The Case of the Missing Books
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Review
REVIEWS FOR RING ROAD:
‘A Tristram Shandy for our times… The tone is part elegy, part satire, part howl and very, very funny. I laughed more times than I can remember over a novel for years … Ring Road is well-observed and endlessly inventive, with all the messiness of a real place. Sansom’s deadpan voice throws up jokes on every page.’
Observer
‘Calls to mind two other outstanding novels: Tristram Shandy…and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22… One of those rare books that, once picked up, proves very difficult to put down.’
The Irish Independent
‘Wonderfully vivid, easy, natural, funny and moving.’
Oliver Sacks
‘A wonderfully comic novel.’
Daily Mail
‘It reminds me most of Jerome K. Jerome… Mellow, intelligent and very funny, a perfect antidote for melancholy.’
Michael Moorcok, Guardian
‘There is something fearless in the gaze Sansom turns on banality, and this novel is, in the end, a surprisingly gripping feat of coming to terms with what ordinary life is like.’ TLS
The Times
'Ian Samson is as expertly comic as his hero is comically inept, and he plots an ingenious course of mishaps...'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Detectives in the English tradition stand either in the shadow of Holmes or of Watson. Holmes: the man superbly capable of his job, perfectly temperamentally suited to it. Watson: a man like ourselves, as baffled as we are, yet somehow (on his own, or with Holmes) able to contribute to the solution.
In Israel Armstrong, half Jewish, half Irish, fat, almost unemployable, a good natured blunderer who should never have left the safety of Oxford Brookes, and should never, ever have gone to Northern Ireland, Ian Sansom has created a character who perhaps trumps all of the Doctor Watsons in literature. Perpetually mystified, he makes virtually every other character seem the equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, as he wanders around looking for Ballygullable, and for a library-load of books that the astute reader will have located round about chapter three. But not everything is as it seems and, in true bumbling style, Armstrong solves by accident the one crime that nobody could solve, while he fails to solve the main mystery to which everyone else knows the answer.
Israel Armstrong is not a hero defined by his strengths, but by his weaknesses. Indeed, Sansom gifts him with no discernible strengths whatsoever. He has no social skills, few powers of deduction (and those he has invariably lead him in the wrong direction), and the author meticulously avoids allowing him to use the knowledge gained from books to his advantage. Armstrong is just like us, the reader, but even more so. He is the ordinary man's un-extraordinary man. Sansom does give him one moment, but only one, where his knowledge about books (rather than anything he learned in books) gives him the edge, and on this the story turns in the most utterly believable way.
I'm not sure whether this is a comedy or not. In principle it should be hilariously funny, but the author never allows us to get far enough away from his protagonist to let us have a good laugh at him (all the other characters get to laugh, though). As it is, we get closer to Israel Armstrong than to perhaps any detective I have encountered.
A marvellous book, superbly written, and boding great things for the future.
In Israel Armstrong, half Jewish, half Irish, fat, almost unemployable, a good natured blunderer who should never have left the safety of Oxford Brookes, and should never, ever have gone to Northern Ireland, Ian Sansom has created a character who perhaps trumps all of the Doctor Watsons in literature. Perpetually mystified, he makes virtually every other character seem the equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, as he wanders around looking for Ballygullable, and for a library-load of books that the astute reader will have located round about chapter three. But not everything is as it seems and, in true bumbling style, Armstrong solves by accident the one crime that nobody could solve, while he fails to solve the main mystery to which everyone else knows the answer.
Israel Armstrong is not a hero defined by his strengths, but by his weaknesses. Indeed, Sansom gifts him with no discernible strengths whatsoever. He has no social skills, few powers of deduction (and those he has invariably lead him in the wrong direction), and the author meticulously avoids allowing him to use the knowledge gained from books to his advantage. Armstrong is just like us, the reader, but even more so. He is the ordinary man's un-extraordinary man. Sansom does give him one moment, but only one, where his knowledge about books (rather than anything he learned in books) gives him the edge, and on this the story turns in the most utterly believable way.
