House with No Doors

Henry Hobbes

by Jeff Noon

At first glance, Leonard Graves’ death was unremarkable.  Sleeping pills, a bottle of vodka, a note saying goodbye.

But when Detective Henry Hobbes discovers a grave in the basement, he realizes there is something far more sinister at work. Further investigation unearths more disturbing evidence.

Scattered around the old house are women’s dresses. All made of the same material. All made in the same colors. And all featuring a rip across the stomach, smeared in blood. As the investigation continues and the body count rises, Hobbes must also deal with the disappearance of his son, the break-up of his family and a growing sense that something horrific happened in the Graves’ household.

And he’s running out of time to find out what.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 14, 2021

About the author

Jeff Noon is a novelist, short story writer and playwright whose works make extensive use of wordplay and fantasy.

He studied fine art and drama at Manchester University and was subsequently appointed writer in residence at the city's Royal Exchange theatre. But Noon did not stay too long in the theatrical world, possibly because the realism associated with the theatre was not conducive to the fantastical worlds he was itching to invent. While working behind the counter at the local Waterstone's bookshop, a colleague suggested he write a novel. The result of that suggestion,

Vurt, was the hippest sci-fi novel to be published in Britain since the days of Michael Moorcock in the late sixties.

Like Moorcock, Noon is not preoccupied with technology per se, but incorporates technological developments into a world of magic and fantasy.

As a teenager, Noon was addicted to American comic heroes, and still turns to them for inspiration. He has said that music is more of an influence on his writing than novelists: he 'usually writes to music', and his record collection ranges from classical to drum'n'bass.

Reviews

[David Boddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping, gloomy and gothic. Great stuff!

[Gavin Felgate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gothic mystery set in 1981, revolving around Detective Henry Hobbes. Hobbes is a complex character, said to have a scarred face, who has split up from his wife.

At first the case looks straightforward, but an investigation of the house reveals several identical dresses, all cut in the same place, and what appears to be the grave of the mysterious "Adeline", and inevitably the case leads to a murder.

I really enjoyed this book, as it revealed the disturbing and twisted secrets of the dead man's family, and it put me in mind of writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Shirley Jackson.

I noticed that Jeff Noon has written other books about Henry Hobbes, and I should mske sure I read them at some point because this books hinted at some more complex plot arcs, involving his son, and a case involving police corruption from 1962, when Hobbes first met his ex wife.

I have been meaning to read more of Jeff Noon's books for a long time.

[Elizabeth Finley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprise book for me. Jeff Noon is known more for his Sci-Fi rather than murder mystery. Unbeknownst to me this is his second in a series with Detective Inspector Hobbs but, even though it is the second there was nothing lost in the underlying story line. We meet DI Hobbs at a rather old house in which an elderly gentleman has apparently committed suicide. But all is not as it seems and the Police discover. Dresses are scattered all over the house, all the same dress and all displayed in a rather ritualistic manner. This is an original plot line with hints of sci-fi that Noon is known for. I highly recommend this for summer reading.

[Krys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeff Noon remains my favorite writer of all time. I read somewhere that he originally wanted to be a mystery writer, but I have to say that he always was. He's just honed his craft from novel to novel, his poem getting sharper and more insightful. You can see the seeds of this story in his earlier ones, and it feels so amazing to watch them germinate and grow.

[Chris Cowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An atmospheric mystery with convincing eighties background.

[Christopher Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, as usual.

[Simon Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superbly dark murder mystery.

[Mark Stangroome · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first Jeff Noon novel and so I came into it with no expectations. As is my habit I don't research the author (or read reviews on here) until I have finished the book and this research reveals that this genre is new to the author as his previous works have mainly been science-fiction. This may, but of course may not, explain why this novel does not feel fully rounded, it did not flow very well and often felt as if passages had gone my without the story moving at all.

There are one and a half stories in this book, the major story involves an investigation into a suicide quickly followed by a murder of a father and son. The house that the family (latterly only the father) lived in is the roomy Gothic style house that one would expect from a horror style story, the family dynamics takes up most of the investigation although any further discussion of that would be a spoiler.

The half story revolves around the son of the detective leading the investigation. A story that has a conclusion of sorts but without any relevance to the thrust of the book. I cannot truly fathom why this story was included, it either needed omitting or expanding; one and a half stories is never good.

There is not one likable character in the whole book and although that may be deliberate there are no relatable characters either which a good story needs otherwise the novel feels more like a television show.

In summary, only just a 3 probably a 2.5 rounded up.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an absolute bizarre book ! The plot was clever with twists everywhere. The madness was real. But I felt the character of the protagonist completely lacking .. A police detective conducting a case almost entirely on his own with so many police protocols lacking . The parallel story of the detective’s son was poor , and I’m not sure it really needed to even be there . For the plot alone it would have been a resounding five, but let down badly by the execution ..

