I bought this book mostly on the strength of its cover. I know that's supposed to be a rookie mistake, but then again, the graphics are charming, the book is well-made, with good-quality paper and so on; and it turns out it was a jolly good read anyway. The title, also, was a bit of a draw: it seemed to promise something Kafkaesque; though in that regard it didn't quite deliver. Instead of Kafka's labyrinths we are presented with a mixture of crime, obscenity, and scientific discourse. That is to say: with murder, lots of graphic hetero- and homosexual intercourse (though mostly homo-), invented languages, dissonance, Darwinism, eugenics, and Nazism. It's a good recipe, especially if you're one of those readers who likes to come away from his (or her) reading feeling a bit grubby.
The book switches back and forth mostly between two time-lines, before World War II and the present. In the past we are given the story of the relationship between two very different individuals: Seth Roach and Sir Philip Erskine; one a talented Jewish boxer from London's East-end, the other an aristocrat interested in eugenics. The former, a law unto himself, and prone to violence; the latter, a bit of a fop. Both of them are gay, though Sir Erskine is in denial. In the present we follow a despicable boy, Kevin Broom, in his hunt (under duress) for a certain piece of Nazi memorabilia. What makes Kevin particularly distasteful is his infliction with a certain condition, trimethylaminuria, which basically means he sweats urine.
Of course, the two stories link together quite well; the plot is well constructed, and to the author's credit, what we have here is a bit of a page-turner. It's also very well written, and whilst I wouldn't say this book contains anything sublime, is perhaps lacking in emotion, clearly a lot of research has gone into its writing, and the end result is an eloquently written, if filthy, fairly humorous murder mystery. The description in the book almost reeks a little bit of Dickens. The names in any case -- Grublock, Gittins, Pearl, Broom, Roach, Siedelman, Erskine, Zroszak &c -- all seem to possess a sort of Dickensian potency.
It's a very good book; and considering it's Ned Beauman's first effort, I am certainly looking forward to his next.
