with crime solving. Which is fair enough but not exactly fun.
Hell here is full of pain (trigger warnings to *infinity* for body horror, rape, sexual slavery and everything that is awful) but the real refinement is that the inmates don't abandon hope. They are given just enough hope and respite to make it *even goddamn worse* because the hopes are always crushed and the respite never lasts.
It's a meaty book in its way, if you're in a mood for horror and if you want a cry of existential agony with crime solving and disembowelment, it beats Scandinoir.
Couple of oddities: really weird overuse of proper names in dialogue, like multiple times a sentence at points, which I couldn't decide to be intentional or otherwise. And all the sinners in Hell were white. Endless refs to pink flesh, no other kinds exist. As erasure goes, I suppose being hideously tortured in hell is the kind of thing one might prefer to be erased from, but it really did become incredibly obvious.
Weird book. I think I need a romance now.
Hell here is full of pain (trigger warnings to *infinity* for body horror, rape, sexual slavery and everything that is awful) but the real refinement is that the inmates don't abandon hope. They are given just enough hope and respite to make it *even goddamn worse* because the hopes are always crushed and the respite never lasts.
It's a meaty book in its way, if you're in a mood for horror and if you want a cry of existential agony with crime solving and disembowelment, it beats Scandinoir.
Couple of oddities: really weird overuse of proper names in dialogue, like multiple times a sentence at points, which I couldn't decide to be intentional or otherwise. And all the sinners in Hell were white. Endless refs to pink flesh, no other kinds exist. As erasure goes, I suppose being hideously tortured in hell is the kind of thing one might prefer to be erased from, but it really did become incredibly obvious.
Weird book. I think I need a romance now.
December 4, 2015
Šī ir no tām retajām grāmatām, kuru nopirku tās nosaukuma dēļ vien. Iegāju savā mīļākajā grāmatnīcā un skatos – vēl neredzēta grāmata ar smuku nosaukumu. Nopirku. Vispār vākam jau ar ne vainas. Parasti, ja runa ir par Elli, tad neiztiek arī bez Asmodeja. Grāmatai pat uz lasīšanu nebija ilgi jāgaida – vien pāris mēneši. Līdz brīdim, kad mani sāka mocīt sirdsapziņa, ka es pērku grāmatas, kuras pēc tam nemaz nelasu.
Esiet sveicināti Ellē. Vietā, kur dēmoni bez ādas patrulē ezeru krastmalas, kur Limbo dvēseļu viļņi nerimtīgi sitas pret Elles sienām, kur nolādēto dvēseles cenšas uzpeldēt virspusē, lai viņas savāktu. Kad Ellē atrod līdz nepazīšanai izkropļotu ķermeni, izmeklēšana tiek uzticēta Tomasam Muļķim. Elles Informācijas cilvēkam, vienam no trijiem Elles detektīviem. Bet kā gan izmeklēt lietu vietā, kurā visi ir vainīgi, kur slepkavības notiek katru dienu?
Lai nu ko, bet šādu brutāli tiešu grāmatu es pirms lasīšanas nebiju gaidījis. Autors par Elli lasītājam nerada nekādas ilūzijas. Piemēram, Tomass Muļķis Elles Informācijas cilvēks. Viņš no savas iepriekšējās dzīves neko neatceras. Viņam nav ne jausmas, ko viņš reiz ir izdarījis, un kādēļ viņam pienākas sods. Vēl jo vairāk, nevienam Ellē nav ne mazākās nojēgas, kā izpirkt savus grēkus un kā nokļūt Debesīs. Debesis, starp citu, laiku pa laikam ir redzamas augstu gaisā. Visus cilvēkus te vada nolemtība un bezcerība. Cilvēks ir leģitīms dēmonu medījums, un tie nudien nekaunas savas tiesības izmantot.
Šajā Ellē nez kādu iemeslu dēļ uguns ezeri ir apdzisuši, moku rati stāv tukši, dēmoni nodarbojas ar sutenerismu, cilvēku seksuālu izmantošanu, nogalināšanu, bet tās ir viņu mājas, un cilvēki te ir iebrucēji. Viņiem nez kādēļ ir uzkrauta cilvēku spīdzināšana un mocīšana. Nav jau tā, ka dēmoniem šis darbs nepatiktu, taču arī viņiem esošā kārtība ir piegriezusies. Vecie stiprie dēmoni ir noslēgušies savā pilsētas daļā un gaida atgriežamies labos laikus. Šajā Elles variantā velni nav nekādi filozofi, viņi barojas no cilvēku sāpēm un bezizejas, viņiem cilvēks ir tikai barība, un ja no tā izdodas iegūt papildus kādu dvēseles atlieku, tad ir ļoti labi.