I'm not sure whether this is a comedy or not. In principle it should be hilariously funny, but the author never allows us to get far enough away from his protagonist to let us have a good laugh at him (all the other characters get to laugh, though). As it is, we get closer to Israel Armstrong than to perhaps any detective I have encountered.
A marvellous book, superbly written, and boding great things for the future.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thought this was going to be a detective story, when I found it wasn't. Was I disappointed? No, definitely not. I found it very refreshing. I warmed to the main character Israel, his naivity of the rural areas of Northern Ireland is totally believable. Never having been to Northern Ireland I have what I believe a very good overview of the rural area and the people who dwell there, as seen through Israel's eyes.
This book is easy reading with Ian Sansom's wonderful wry sense of humour. Ok it may not be as good as Ring Road, but still a worthy read. I look forward to more in this series.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Case of the Missing Books (The Mobile Library)
I know this has had mixed reviews and that's what makes the world go round. Personally, I loved it and would encourage people not to be put off by the negative reviews. Give it a chance. The humour must be too subtle for some people. This unlucky, unworldly character called Israel who hasn't figured out why his girlfriend was so insistent he go to Ireland or why she never answers her phone sums up this well -read reasonably intelligent man who has led a sheltered life. His adventures and misadventures are fairly believable and where they are not, it's entertainment. I think it depends on what level you read it. If you get the nuances- believe me they jump out at you, you will laugh your head off. Come on. Give it a try!
I know this has had mixed reviews and that's what makes the world go round. Personally, I loved it and would encourage people not to be put off by the negative reviews. Give it a chance. The humour must be too subtle for some people. This unlucky, unworldly character called Israel who hasn't figured out why his girlfriend was so insistent he go to Ireland or why she never answers her phone sums up this well -read reasonably intelligent man who has led a sheltered life. His adventures and misadventures are fairly believable and where they are not, it's entertainment. I think it depends on what level you read it. If you get the nuances- believe me they jump out at you, you will laugh your head off. Come on. Give it a try!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Cozy Northern Ireland style
The Case of the Missing Books is effectively a cozy set in Northern Ireland. It has a quirky, awkward, central character as the sleuth and a cast of other colourful characters,... Read more
Published 1 day ago by Rob Kitchin
Nice but dull...
Picked up a secondhand copy of this, drawn to the front cover and the back cover blurb, which sounded promising enough. Read more
Published 8 months ago by H. Ellis
More farce than mystery, but a fun read
Okay, so it's not your classic mystery novel. More of a humorous romp with a mystery as the excuse to write the book. If you're looking for P.D. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Sergio
No bodies in the library
No bodies, a small amount of blood and lots of unusual characters make this a quirky and unusual detective story. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Clive A. H. Still
A huge disappointment
I was drawn to this by the glowing reviews on the cover, but was very disappointed in it. I stopped reading after 6 chapters, which I thought constituted a fair trial. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2009 by MacGee
How to go gently insane - take a job as a librarian in a town with no...
As no one at amazon has written up a description of the book for anyone who doesn't know the plot I've give you the blurb from the back of my copy. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2007 by Marmalade the Book Magpie
I utterly hated it
I am intregued to see that people liked the characters. I have just finished slogging through this book and am still waiting for any character development or exposition at all. Read more
Published on 2 July 2007 by Paul Robertson
Poor to the point of offensiveness
Not good, not good at all. Books ought to have a sympathetic main character, a believable plot and a measure of realism in background description. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2006 by Rob Hymer
Happy St Patrick's Day
I have just read this book in one sitting and absolutely loved it. I thought it was like Victoria Wood, if Victoria Wood wrote novels. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2006
Interesting, but ...
I enjoyed this a lot, but I have to say that in my opinion The Mobile Library is not Sansom's best book. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2006 by Brian Hall
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