Book Club discussion

That was a pretty interesting book. I really enjoyed Heart of Darkness when I read it in high school which is an interesting contrast to this book in some ways.

The Strangler Vine is essentially a detective novel complete with a buddy cop (Sherlock/Watson) dynamic. What sets the book apart is the rich setting which borrows deeply from historical facts and details.

The conflict the characters in the novel face are right in the middle of issues of imperialism and racism of the era. The author has written non-fiction historical books and has managed to create a very good fiction weaving in these details.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away, so I'll break it off there. I looked up the sequel and saw that it was set in London, so that might be an interesting book to throw up on the list. Actually, knowing that this was the first book in a series was a bit of a disappointment as it lets you know that Blake isn't the bad guy and that he does in fact live (though those points are pretty standard in the buddy cop genre).