Tomass parasti slepkavības neizmeklē, jo dienā (lai ko tas arī Elle nenozīmētu) tādas notiek simtiem, viņš uz šīm lietām uzspiež zīmogu “Izmeklēšana netika veikta” un nosūta pieprasījumus atpakaļ Elles birokrātijai. Neviens jau no viņa arī neprasa, lai reāla izmeklēšana tiktu veikta, Ellē ar tādiem sīkumiem neviens nekrāmējas. Taču viss mainās, kad Tomasam izdodas piesaistīt Elles birokrātijas uzmanību, viņš izdara ko vēl nebijušu – nogalina dēmonu! Līdz ar to viņa dzīve izmainās, to vairs nevar saukt par bezjēdzīgu ar nolemtības elementiem. Viņš uzsāk izmeklēšanu, kurā kāds ir nogalinājis cilvēku, ne jau tā pa niekam, bet pa nopietnam tā, ka ir pazudusi arī visa dvēsele, tā, ka pa tīro. Šāds slepkava ir bīstams ne tikai soda izcietējiem, bet arī pašiem dēmoniem. Viņam dzīve parādās mērķis. Tomass arī zināmu iemeslu dēļ ir vienīgais nostrādātais varonis, par viņu lasītājs uzzina tik daudz, cik viņš par sevi zina pats. Viņš ir izrāvies no aizmirstības un atšķiras no pārējās Elles vienādības. Ir piestrādāts arī pie daža laba arhidēmona un eņģeļa, taču tie ir spēles vadītāji nevis dalībnieki. Ievērības cienīgs ir arī cilvēks, kurš ir daļēji augs un daļēji cilvēks, būtne, kas iekļuvusi Elles vistumšākajos nostūros, un viņam patiesi ir pieejama gandrīz visa informācija.
Teksts lielākoties sastāv no aprakstošās daļas, jo šāda pasaule nemaz nav pašsaprotama, un Tomasam nākas daudz ko paskaidrot. Lai arī viņš Ellē ir pavadījis jau ievērojamu laika sprīdi, viņu līdz šim nekas nav interesējis, un tādēļ līdz ar viņu lasītājs var iepazīt dažādus Elles nostūrus, iemītniekus un tradīcijas. Ceļojums nav no patīkamākajiem, un lasītājam ar bagātu fantāziju vēlāk slikti sapņi ir nodrošināti. Bāreņu nams vien ir ko vērts vai slimnīca. Autoram ir sanākusi viena no iespaidītākajām Ellēm, par kuru es esmu lasījis, uguns jūra tāds nieks vien ir.
Taču šīs grāmatas mērķis nudien nav biedēt potenciālos grēciniekus ar pēcnāves dzīvi. Tas ir veids kā ilustrēt, ka dzīve bez nekādām pārmaiņām un stagnāciju, ja vien rit pietiekoši ilgu laiku, rada rutīnu. Un elles menedžeriem, lai arī kas viņi būtu nākas norauties, lai nodrošinātos pret cerības parādīšanos. Jo ar laiku cilvēks atkož sistēmu, un tad visas mocības vairs nav ne kapiķa jēgas. Jo tiek saprasts, kādā veidā iegūt iespēju tikt uz debesīm. Līdz šim izvēlētais risinājums bija vienkāršs un iedarbīgs, taču radīja zināmu spriedzi, tādēļ Elles birokrātija meklē jaunu viedu kā radīt cilvēkiem īstu Elli.
Grāmatai lieku 9 no 10 ballēm. Lielākais bonuss ir grāmatas beigas, kad viss kā jau tas detektīvā pienākas atklājas pilnībā. Var droši teikt, ka autoru ir dīdījis pats velns ko tādu uzrakstīt!
Esiet sveicināti Ellē. Vietā, kur dēmoni bez ādas patrulē ezeru krastmalas, kur Limbo dvēseļu viļņi nerimtīgi sitas pret Elles sienām, kur nolādēto dvēseles cenšas uzpeldēt virspusē, lai viņas savāktu. Kad Ellē atrod līdz nepazīšanai izkropļotu ķermeni, izmeklēšana tiek uzticēta Tomasam Muļķim. Elles Informācijas cilvēkam, vienam no trijiem Elles detektīviem. Bet kā gan izmeklēt lietu vietā, kurā visi ir vainīgi, kur slepkavības notiek katru dienu?
