E G Logan
Full Member
Chris Brookmyre, The Mirror Cracked
When I said (above, Thursday) that, at 70% completed, I did not know where the plot was going, I had a slight suspicion that it was going to bounce, hard, off the wall and rocket into left field. And so it proved, though not in the way I'd imagined.
As Brookmyre explained in his Acknowledgements, this novel is his response to a challenge from his agent to produce 'a really clever meta whodunnit that plays with the genre'. It is all of that.
Does it work? W-e-l-l, I read on to the end; the whodunnit part is flawless in that, though fiendishly complicated, all the many questions are, finally, answered. (Except perhaps the last-page twist, but that might just be me being thick. Suggested explanations welcome.) And the answers are satisfactory-ish, though most often very unexpected.
If you approach this book perhaps having glanced at the title and browsed the first 20-30pp, expecting a slightly noir-ish crime novel at least partly set in LA, you may feel disconcerted/disappointed, possibly even cheated. It's one for those with no pre-conceptions.
For me: too, too many characters, too many similarities (though later revealed as intentional), too many layers (likewise). Too much explicit noir homage. Almost ridiculously complicated, tricky to keep track of who everyone is. Not bothered about the politics, the hints of woke and PC, but they are all there, as critics complain.
When I said (above, Thursday) that, at 70% completed, I did not know where the plot was going, I had a slight suspicion that it was going to bounce, hard, off the wall and rocket into left field. And so it proved, though not in the way I'd imagined.
As Brookmyre explained in his Acknowledgements, this novel is his response to a challenge from his agent to produce 'a really clever meta whodunnit that plays with the genre'. It is all of that.
Does it work? W-e-l-l, I read on to the end; the whodunnit part is flawless in that, though fiendishly complicated, all the many questions are, finally, answered. (Except perhaps the last-page twist, but that might just be me being thick. Suggested explanations welcome.) And the answers are satisfactory-ish, though most often very unexpected.
If you approach this book perhaps having glanced at the title and browsed the first 20-30pp, expecting a slightly noir-ish crime novel at least partly set in LA, you may feel disconcerted/disappointed, possibly even cheated. It's one for those with no pre-conceptions.
For me: too, too many characters, too many similarities (though later revealed as intentional), too many layers (likewise). Too much explicit noir homage. Almost ridiculously complicated, tricky to keep track of who everyone is. Not bothered about the politics, the hints of woke and PC, but they are all there, as critics complain.
