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The Servants (Hardcover)

by M.M. Smith (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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The Servants + Bad Things + The Intruders
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  • This item: The Servants by M.M. Smith

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (1 April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007261934
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007261932
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 203,723 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Talk about a protean career! The writer Michael Marshall, one might think, already has more than enough strings to his bow: As Michael Marshall Smith, he created some of the most inventive and quirky of cutting-edge science fiction novels; dropping the ‘Smith’ (as Michael Marshall), his bestselling crime fiction is among the most technically adroit and pulse-racing in the field. But here he is with yet another hat on – and as M M Smith, he proves to be just as accomplished a writer for younger readers. The Servants is an absolute spellbinder: a wonderfully engaging yarn that will rivet the attention of both younger readers and those adults lucky enough to pick it up.

11-year-old Mark is well aware – even at this tender age – of the fragility and insecurity of life. After his move from the bustle of London to the more bracing seaside air of Brighton in the winter, he finds he is not enjoying himself. His mother’s illness is distressing, and, worse, he cannot stand his new stepfather. The house he lives in is a strange place, with, what’s more, a strange elderly woman in the basement. The sands of reality are about to shift for the vulnerable Mark, and he may have to rely for help on some people who may not even be real.

Smith’s mastery of the fantasy genre is, thankfully, a skill he has not allowed to wither on the vine, and this is intelligent, allusive writing; both disturbing and evocative. Let’s hope MM/Michael/Marshall/Smith finds time to revisit the genre in between his flesh-creeping adult thrillers. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

'Superb, offbeat contemporary fantasy ! Smith portrays a child's irrational anger with devastating accuracy, and Mark's visits to the surreal and intensely symbolic world of the servants are powerfully depicted' Publishers Weekly, starred review
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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Ghost Story, 8 July 2008
By G. J. Oxley "Gaz" (Tyne & Wear, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
'The Servants' is around 230 pages long, but such is the modern preoccupation with length (oo-er missus!) that it's classed as a 'short' novel or novella, rather than simply the `novel' it undoubtedly is.

MM Smith has previously written novel length science fiction under his full name Michael Marshall Smith, and conspiracy thrillers under the shortened name Michael Marshall. Last year's excellent 'The Intruders' - containing supernatural elements - was also published under the latter moniker.

Now there's another variation on his name - MM Smith - which he's used for this modern-day ghost story. Michael himself has commented that this latest book is more akin to his excellent far-ranging short fiction than his longer stuff - hence the new name.

Enough of my preamble - is this book any good? Well, yes. It's beautifully told in clear, simple prose and it won't take the reader long to finish it.

Mark is an 11-year-old boy who's moved down to Brighton from London with his mother and new stepfather. Naturally he hates his step-dad, because like most boys of that age he clings to an idealised view of his birth father, that no other man could compete with.

Once in Brighton, Mark leads a loner's existence, practicing his rudimentary skateboarding skills, until he meets the old lady who resides in the basement of the big property he lives in. She shows her rooms to him, reveals what lies behind an old locked door, and explains that the whole basement forms the old servants' quarters. Immediately Mark's curiosity is piqued. At this stage his mother's health is also deteriorating alarmingly...

To give away any further plot details would be unfair so I'll leave it at that, but I will comment that the book unfolds at a perfect, just-right pace and has a very satisfactory ending - Michael doesn't believe in short-changing the reader!

The portrayal of Mark is very perceptive and touchingly told. We gradually see his viewpoint towards the step-dad shifting, and if it never achieves a volte-face, he at least comes to appreciate him a bit more. Naturally we, the reader, can tell the step-dad is a decent man almost from the very beginning, but then we're not emotionally attached to him.

Michael Marshall is a huge fan of Stephen King - another writer who has written the occasional subtle ghost story featuring a young protagonist. I hope he'll be flattered if I say this is almost a British equivalent of the lovely literary stuff King writes when in a certain mode. I wholeheartedly recommend this intelligent book to Michael Marshall Smith newcomers and old fans alike.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An exquisite book, in all ways, 16 April 2008
By Annalise (London) - See all my reviews
This is a clever, subtle, beautiful little book, somewhat reminiscent of THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME, in that it's voiced by an engaging young protagonist and hides a dark, surreal and rather disturbing secret world inside what seems to be, very recognizably, our own. I won't spoil the surprise (which creeps up on you throughout the story) but must say I found it both haunting and touching, and it also made me laugh out loud from time to time. I recommend it for readers of any age. It's also a very beautifully packaged book, with head and tail bands, a ribbon and a classy cover, so it makes a lovely gift - and it's short, too, and SUCH an easy read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining and touching read..., 14 Jun 2008
By Nicola (Essex) - See all my reviews

I came across this book while I was reading the reviews in the Fortean Times - a great place to sniff out new fiction!

This book is about a young boy called Mark. He's eleven years old and is desperately trying to come to terms with the fact his mother has now married another man, David, who Mark resents. He feels that David is an intruder in their lives who is trying to come between him and his sick mother. They are living in Brighton, a long way from the London that Mark sees as his real home, and his real father. Mark discovers an old woman lives in the basement flat under their house (the old servant's quarters) and she has an interesting and spooky secret she wants to share with him that will open Mark's eyes and change the way he thinks forever.

I really liked this book. It is insightfully told from Mark's eleven year old point of view: how he feels about being taken away from his old life and thrust reluctantly into a new one and how he interprets everything his stepfather does as a plan to annoy him and come between him and his mother.

This is a traditional kind of ghost story but is also touching and very well written, keeping you interested right to the end.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars a meditation on grief and healing
Although the book adopts the genre of a trditional haunted house and the parallel universes of then and now this conceals a much deeper and richer seam of fiction rarely mined ~... Read more
Published 12 days ago by David Spanswick

3.0 out of 5 stars Misleading title
This book was in the adult section of my local library but I found out that it's really a children's book, but I thought I'd read it anyway. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Tina

3.0 out of 5 stars Below par
As a huge fan of Michael Marshall's work I was somewhat disappointed with this book.The plot seemed very simplistic compared with his other books,and although the premise was an... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mark Thrice

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed...
I really like the authors other work but just couldn't get into this story. All the way through I couldn't work out if it was a children's book or not? Read more
Published 10 months ago by cloudzilla

3.0 out of 5 stars Upstairs Downstairs
I have to say I was disappointed by this. I loved the three Michael Marshall Smith novels and the short story collection, but found Straw Men hard to stomach and haven't read any... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Steven Taylor

3.0 out of 5 stars The Servants Didn't Quite Deliver
Such a sumptuous cover - such magnificent reviews - so I sat down and read this book in one day today. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. John Frank Herbert

4.0 out of 5 stars "It said everything about the world had changed"
Growing up in cosmopolitan London, eleven-year-old Mark would never have thought to find himself living in Brighton with his remote step-father David, and his rather delicate and... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Michael Leonard

5.0 out of 5 stars A Poignant, Rich Ghost Story On Growing Up and Familial Responsibility
Alone, in a seaside English town far from bustling London, eleven-year old Mark finds solace in his solitary treks on his skateboard, until a chance encounter with an elderly... Read more
Published 16 months ago by John Kwok

5.0 out of 5 stars Subtle, poetic tale of a boy's change in perspective
When Mark's family moves from London to Brighton, his former familiar life vanishes. His stepfather David vacillates between irritating and ignoring him. Read more
Published 18 months ago by D. Merrimon Crawford

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