Lai nu ko, bet šādu brutāli tiešu grāmatu es pirms lasīšanas nebiju gaidījis. Autors par Elli lasītājam nerada nekādas ilūzijas. Piemēram, Tomass Muļķis Elles Informācijas cilvēks. Viņš no savas iepriekšējās dzīves neko neatceras. Viņam nav ne jausmas, ko viņš reiz ir izdarījis, un kādēļ viņam pienākas sods. Vēl jo vairāk, nevienam Ellē nav ne mazākās nojēgas, kā izpirkt savus grēkus un kā nokļūt Debesīs. Debesis, starp citu, laiku pa laikam ir redzamas augstu gaisā. Visus cilvēkus te vada nolemtība un bezcerība. Cilvēks ir leģitīms dēmonu medījums, un tie nudien nekaunas savas tiesības izmantot.
Šajā Ellē nez kādu iemeslu dēļ uguns ezeri ir apdzisuši, moku rati stāv tukši, dēmoni nodarbojas ar sutenerismu, cilvēku seksuālu izmantošanu, nogalināšanu, bet tās ir viņu mājas, un cilvēki te ir iebrucēji. Viņiem nez kādēļ ir uzkrauta cilvēku spīdzināšana un mocīšana. Nav jau tā, ka dēmoniem šis darbs nepatiktu, taču arī viņiem esošā kārtība ir piegriezusies. Vecie stiprie dēmoni ir noslēgušies savā pilsētas daļā un gaida atgriežamies labos laikus. Šajā Elles variantā velni nav nekādi filozofi, viņi barojas no cilvēku sāpēm un bezizejas, viņiem cilvēks ir tikai barība, un ja no tā izdodas iegūt papildus kādu dvēseles atlieku, tad ir ļoti labi.
Tomass parasti slepkavības neizmeklē, jo dienā (lai ko tas arī Elle nenozīmētu) tādas notiek simtiem, viņš uz šīm lietām uzspiež zīmogu “Izmeklēšana netika veikta” un nosūta pieprasījumus atpakaļ Elles birokrātijai. Neviens jau no viņa arī neprasa, lai reāla izmeklēšana tiktu veikta, Ellē ar tādiem sīkumiem neviens nekrāmējas. Taču viss mainās, kad Tomasam izdodas piesaistīt Elles birokrātijas uzmanību, viņš izdara ko vēl nebijušu – nogalina dēmonu! Līdz ar to viņa dzīve izmainās, to vairs nevar saukt par bezjēdzīgu ar nolemtības elementiem. Viņš uzsāk izmeklēšanu, kurā kāds ir nogalinājis cilvēku, ne jau tā pa niekam, bet pa nopietnam tā, ka ir pazudusi arī visa dvēsele, tā, ka pa tīro. Šāds slepkava ir bīstams ne tikai soda izcietējiem, bet arī pašiem dēmoniem. Viņam dzīve parādās mērķis. Tomass arī zināmu iemeslu dēļ ir vienīgais nostrādātais varonis, par viņu lasītājs uzzina tik daudz, cik viņš par sevi zina pats. Viņš ir izrāvies no aizmirstības un atšķiras no pārējās Elles vienādības. Ir piestrādāts arī pie daža laba arhidēmona un eņģeļa, taču tie ir spēles vadītāji nevis dalībnieki. Ievērības cienīgs ir arī cilvēks, kurš ir daļēji augs un daļēji cilvēks, būtne, kas iekļuvusi Elles vistumšākajos nostūros, un viņam patiesi ir pieejama gandrīz visa informācija.
Teksts lielākoties sastāv no aprakstošās daļas, jo šāda pasaule nemaz nav pašsaprotama, un Tomasam nākas daudz ko paskaidrot. Lai arī viņš Ellē ir pavadījis jau ievērojamu laika sprīdi, viņu līdz šim nekas nav interesējis, un tādēļ līdz ar viņu lasītājs var iepazīt dažādus Elles nostūrus, iemītniekus un tradīcijas. Ceļojums nav no patīkamākajiem, un lasītājam ar bagātu fantāziju vēlāk slikti sapņi ir nodrošināti. Bāreņu nams vien ir ko vērts vai slimnīca. Autoram ir sanākusi viena no iespaidītākajām Ellēm, par kuru es esmu lasījis, uguns jūra tāds nieks vien ir.
Taču šīs grāmatas mērķis nudien nav biedēt potenciālos grēciniekus ar pēcnāves dzīvi. Tas ir veids kā ilustrēt, ka dzīve bez nekādām pārmaiņām un stagnāciju, ja vien rit pietiekoši ilgu laiku, rada rutīnu. Un elles menedžeriem, lai arī kas viņi būtu nākas norauties, lai nodrošinātos pret cerības parādīšanos. Jo ar laiku cilvēks atkož sistēmu, un tad visas mocības vairs nav ne kapiķa jēgas. Jo tiek saprasts, kādā veidā iegūt iespēju tikt uz debesīm. Līdz šim izvēlētais risinājums bija vienkāršs un iedarbīgs, taču radīja zināmu spriedzi, tādēļ Elles birokrātija meklē jaunu viedu kā radīt cilvēkiem īstu Elli.
