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Review
'To work, satire has to be subtle . . . Elliott Hall does this wonderfully'
(The Times )'Political satires set in chilling dystopian futures don't usually call for sequels . . . Hall's pizzazz ensures you want to know if Felix makes it'
(Daily Telegraph )Praise for The First Stone:
'A knockout debut with the confidence to establish its world gradually . . . Strange's sardonic wit makes him the perfect guide to his troublingly familiar landscape'
'This debut crime novel is best read under a sweltering sun . . . against a deftly drawn backdrop, it is ingenious and witty'
(Daily Telegraph )'Strange is a very sympathetic hero, who does what private eyes do best by stirring the hornets' nest (and these are some pretty whacky hornets) and a fabulous sense of pace is engendered from page one. This is a very impressive first thriller indeed. More are promised; or if they're not, should be'
(Shots )'The prose style is smooth and entertaining . . . Hall's world-building remains excellent throughout, creating a truly unsettling future America'
(SFX Magazine )'A sharp and original debut novel'
(Tangled Web )'It's a really good, traditional private eye story in its own right, coupled with a subtle and believable picture of a fundamentalist state'
(Morning Star )'A menacing portrait of an all too plausible future . . . a very readable, fast-paced thriller'
(Big Issue )'An outstanding first novel by a new Canadian author we should hear more of'
(Independent )'A debut novel of considerable quality and great imagination'
(reviewingtheevidence.com )'An ingenious twist ... The first in a trilogy, Hall's novel combines pacy storytelling with a disturbing dystopian vision'
(Mail on Sunday )Product Description
Isaac Taylor isn't missing. According to government records, he never existed. PI Felix Strange isn't convinced, not least because Isaac is an old army buddy. The man saved his life in Tehran, so the least Strange can do is dig up some leads. Strange soon discovers Isaac isn't the only one missing. All over the country, young and old, men and women, the good and the trying-to-be, are disappearing - quite literally without a trace. If Strange doesn't figure out what's happening fast, someone close to him will fall into a patch of thin air.
A dark and compelling thriller, The Rapture is a brilliantly realised depiction of a society all too chillingly close to our own. The second in the Strange trilogy, it pays homage to the genius of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy, while offering a wholly original take on the noir genre.
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Perhaps however, it was really just the freshness, the frankness and the timeliness of The First Stone that makes it seem the better book, it appearing at a time when there were still many doubts and questions raised about recent world events involving the USA, particularly over their role in Iraq and the War on Terror, and when there were justifiable fears over the increasingly hawkish position and direction they seemed to regard as their the God-given right. It was a subject that Elliott Hall tackled with relish, basing the book on historical precedents and wrapping it all up in a superb post-war neo-noir sensibility.
The Rapture's follow-on, now that some of the worst excesses of that period appear to have been dismantled, doesn't initially give the novel the same sense of immediacy or threat in relation to real-world events, going back into flashback for portions of the book into Strange's background and experiences in Iraq during the search for WMDs, covering the interrogation (ie. torture) of suspected terrorists and leading up to the nuclear destruction of Tehran. While there is plenty of meat there, it doesn't seem quite so dynamic this time, the possible repercussions of a sinister future or parallel-world USA and its real-life resonances in the first book not matched in inventiveness since it is looking back at revelations that have since been surpassed by real-life and WikiLeaks.
While it is slow to reveal where it is going however, The Rapture does however build-up marvellously, holding its cards close to its chest only to eventually reveal a conspiracy every bit as complex, dangerous and with far-reaching consequences as the first Strange novel. And while the there's less of the cracking hard-boiled dialogue that made the first novel so entertaining - (though gems like "Iris laughed. I wanted to get it on tape and throw out my music collection" are scattered throughout) - by the same token, there's more of an indication of a writer finding his own voice. That's a important voice that is capable of turning a dazzling alternate-world/futuristic conspiracy thriller into a trilogy that has something much more substantial to say about the world we live in today.
Perhaps however, it was really just the freshness, the frankness and the timeliness of The First Stone that makes it seem the better book, it appearing at a time when there were still many doubts and questions raised about recent world events involving the USA, particularly over their role in Iraq and the War on Terror, and when there were justifiable fears over the increasingly hawkish position and direction they seemed to regard as their the God-given right. It was a subject that Elliott Hall tackled with relish, basing the book on historical precedents and wrapping it all up in a superb post-war neo-noir sensibility.
The Rapture's follow-on, now that some of the worst excesses of that period appear to have been dismantled, doesn't initially give the novel the same sense of immediacy or threat in relation to real-world events, going back into flashback for portions of the book into Strange's background and experiences in Iraq during the search for WMDs, covering the interrogation (ie. torture) of suspected terrorists and leading up to the nuclear destruction of Tehran. While there is plenty of meat there, it doesn't seem quite so dynamic this time, the possible repercussions of a sinister future or parallel-world USA and its real-life resonances in the first book not matched in inventiveness since it is looking back at revelations that have since been surpassed by real-life and WikiLeaks.
While it is slow to reveal where it is going however, The Rapture does however build-up marvellously, holding its cards close to its chest only to eventually reveal a conspiracy every bit as complex, dangerous and with far-reaching consequences as the first Strange novel. And while the there's less of the cracking hard-boiled dialogue that made the first novel so entertaining - (though gems like "Iris laughed. I wanted to get it on tape and throw out my music collection" are scattered throughout) - by the same token, there's more of an indication of a writer finding his own voice. That's a important voice that is capable of turning a dazzling alternate-world/futuristic conspiracy thriller into a trilogy that has something much more substantial to say about the world we live in today.
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