Search - Full Dark House (Bryant and May, Bk 1)

At one point in this novel one of the characters says (paraphrased) "That's a bit Agatha Christie, isn't it?". If you're a fan of the grand dame of the Brit mystery, it's conceivable that you might enjoy this; otherwise you can expect to be pulled by the elbow through plot twists that range from the implausible to the preposterous. Character development is pathetically thin, the writing is in general cliché-ridden and fairly dull. The novelistic equivalent of the most stale TV sit-com you can imagine. To be read in bed, with your light on a timer (set it for twenty-five minutes, you will be drowsy in five, gone in ten).

A long book, but one that keeps your interest. It jumps back and forth between modern day London and London in 1940 during the blitz. Most of the story is set in 1940, and that was certainly more interesting. As well as the mystery surrounding weird murders in a huge theater, the evocation of London being bombed was very effective.

These two old coots are detectives in a special London branch of the police. They investigate odd and demanding cases. Good picture of London, interesting characters of courtly May and "codgerly" Bryant. Fun writing, twisted plots. This is set in the theatrical world of WW II.

I am sorry but I wanted to like this book and kept reading to page 122. I began to think that maybe this was a book that might interest male readers more, but I see from the reviews that the one male reviewer also hated it. This book was dull, and dusty like I was digging through some old scrapbook, trying to see what happened. The writer used big words; long boring description words to describe behaviors or the theatre that they were in. I skipped to the back and read the last 5 chapters, and loved the way it ended. I just wont be reading book 2. It isnt my style.
Two dull men, that were hard to remember which one died in the beginning, and which one was still alive. It switched back and forth between WWII in london with all the night air raids and the present.

"Edgy, suspenseful, and darkly comic, here is the first novel in a riveting new mystery series starring two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department's Peculiar Crimes Unit. In Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler tells the story of both their first and last case — and how along the way the unlikely pair of crime fighters changed the face of detection."