'Dulwich College, England 1904. A young Raymond Chandler meets an enthusiastic cricketer named Billy Pratt (later Boris Karloff). Sharing a sense of being outsiders at school, the two young men become friends and Chandler encourages Pratt to help him uncover the mystery of the housemaster's strange wife and various disappearing objects. What the boys uncover will haunt them their whole lives...
'Hollywood, USA, 1944. When a young actress names Eliza Dane, also Chandler's mistress, turns up dead, in an apparent suicide having jumped from the Hollywood sign, Chandler realises he cannot escape his past. He seeks out his old friend and together they confront the terrible creature who entered their lives all those years ago.'
Kim Newman books are strange creatures. They're filled with plots that have more twists and turns in them than you'd find in a ball of string, characters that come to life in unexpected ways, and nods to other books and films that will have you smiling at the references. Having previously read and enjoyed his exploration of the Sherlock Holmes mythos in Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles I was interested to see what he'd do with a book that not only celebrated the film and fiction of Hollywood in the 1940's, but featured two real life icons of that era.
Something More Than Night follows Raymond Chandler, who's only just just began his career as a writer and is waiting for his first book, The Big Sleep, to be published. He gets a call one night from his long time friend Billy Pratt, more famously known as Boris Karloff, who needs him to come to help identify a body. Chandler's been called in because the body resembles a victim from one of his magazine stories, and the police want to get his opinion on it.
Arriving at the scene, Chandler and Karloff watch as a car is pulled from the sea, the car of a friend of theirs. A body sits in the drivers seat, his head blown off with a shotgun. Stranger still, the police also find a woman in the trunk, a woman who is still alive after hours in the water. The woman is also known to Chandler and Karloff, as she was there years ago when their lives went through a strange ordeal; one that showed them the existence of monsters and strange abilities.
From here the story takes on a somewhat disjointed and complex narrative as we jump around in time, exploring the history these characters have together, the journey they went on, and what ultimately led to one of them dead in the sea with another locked in the trunk of their car. We get the story narrated by Chandler, who is able to give us his perspective on much of the events, as well as being able to relay to us the things he learnt where he wasn't present for things. As such, the book takes a much more personal approach to the story. This isn't just a series of events we're watching unfold, instead we see how the strange happenings alter how Chandler look at the world, how they push him to breaking point, and how much it effects him in a much more intimate way.
But perhaps the best thing about the book being written from Chandler's perspective is the fact that he talks like one of this characters, describing things like he himself is some kind of hard boiled detective. There are times when this seems to happen just naturally, giving the impression that perhaps there was a lot of Chandler's mannerisms and way of speech in his books; but other times he'll make a point of saying something like 'Marlowe would say..' before saying something very cliched and tongue-in-cheek. It's actually quite wonderfully done, as the times where it supposed to be natural feel natural, whilst the fact that Newman is hanging a lantern on those more ridiculous moments means that he's got the leeway to get away with it.
Due to the nature of the first person perspective we don't get to spend as much time with Boris Karloff as we do Chandler, and as a result of this I felt that I didn't know him as well by the end of the book. That being said, I really enjoyed how Newman did this. He came across as a man deeply guarded, somewhat shy, and a little embarrassed by his fame and recognition. He was quiet and thoughtful for much of the time he's in the book, and acts as a good foil to the more hotheaded Chandler.
I have to be honest, for a good portion of the start of the book I was a little unsure where things were going to be heading, due in part to the shifting narrative style that Newman employs. There's a big sense of mystery to things, and I wasn't quite sure why I was having certain events revealed, and what parts would become relevant later on. I really had to pay attention to everything that was happening. However, there came a point where I realised that despite this slow building start I'd become deeply hooked.
By the time the strangeness really starts and you realise that this isn't just a historical novel, but it's a story set in a world where the fantastical exists it's too late; you're already engrossed in things. By starting things more grounded, and slowly introducing weirder and odder elements Newman had ensured that I, like the characters, was completely thrown when my idea of what kind of world this was set in was thrown out the window. It was very well done; and lead to me staying up late reading.
Something More Than Night is a book that I'd be hard pressed to describe. It doesn't really feel like anything else I've read, but is also so unmistakably a Kim Newman novel. It has his sense of style, strangeness, and love of fiction that makes his work feel so unique. I think this is the kind of book that fans of 1940's detective stories and Hollywood movies will love for how much it clearly revels in that era, whilst those who might only have a passing familiarity with this part of pop culture will be drawn in by the central mystery plot and the great character work. Whatever your reason might be for picking the book up, it's sure to be an interesting ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment