The Bureau of Lost Souls

by Christopher Fowler

The Bureau of Lost Souls is a collection of twelve linked tales of urban paranoia in which the stresses and strains of city life force lurking fears into the open and provide a catalyst for bizarre events. Christopher Fowler writes with black humour about desperate people in seemingly ordinary situations - workers in offices and friends in pubs, husbands and wives in apartments and houses. All of them the most unlikely, and therefore the most likely, people to find themselves trapped within their own personal, private visions of Hell.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Collections, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Christopher Fowler was an English writer known for his Bryant & May mystery series, featuring two Golden Age-style detectives navigating modern London. Over his career, he authored fifty novels and short story collections, along with screenplays, video games, graphic novels, and audio plays. His psychological thriller Little Boy Found was published under the pseudonym L.K. Fox.
Fowler's accolades include multiple British Fantasy Awards, the Last Laugh Award, the CWA Dagger in the Library, and the inaugural Green Carnation Award. He was inducted into the Detection Club in 2021. Beyond crime fiction, his works ranged from horror (Hell Train, Nyctophobia) to memoir (Paperboy, Film Freak). His column Invisible Ink explored forgotten authors, later compiled into The Book of Forgotten Authors.
Fowler lived between London and Barcelona with his husband, Peter Chapman.

Reviews

[Karl]

This hard cover is numbered 227 of 250 copies produced and is signed by Christopher Fowler .

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just reread this collection and agree with everything I said in my first review (see below) but I can't help loving these very early works before a degree of pessimistic nostalgia crept into his later work such as the Bryant & May novels. At this stage of his career Fowler was a satirist such as Swift with such excellent stories as 'Lost in Leicester Square', 'Decieving the Lizards' and 'Safe as Houses'.

My original review:

Another wonderful collection of short stories from Christopher Fowler though, to be strictly accurate, it is, or was when I read it in May (it is now September), actually one of his earliest collections having been published in 1989. As with all the others it is full of wit, humour and mordant sense of the absurd as well as the grotesque and the horrifying. Mr. Fowler also has a keen eye for detecting the sickness in the heart of our society is never taken in by the platitudes of our now dedicated aspirational and acquisitive society. The confusion of moral good with monetary success only allows him greater scope for finding the truly horrifying in our own corrupt souls.

Do yourself a favour and read as many of stories as you can.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of twelve horror stories from a veteran horror writer. The cover flap states that the tales are linked, but I found no real evidence of that, except that each is in an urban setting. It has been pointed out that most English horror seems to be set in the city, while American horror tends to drift out to the rural wilds, or the false face of a peaceful suburban scene.

While they are solid enough on their own, I have to say that they do not add much to the genre. With many of them I knew the ending three pages into the story and just kept reading hoping that my assumptions would be wrong. They were not. The horror elements here are human for the most part, the author eschewing supernatural elements for the more gritty tales of urban decay and paranoia.

There were a few exceptions of above average stories. “Jumbo Portions” about a man accidently falling into a deep fryer has some gruesome details that might appeal. “Lost in Leicester Square” about police investigation into disappearing tourists, which may or may not be linked to vampires, is amusing. “Safe as Houses” about an obsessive security-conscious perfectionist is also fun. Plus the titular “Bureau of Lost Souls” is perhaps the cream of the crop.

But again that’s not really saying much. Standard horror here. I don’t see myself reading this text again.

[Soho_Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hopefully, the ability for authors to easily and cheaply transfer their works into a Kindle format will mean a lot of older out of print titles will become available. I discovered Christopher Fowler maybe a decade after he first published his second short story collection, “The Bureau of Lost Souls” (or “More City Jitters” in the US), by which point it was already out of print. Fortunately, I was able to obtain a copy through eBay at an extortionate price, but was delighted to discover recently that there is a Kindle version available for much less than I had to pay all those years ago.