Grāmatai lieku 9 no 10 ballēm. Lielākais bonuss ir grāmatas beigas, kad viss kā jau tas detektīvā pienākas atklājas pilnībā. Var droši teikt, ka autoru ir dīdījis pats velns ko tādu uzrakstīt!
June 26, 2017
My Take
I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on this book.
Firstly, I enjoyed the creativity of the world building. It painted a fresh and interesting picture of Hell as a place and a punishment, and I thought the odd bureaucratic organization of it all gave it a unique flavor — a strange mix of order and chaos that built a great backdrop for a murder mystery plot. I think the world building was probably my favorite part of this book, simply because it was well done, consistent, and reasonably original. The author didn’t gloss over any of the realities of what “eternal suffering” means but, at the same time, didn’t let the story drift too close to somewhat overused traditional depictions of Hell.
That being said, I found many aspects of the book lacking.
While I did like the variety of characters in the book, a lot them fell a little flat for me due to a lack of characterization and development. The story stayed a little too close to Fool, and, as a result, many of the other characters stayed somewhat one-dimensional throughout, which led to deaths and revelations not holding much emotional weight for me. If the story had spent more time developing, say, Fool’s fellow Information Men or any of the “bad guys,” then some of the major events of the plot would have resonated much better. As it was, though, I didn’t have much of an emotional response to the major shifts in the story — because I didn’t really feel anything for the characters involved.
Secondly, I thought the pacing of the story was a bit off. It dragged on for a while with very little in the way of twists or major developments, and then, all at once, things rapidly picked up and barreled toward the action-packed conclusion. If the pace been faster in the beginning, I would have enjoyed the story more — it took a little too long to pick up for my tastes.
Third, I struggled with the writing style. The prose felt stilted to me, the language too formal and unemotional; it made for a very strange contrast with the actual content of the book, filled with strong negative emotions and ultra-violence. It threw me off every time I picked up the book to keep reading, as I had to “readjust” to it before I could get back into the story.
Finally, I found the conclusion frustrating. I understood where the author was coming from, and in the context of the overall story, it makes sense, but I’m not the biggest fan of endings like that. I’ve seen them before, and they always rub me the wrong way — I sort of feel cheated with these types of endings, I suppose, because I expect to have some sort of overall resolution that marks a fundamental change in the condition of the protagonist’s life or the world around him. These endings are a slap in the face to that expectation, and they deconstruct your typical ideas of how a book should end. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just…not my cup of tea.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about this one. There was a lot to like, what with the rich world building and all, but I felt it needed some work with its plot, pacing, and characterization.
A fine debut, for sure, but it does fall short in some respects.
_____
Rating
3/5
_____
… // Disclaimer
I received a free ebook copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 9, 2016
*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Thomas Fool is one of hell's information men. He and two colleagues are sent to investigate crime committed in hell, whilst most of it is ignored a recent spate of murders has got the attention of hell's elite who are keen for Thomas to solve it at any cost.
Who is killing these young men and feasting on their souls, something powerful and old and not something that Thomas was expecting to find in hell. As he continues to dig out the truth he sets the wheels in motion on an uprising of hell's tormented souls who see him as a hero.
There is immense world building in this novel, so much so that at times it was difficult to get my head around so much information and put all the pieces of it together. I liked the bleak, noirish feel to the story although it was perhaps too bleak with no portions that were lighter to balance it out. A minor quibble as once I got into the 2nd half I greedily consumed chapters to get to the end of the story and the mystery.
I liked Thomas Fool although it also felt in a way that we only got to know a small amount about him, I would have liked to have known why he was in hell but part of the story is that no one knows why they are in hell. Although he felt a little one dimensional in the first third, I think he grew as a character once he started to be more confident in his role as an Information Man. I'd be keen to see where the author takes his character in the next book.
Due to the bleak and depressing story I can't say this book was 'enjoyable' but it was an excellent thriller, well written, fast paced and a superb 1st book in what I hope will be an ongoing series.
Thomas Fool is one of hell's information men. He and two colleagues are sent to investigate crime committed in hell, whilst most of it is ignored a recent spate of murders has got the attention of hell's elite who are keen for Thomas to solve it at any cost.
Who is killing these young men and feasting on their souls, something powerful and old and not something that Thomas was expecting to find in hell. As he continues to dig out the truth he sets the wheels in motion on an uprising of hell's tormented souls who see him as a hero.
There is immense world building in this novel, so much so that at times it was difficult to get my head around so much information and put all the pieces of it together. I liked the bleak, noirish feel to the story although it was perhaps too bleak with no portions that were lighter to balance it out. A minor quibble as once I got into the 2nd half I greedily consumed chapters to get to the end of the story and the mystery.