[Carolyn Drake · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd read good reviews praising the sinister atmosphere of this book, but it failed to grip me, with the police procedural, psychological thriller and supernatural elements transitioning a little clunkily. Detective Henry Hobbes is a decent protagonist, and I liked his spiky relationship with colleagues but the pacing and genre-mixing took me out of the world. It just didn't click for me.

[Stijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, really like his style, only lost bit of interest towards the end when 'everything came together' as the supernatural factor that was present previously was diminish slowly, but that's the story of all detective stories of course.

[Steve Gillway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eerie thriller expertly managed by Noon.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Noon at his very best. Highly recommended.

[Rox Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Loved the plot, but couldn't get past the writing. Extremely short sentences and paragraphs really irritated. Couldn't read further than a third before I gave up.

[Levi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring rubbish. Jeff shouldn't have started to write detectives.

[Bones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A switch in styles from Jeff, done with aplomb adding to the detective genre with his own unique style. Strange, dark and brilliant!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't even like crime thrillers but Mr Noon has a way with words, I tell ya.

[Arn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just to show he can write 'normal: books maybe, Jeff Noon has his 2 Hobbes books, police procedural, and this is creepy rather than weird. Tight well written story, another string to his bow.

[David Prestidge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has the most seriously sinister beginning of any crime novel I have read in years. DI Henry Hobbes (of whom more presently) is summoned by his Sergeant to Bridlemere, a rambling Edwardian house in suburban London, where an elderly man has apparently committed suicide. Corpse - tick. Nearly empty bottle of vodka - tick. Sleeping pills on the nearby table - tick. Hobbes is not best pleased at his time being wasted, but the observant Meg Latimer has a couple of rabbits in her hat. One rabbit rolls up the dead man's shirt to reveal some rather nasty knife cuts, and the other leads Hobbes on a tour round the house, where he discovers identical sets of women's clothing, all laid out formally, and each with gashes in the midriff area, stained red. Sometimes the stains are actual blood, but others are as banal as paint and tomato sauce.

Hobbes makes a more thorough investigation of the strange house, and finds a cellar in which he discovers something even more disturbing. Author Jeff Noon introduced us to Hobbes in Slow Motion Ghosts (2019 - click for the review) and, like that earlier novel, this one is set in the 1980s. Hobbes is a bit of a misfit. He is certainly not 'one of the lads' back at the station. He is quiet, cerebral and single, his marriage to Glenda being certainly on the rocks and close to being sunk. As he tries to work out what secrets lie within the walls of Bridlemere, he has personal problems, the chief of which being the fact that his 17 year-old son has left home to live in a squat, where both his health and sanity are threatened.

Hobbes believes that although Leonard Graves did probably take his own life, an enigmatic note he left suggests that there is a body concealed somewhere in the house.. While an intensive search produces no human remains, what Hobbes calls The Case of The Thirteen Dresses becomes a genuine murder enquiry when the body of the old man's son is found, battered to death in Richmond Park.

he more Hobbes learns about the Graves family, the more he feels drawn into their sinister world. Mary Estelle, Leonard's wife, a former actress of renown, is living out her days in an old folk's home, absorbed in her glittering memories, but was she responsible for corrupting her three children Rosamund, Camilla and Nicholas? Was there a fourth child, Adeline, mentioned in Leonard's suicide not? And what of the grandson, David, and his obsession with Kusozu, the macabre Japanese art form that depicts the very corruption of death?

My verdict on House With No Doors? In a nutshell, brilliant - a tour de force. Jeff Noon (right) has taken the humble police procedural, blended in a genuinely frightening psychological element, added a layer of human corruption and, finally, seasoned the dish with a piquant dash of insanity. On a purely narrative level, he also includes one of the most daring and astonishing final plot twists I have read in many a long year.

Jeff Noon takes us to places unvisited since the days of the late, great Derek Raymond. This novel is crime fiction, yes, but also a journey into the darkest corners of the human soul. Raymond's nameless copper also walked the bleaker streets of London, and he had a passion verging on obsession for avenging the victims of crime by finding the people who killed them. Henry Hobbes shares this single mindedness. House With No Doors is a chronicle of madness wearing a mask of normality. It is deeply moving and as Hobbes mines deeper and deeper into history of the Graves family, he shows us that it is not only the dead who are victims.

[Michael Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the stories may seem to be getting less fantastical - this on the surface being a Detective mystery, it is so well written its just as compelling as the authors cult Manc-Cyber-Punk work of my youth - an enjoyable twisty murder mystery