Whilst “The Bureau of Lost Souls” was a very early collection, it’s one of Fowler’s best, in my opinion. Many of the stories are set in or around London and bring the horror home to the read, as many of the locations are either well known or generic enough to be familiar. But for all the darkness and horror here, Fowler also often writes with an eye for the amusing and unusual, so there are moments here that leave the reader laughing, often despite themselves and there are also some introductions to some of Fowler’s later works, for the dedicated fan and the final story has some nods towards earlier tales in the collection which finishes things off very nicely.

Building features fairly regularly in this collection, from the opening “The Art Nouveau Fireplace”, which seems to invite structural alterations for a slightly unpleasant reason. “The Sun in the Sands” is a tale about an unscrupulous property developer who faces some major objections from the locals when he tries to replace a farm with a superstore. “The Master Builder”, which was filmed as “Through the Eyes of a killer” is a warning not to upset your builder when you’re having a lot of work done on your new flat.

Some of other stories are based around workplaces. “Box” is a simple title, but turns out to be a far from simple delivery for a motorcycle courier, whereas “The Ladies Man” is a warning for the office romeo, particularly one who thinks his position in the office hierarchy gives him the right to treat women without respect at work and whilst off duty. “Hot Air” is something of a warm up to the later short novel “Breathe”, which lacks the humour of that novella, but retains much of the menace and shows you can’t be safe even at work. “Jumbo Portions” tells you that not taking your own lunch to the office and popping out to a local takeaway might give you a surprise that will put you off your dinner. The final and titular story, “The Bureau of Lost Souls” references a number of the unfortunates from earlier stories and tells you what might happen to them if purgatory was an office.

The remaining stories aren’t quite so easily categorised. “Lost in Leicester Square” is a crime story that has characters who would later appear in Fowler’s “Bryant and May” novels and give an explanation as to “The Leicester Square Vampire” case which is references therein on occasion. “Deceiving the Lizards” is a kidnap and holiday romance all in one, which ends badly for more or less everyone and “Safe As Houses” is home security and home fitness both taken to extremes with a surprisingly feel good ending.

Whilst there are some moments here that lack a little something, with “Box” perhaps being a little more horror clichéd than most of the others, there is much here to ne enjoyed. Fowler writes in situations that are often very familiar, but with a vicious little twist that make you wonder whether you’ll ever be safe in Leicester Square, or in the office, ever again. Fowler’s particular brand of urban horror is to make the mundane unsettling and he achieves that beautifully here in so many ways. “Jumbo Portions”, in particular, is a seemingly dull story until the very last moment and nothing seems wrong in “Hot Air” until quite late on.

Fowler also enjoys his humourous touches and there is a lovely irony in the denouement of “The Ladies’ Man” where the main characters dalliances come back to haunt him and there is a lovely irony towards the ending of “Safe As Houses” and quite gruesome coincidence to finish off “Jumbo Portions”. Some of the last lines in “The Sun in the Sands” have all the hallmarks of a writer with a very dark sense of humour, but there are plenty of moments both here and throughout Fowler’s writing where that can also be seen to be the case.

Fowler is a fantastic writer with a seemingly endless imagination and a source of dark ideas and dark humour that brings each and every one of them to life. If there was ever a writer whose works didn’t deserve to be out of print and could be revitalised by the ability to transfer books to Kindle, some of Fowler’s early collections is that writer. As good as he is now, “The Bureau of Lost Souls” is proof that he’s been just as good since the beginning and I’m delighted that the lost souls contained in these pages can now be found more readily and more cheaply than I managed to several years ago and that a wider audience can now share all that I love about Fowler’s writing.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique imaginative storytelling

Having only recently discovered Christopher Fowler I was delighted to discover this wonderful book of short stories. I am glad to know I have plenty more of his books of short stories and his novels to add to my TBR pile.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very collection of Fowler's early stories. Some in this selection are taken from his first two short story books and others are new. It was an enjoyable, fast read.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars.

Some genuinely creepy stories in there.... didn't quite hit 4 stars due to my general dislike of short stories....