I liked Thomas Fool although it also felt in a way that we only got to know a small amount about him, I would have liked to have known why he was in hell but part of the story is that no one knows why they are in hell. Although he felt a little one dimensional in the first third, I think he grew as a character once he started to be more confident in his role as an Information Man. I'd be keen to see where the author takes his character in the next book.
Due to the bleak and depressing story I can't say this book was 'enjoyable' but it was an excellent thriller, well written, fast paced and a superb 1st book in what I hope will be an ongoing series.
August 27, 2015
This review refers to the audiobook version.
Solid 4.5
Everyone and their brother has already said all the things I would say about this novel. See Kemper's (once again) excellent review if you need detailed information: Kemper's Review . However, if you are not so inclined to fully peruse others' thoughts, and wish to hear what I think, then I will sum-up:
1) The world-building here is extraordinary;
2) The concept is brilliant;
3) The characters are well-developed and the plot keeps one engaged despite Unsworth's attention to detail (see 1).
Why only 4.5 stars? Well, this is properly a detective, or a whodunit of some type, and the who-did-it was fairly obvious early on. Therefore, the revelation of the culprit was tedious and long-winded.
David Rintool, our narrator, was superb. His voicing for various characters was spot on and he lent amazing depth to the character of Elderflower -- which only added to the delight of the exposure of Elderflower's true nature during the epilogue.
Highly recommended.
Solid 4.5
Everyone and their brother has already said all the things I would say about this novel. See Kemper's (once again) excellent review if you need detailed information: Kemper's Review . However, if you are not so inclined to fully peruse others' thoughts, and wish to hear what I think, then I will sum-up:
1) The world-building here is extraordinary;
2) The concept is brilliant;
3) The characters are well-developed and the plot keeps one engaged despite Unsworth's attention to detail (see 1).
Why only 4.5 stars? Well, this is properly a detective, or a whodunit of some type, and the who-did-it was fairly obvious early on. Therefore, the revelation of the culprit was tedious and long-winded.
David Rintool, our narrator, was superb. His voicing for various characters was spot on and he lent amazing depth to the character of Elderflower -- which only added to the delight of the exposure of Elderflower's true nature during the epilogue.
Highly recommended.
September 25, 2021
I wish I could rate this book higher, but it didn't fully deliver as it wanted to. The plot is interesting enough, that's why I bought this book and sat down to read it, but I am now sure I won't be picking up the sequel. Despite the plot being great - delivery strongly lacked. And the big reveal wasn't as mysterious as author, I suppose, hoped for. Predictable and quite blandly written this book lacked the drive to keep the plot moving at a satisfying pace. Sometimes pace developed quickly, most of the time it slowed and it got difficult for me not to get bored. Still, I did enjoy it quite a lot, just not in a way that I hoped for.
May 27, 2015
"If this is not the Hell of fire and torture, as I must accept is the case, then it is the Hell of inconvenience and difficulty and fear and uncertainty..."
So...yeah...a detective trying to catch a murderer…in Hell. Whaddya know!? When I first read the premise for The Devil's Detective, I was immediately intrigued. It sounded like a cool, unique concept, and I got a very "Planescape: Torment" vibe from it (Planescape being a rockin' PC RPG from the heyday of Dungeons & Dragons games). I mean, come on, I was all sorts of ready for a hot mess, a woe begotten bastard child conceived in dubious circumstances between classic noir detective novels and some of the lighter shock horror of modern times. And honestly, that's pretty much exactly what I got, if maybe less a hot mess and more a warm ruckus.
Mr. Unsworth’s version of Hell is one of his own creation, only loosely adhering to the expectations set down by Dante and Milton. And this is ultimately a good thing, as it allows for the story to stand on its own feet, not really wanting nor needing to follow the established version of Hell that we all grew up with. There’s actually a reason for this place to be how it is, and it works within the confines of this story. It is most definitely a Hell of inconvenience, and that point is driven home numerous times as the tale unfolds.
There’s only one POV character to be found in The Devil’s Detective, and when we meet Thomas Fool, he is very nearly a blank slate. Having been pulled from Limbo and thrust into the job of Information Man, he has no backstory, no memory of the sin that landed him in Hell, and no initial motivation for what he does, other than it’s his job to do it. While there are two other Information Men that form his “team”, and they have some defining traits, it’s really Thomas’ show from start to finish. And this is where I initially had a hard time with the novel. Because when we first meet him, Thomas Fool is just going through the motions, only vaguely aware of what his appointment entails, and how to go about it. He doesn’t really know himself, so we really don’t know him. Ergo…the proceedings tended to drag in the beginning. One point of amusing fact though, is that he has a book that essentially lays out the rules of Hell and the roles of the various officials. But it seems to be very unclear in its descriptions and usefulness, so I started likening it to the “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” from Beetlejuice, which apparently reads like stereo instructions. I kept waiting for Thomas to drop that line…
But…once he starts to learn just what an investigation is and how to go about it, the story gets interesting. In fact, I enjoyed that part the most, as we slowly start seeing Fool as his own person, developing personality traits and motivations as he goes. His plight becomes something we can invest in, and I wanted more chapters of him learning and improving investigative techniques, while developing and learning more about himself.
