Book 2.1: The Manual of Detection

Author: Jedediah Berry
Dates read: January 1, 2011 - January 11, 2011 (11 days)
Pages: 278
Genre: Magical realism, mystery

I’m back! New year, new attempt at this challenge. I’ll admit that I’m not starting off great since I’m already behind schedule, but I hope to slip into the groove again quickly. This book was the first on my list for my new crack at this challenge because a friend recently recommended it very highly, and I figured the relatively low page count would keep me from going too far off schedule.

Charles Unwin is a clerk at a large detective agency, where he files all the paperwork for the city’s most illustrious detective, Travis Sivart. But when Sivart disappears and Unwin is suddenly promoted to detective, Unwin sets about finding Sivart to correct what he assumes can only be a mistake. Along the way, Unwin is pulled into much larger mysteries, finding that in many of Sivart’s cases (The Three Deaths of Colonel Baker, The Man Who Stole November Twelfth, The Oldest Murdered Man, etc.), circumstances weren’t actually as they appeared to be. In order to solve the case, find Sivart, and save the city from the grips of a man that can turn the entire population into sleepwalkers to do his bidding, Unwin must go up against the city’s most notorious criminals, tracking them across the rain drenched town, into the abandoned carnival they call home, and even into their dreams.

I really enjoyed this book. It has a very noir feel to it, but also managed to leave me with a smirk more often than not while reading. There’s a good balance between the mysteries the reader is meant to solve before Unwin and those the reader is meant to uncover along with him. This was great because it left me wanting to know when Unwin would figure out what I already knew just as much as I wanted to know who had pulled off certain crimes and how. There are some really cool visuals to the book, and the constant rain gives a gritty, grounded feel to the environment even when the action gets surreal and dreamlike. Without giving any specifics about the end, I will say the last couple pages struck me as a bit odd when compared to the rest of the book because the last decision the protagonist makes wasn’t in line with what I would’ve expected for or from him. But overall the novel is so enjoyable that a little disjointedness to the very end isn’t much to complain about. Definitely a recommended read if you like magical realism.