- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Penguin (27 May 2010)
- Language Unknown
- ISBN-10: 0141039728
- ISBN-13: 978-0141039725
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 238,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
King Death
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Product Description
Product Description
Kumiko saw it first. A heart – a human heart – slithering down outside the window of a train travelling between London Bridge and Blackfriars. Someone must have thrown it out from a carriage in front. Kumiko is determined to find out who – and why. But Skelton was sitting next to Kumiko on the train and he saw it too, so he also wants to get to the bottom of the mystery. Or he says he does, but really he just wants Kumiko back, because she’s walked out on him, just like that, and left him heartbroken. Each for their own reasons, Kumiko and Skelton set out – separately – on a bizarre trail of discovery. Darting between dingy student pubs, the roofs of Borough Market and the corridors and car-parks of Guy’s Hospital, they become embroiled in the seedy world of young medical students, until eventually the gossip and the stories lead them both to the hospital’s infamous dissection lecturer – known behind his back as ‘King Death’
About the Author
Toby Litt was born in 1968. He is the author of Adventures in Capitalism, Beatniks, Corpsing, deadkidsongs, Exhibitionism, Finding Myself, Ghost Story, Hospital, I play the drums in a band called okay and Journey into Space. In 2003, he was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. His website can be found at www.tobylitt.com
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As usual Toby Litt takes a genre and does something different with it. This is a detective story that doesn't start with a death and follow the usual who done it path. Part love story, part who done it Toby keeps you guessing through lots of twists and turns right to the last pages. Who done what? is one of the questions his characters are trying to answer which leads them into very murky water! And does the boy get the girl back - again you don't find out until the end and even then its not quite what you expect. Well lets face it nothing's what you expect when Toby Litt is wielding the pen. A cracking good read - one of his best yet.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Small in size and short in length, this is a quick read in terms of pace and reading time. It opens with our two protagonists on an early-morning train journey in south London spotting a human heart sliding down a glass rooftop. They both set out, the book generally switching from one character to the other between chapters, to find out the truth behind this grisly sighting and are soon tangling with both the police and the staff of Guy's Hospital, especially the sinisterly nicknamed lecturer of the title, whilst simultaneously trying to rebuild their lives after the breakdown of their relationship.
As a book it is thoroughly entertaining nonsense. One character becomes a porter at the hospital in the blink of an eye; the protagonists see an object sliding down a glass roof and immediately know it is a human heart despite being on a moving train; we're told in some detail about the improvised music scene; someone is pushed into a mortuary locker to keep them trapped but without being searched first, so they have a phone so can call for help; and the final reasoning is frankly a little daft... but still it kept me turning the pages, and after a few hours I'd finished it.
All in all it's an entertaining read but nothing really new. A fun, undemanding read.
As a book it is thoroughly entertaining nonsense. One character becomes a porter at the hospital in the blink of an eye; the protagonists see an object sliding down a glass roof and immediately know it is a human heart despite being on a moving train; we're told in some detail about the improvised music scene; someone is pushed into a mortuary locker to keep them trapped but without being searched first, so they have a phone so can call for help; and the final reasoning is frankly a little daft... but still it kept me turning the pages, and after a few hours I'd finished it.
All in all it's an entertaining read but nothing really new. A fun, undemanding read.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wish we could give 4 and a half stars. This is better than a 4 star book but I can't bring myself to give it the full 5 stars. This might be because of my very high expectations from a new Toby Litt rather than the book itself.
The book is very good fun, very well written but I found it a bit lightweight. The plot involves two characters who see a human heart sliding down a roof as they pass on a train (shades of an old Marple mystery there).
The story is told in the first person by each character in alternate chapters. This works very well in the early chapters. Within a couple of sentences of Skelton's first chapter we can see how far they've grown apart - there's a laugh out loud funny line where Skelton says that they had been sat in a "not uncomfortable silence" on the train - the complete opposite of how Kumiko had described the trip.
They separate soon after and both for their own reasons start independantly investigating the heart. Neither of them has any real experience of investigation and it makes a pleasant change to see lead characters stumbling toward the target rather than homing in expertly from the off. Towards the end, the tone darkens considerably.
The alternating viewpoints work very well while they're both on their separate paths through London but it means than in the last few chapters while they're together, there's a very rushed recap of what the other has just talked about at the start of each new chapter. This goes against the detail in the rest of the descriptions as they apparently are not colluding in writing their accounts of the story. This is a minor point though - but does account for the lost star on the review.
Overall the book moves very quickly and is a great pleasure to read and I still recommend it highly to anyone. A slightly flawed but very good book. A not quite as good as usual Litt still beats most authors hands down. I'm looking forward to the film version.
The book is very good fun, very well written but I found it a bit lightweight. The plot involves two characters who see a human heart sliding down a roof as they pass on a train (shades of an old Marple mystery there).
The story is told in the first person by each character in alternate chapters. This works very well in the early chapters. Within a couple of sentences of Skelton's first chapter we can see how far they've grown apart - there's a laugh out loud funny line where Skelton says that they had been sat in a "not uncomfortable silence" on the train - the complete opposite of how Kumiko had described the trip.
They separate soon after and both for their own reasons start independantly investigating the heart. Neither of them has any real experience of investigation and it makes a pleasant change to see lead characters stumbling toward the target rather than homing in expertly from the off. Towards the end, the tone darkens considerably.
The alternating viewpoints work very well while they're both on their separate paths through London but it means than in the last few chapters while they're together, there's a very rushed recap of what the other has just talked about at the start of each new chapter. This goes against the detail in the rest of the descriptions as they apparently are not colluding in writing their accounts of the story. This is a minor point though - but does account for the lost star on the review.
Overall the book moves very quickly and is a great pleasure to read and I still recommend it highly to anyone. A slightly flawed but very good book. A not quite as good as usual Litt still beats most authors hands down. I'm looking forward to the film version.
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