For a story based in Hell, the atmosphere, world building, and various characters that populate the story are all appropriately dark and wicked. This is not a tale for the squeamish, as there are atrocities, oppressions, and perversions aplenty going on (it’s Hell, what do we expect!?). The demons and other denizens of hell are varied and nasty, and there is always the palpable sense of danger and hopelessness. A feel-good tale this is not…
I will admit, for a detective novel, the central mysteries weren’t very…well…mysterious. I don’t read a lot of mystery novels, so I don’t go into a book with a “Imma figure this out!” mentality, but none of the revelations here surprised me. So either they aren’t well hidden (I’m pretty sure they aren’t)…or I just got some right for a change. Either way, it really didn’t lessen the impact of the story for me, though it might for others if they are expecting some super mysterious and unexpected twists.
Still, I enjoyed the novel, even though it took a while to get interesting. I would probably read another Thomas Fool novel, should one be in the works. So take that for what it is.
So...yeah...a detective trying to catch a murderer…in Hell. Whaddya know!? When I first read the premise for The Devil's Detective, I was immediately intrigued. It sounded like a cool, unique concept, and I got a very "Planescape: Torment" vibe from it (Planescape being a rockin' PC RPG from the heyday of Dungeons & Dragons games). I mean, come on, I was all sorts of ready for a hot mess, a woe begotten bastard child conceived in dubious circumstances between classic noir detective novels and some of the lighter shock horror of modern times. And honestly, that's pretty much exactly what I got, if maybe less a hot mess and more a warm ruckus.
Mr. Unsworth’s version of Hell is one of his own creation, only loosely adhering to the expectations set down by Dante and Milton. And this is ultimately a good thing, as it allows for the story to stand on its own feet, not really wanting nor needing to follow the established version of Hell that we all grew up with. There’s actually a reason for this place to be how it is, and it works within the confines of this story. It is most definitely a Hell of inconvenience, and that point is driven home numerous times as the tale unfolds.
There’s only one POV character to be found in The Devil’s Detective, and when we meet Thomas Fool, he is very nearly a blank slate. Having been pulled from Limbo and thrust into the job of Information Man, he has no backstory, no memory of the sin that landed him in Hell, and no initial motivation for what he does, other than it’s his job to do it. While there are two other Information Men that form his “team”, and they have some defining traits, it’s really Thomas’ show from start to finish. And this is where I initially had a hard time with the novel. Because when we first meet him, Thomas Fool is just going through the motions, only vaguely aware of what his appointment entails, and how to go about it. He doesn’t really know himself, so we really don’t know him. Ergo…the proceedings tended to drag in the beginning. One point of amusing fact though, is that he has a book that essentially lays out the rules of Hell and the roles of the various officials. But it seems to be very unclear in its descriptions and usefulness, so I started likening it to the “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” from Beetlejuice, which apparently reads like stereo instructions. I kept waiting for Thomas to drop that line…
But…once he starts to learn just what an investigation is and how to go about it, the story gets interesting. In fact, I enjoyed that part the most, as we slowly start seeing Fool as his own person, developing personality traits and motivations as he goes. His plight becomes something we can invest in, and I wanted more chapters of him learning and improving investigative techniques, while developing and learning more about himself.
For a story based in Hell, the atmosphere, world building, and various characters that populate the story are all appropriately dark and wicked. This is not a tale for the squeamish, as there are atrocities, oppressions, and perversions aplenty going on (it’s Hell, what do we expect!?). The demons and other denizens of hell are varied and nasty, and there is always the palpable sense of danger and hopelessness. A feel-good tale this is not…
I will admit, for a detective novel, the central mysteries weren’t very…well…mysterious. I don’t read a lot of mystery novels, so I don’t go into a book with a “Imma figure this out!” mentality, but none of the revelations here surprised me. So either they aren’t well hidden (I’m pretty sure they aren’t)…or I just got some right for a change. Either way, it really didn’t lessen the impact of the story for me, though it might for others if they are expecting some super mysterious and unexpected twists.
Still, I enjoyed the novel, even though it took a while to get interesting. I would probably read another Thomas Fool novel, should one be in the works. So take that for what it is.
May 23, 2015
(I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
First thing first: if you're looking for nice things, Happy Ever Afters and something else than bleak prospects, this is not the book for you. But the fact it's set in Hell, only in Hell and nowhere else, makes this fact kind of obvious anyway.
Thomas Fool is one of Hell's few "Information Men", meant to investigate crimes yet knowing that whatever the outcome, it won't matter. Whether murderers get punished or not doesn't matter, whether people die or not doesn't matter—it's Hell, and it's nonsense, and the whole nonsense of it bears down upon every inhabitant, even the demons themselves. There are rules to follow, and all of Hell's prisoners do, in the flimsy hope of being Elevated someday, freed and sent to Heaven, following a process of selection whose rules themselves are all but logical. Joy and hope? Of course there is: so that they can be better quashed.
It was sometimes a little difficult to make up my mind about this novel, as some of its defects also contribute to making its strengths. The characters in general are sort of bleak, unremarkable, lost within an investigation that doesn't really seem important, like puppets stringed around while being totally aware of what they are. It was somewhat tedious at times, yet it fit pretty well into the Hell setting, into its "why bother" atmosphere. I would not necessarily care for what happened to whom, yet at the same time, I did, because it reinforced the feeling of a twisted structure here. (I was peeved however at the women's roles: they were either absent/in the background or clearly too stupid to live anyway.)
Hell's descriptions were vivid and made it easy to picture what Fool and his partners had to go through, as gruesome and malevolent as both places and inhabitants were. In the beginning, I expected more; later, it didn't feel so important, as what was described became enough for me to form my own vision of Hell, and adding more would've actually been too much.
Dialogues were definitely of the weak sort, especially because of the various repetitions and name-dropping. For instance, one character kept calling Fool "Thomas" several times in the span of a few sentences only, and this happened more than just once of twice. Fool's and some others' lines were also often reduced to "Yes" or "No", and those became quickly annoying.
Another issue: guessing who the perp was. Way, way too easy. It made sense fairly early in the novel, and it was equally annoying to see Fool & Co not doing the math. Granted, their investigations often fell into the "Did Not Investigate" category (Hell made it so that it was pointless for them to investigate most crimes in general), and I guess one could say they weren't "used" to doing it, but... It was still annoying when Fool openly admitted to himself not understanding something that should've been obvious.
2.5 stars for the depiction of Hell, and how the story made clear that pointlessness, twisted logices and bleak surroundings can be turned into something as terrible as fiery pits and physical pain. The reader doesn't get hammered with God and Satan, and has to make their own idea of whether this would truly be a kind of Hell for them. As an investigation/mystery type of story, though, or in terms of interesting characters, it didn't work well.
First thing first: if you're looking for nice things, Happy Ever Afters and something else than bleak prospects, this is not the book for you. But the fact it's set in Hell, only in Hell and nowhere else, makes this fact kind of obvious anyway.
Thomas Fool is one of Hell's few "Information Men", meant to investigate crimes yet knowing that whatever the outcome, it won't matter. Whether murderers get punished or not doesn't matter, whether people die or not doesn't matter—it's Hell, and it's nonsense, and the whole nonsense of it bears down upon every inhabitant, even the demons themselves. There are rules to follow, and all of Hell's prisoners do, in the flimsy hope of being Elevated someday, freed and sent to Heaven, following a process of selection whose rules themselves are all but logical. Joy and hope? Of course there is: so that they can be better quashed.
It was sometimes a little difficult to make up my mind about this novel, as some of its defects also contribute to making its strengths. The characters in general are sort of bleak, unremarkable, lost within an investigation that doesn't really seem important, like puppets stringed around while being totally aware of what they are. It was somewhat tedious at times, yet it fit pretty well into the Hell setting, into its "why bother" atmosphere. I would not necessarily care for what happened to whom, yet at the same time, I did, because it reinforced the feeling of a twisted structure here. (I was peeved however at the women's roles: they were either absent/in the background or clearly too stupid to live anyway.)
Hell's descriptions were vivid and made it easy to picture what Fool and his partners had to go through, as gruesome and malevolent as both places and inhabitants were. In the beginning, I expected more; later, it didn't feel so important, as what was described became enough for me to form my own vision of Hell, and adding more would've actually been too much.
Dialogues were definitely of the weak sort, especially because of the various repetitions and name-dropping. For instance, one character kept calling Fool "Thomas" several times in the span of a few sentences only, and this happened more than just once of twice. Fool's and some others' lines were also often reduced to "Yes" or "No", and those became quickly annoying.
Another issue: guessing who the perp was. Way, way too easy. It made sense fairly early in the novel, and it was equally annoying to see Fool & Co not doing the math. Granted, their investigations often fell into the "Did Not Investigate" category (Hell made it so that it was pointless for them to investigate most crimes in general), and I guess one could say they weren't "used" to doing it, but... It was still annoying when Fool openly admitted to himself not understanding something that should've been obvious.
2.5 stars for the depiction of Hell, and how the story made clear that pointlessness, twisted logices and bleak surroundings can be turned into something as terrible as fiery pits and physical pain. The reader doesn't get hammered with God and Satan, and has to make their own idea of whether this would truly be a kind of Hell for them. As an investigation/mystery type of story, though, or in terms of interesting characters, it didn't work well.
July 2, 2016
The whole concept of afterlife is one that has enabled most of the major religions of the world to hold people in their thrall. The dichotomy of sin and virtue has proven to be a much more effective manipulative mechanism than war, torture or bribery. Repeatedly tell a large group of people that you will be boiled, tortured and roasted in the netherworld and they start dreaming up a place so horrid that they keep a wide berth from everything that is named as sin in their belief systems. This begs the question, is Hell a static place ? Will the so called nefarious denizens be torturing away souls for all of eternity ? Humanity has worked hard at converting sins to art forms over the centuries and it would only be natural that Hell would keep up with it. Simon Kurt Unsworth thinks so too in his story for he creates a version of Hell which robs a human soul of its last desperate thread : hope.
This is a murder mystery set in Hell ! Now how ironic is that ? In a place which is supposedly ruled by chaos, what difference would one murder make ? It seems that even in the most hopeless of places, there exists a semblance of order and discipline. This is how we get introduced to Thomas Fool who is one of three information men in Hell who are charged with investigating and reporting crimes. Fool has a thankless job for no one really cares whether these are solved or not. Egged on by his superior – the enigmatic elderflower he goes around trying to do the best he can which at most times is next to nothing. Hell is a horrendous place and let me explain why. If you are unlucky, you will forever be one tiny drop in a vast ocean of damned souls which lie beyond the most extreme walls of Hell. Your soul is in limbo and it just floats about without any notion as to why it is there in the first place. A few souls from this sea might get picked and finally given a shape and form and yet much more horrid fates await them in Hell. Such a human being might either be a nameless worker in the giant factories or a sex toy for the perverse demons of the land. In either case, the human being has no knowledge of what it did to have ended up here. This existence lasts for ever and ever with no change in sight but only for one single difference. Once in while across eons come a delegation from Heaven which brings with it a final chance of redemption. A random group of souls might be picked for elevation which stirs up resentment among the others. Amidst all this noise is when a murderer strikes among the human populace gruesomely and it is up to the overworked Thomas Fool to solve these.
As a whodunit the story is pretty average. If you had read a fair share of mysteries, it is quite obvious to you who the murderer is. But the skill of the author is such that he subtly shifts focus to the environment in Hell and how it changes over the course of the story. Thomas Fool is so full of self-loathing that he comes across more as a reluctant observer than a hero. If Fool could talk to you, he might also have told you that he doesn’t want to be a hero ever. Barring a bit of predictability in the climax, this is a fantastic setting for an average story.
Recommended.
This is a murder mystery set in Hell ! Now how ironic is that ? In a place which is supposedly ruled by chaos, what difference would one murder make ? It seems that even in the most hopeless of places, there exists a semblance of order and discipline. This is how we get introduced to Thomas Fool who is one of three information men in Hell who are charged with investigating and reporting crimes. Fool has a thankless job for no one really cares whether these are solved or not. Egged on by his superior – the enigmatic elderflower he goes around trying to do the best he can which at most times is next to nothing. Hell is a horrendous place and let me explain why. If you are unlucky, you will forever be one tiny drop in a vast ocean of damned souls which lie beyond the most extreme walls of Hell. Your soul is in limbo and it just floats about without any notion as to why it is there in the first place. A few souls from this sea might get picked and finally given a shape and form and yet much more horrid fates await them in Hell. Such a human being might either be a nameless worker in the giant factories or a sex toy for the perverse demons of the land. In either case, the human being has no knowledge of what it did to have ended up here. This existence lasts for ever and ever with no change in sight but only for one single difference. Once in while across eons come a delegation from Heaven which brings with it a final chance of redemption. A random group of souls might be picked for elevation which stirs up resentment among the others. Amidst all this noise is when a murderer strikes among the human populace gruesomely and it is up to the overworked Thomas Fool to solve these.
As a whodunit the story is pretty average. If you had read a fair share of mysteries, it is quite obvious to you who the murderer is. But the skill of the author is such that he subtly shifts focus to the environment in Hell and how it changes over the course of the story. Thomas Fool is so full of self-loathing that he comes across more as a reluctant observer than a hero. If Fool could talk to you, he might also have told you that he doesn’t want to be a hero ever. Barring a bit of predictability in the climax, this is a fantastic setting for an average story.
Recommended.
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