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Full Dark House
 
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Full Dark House (Paperback)

by Christopher Fowler (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
Price: £6.84 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Full Dark House + The Water Room + Seventyseven Clocks (Bryant & May 3)
Price For All Three: £19.80

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Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Books; New edition edition (1 Sep 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0553815520
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553815528
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 140,690 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

The story opens with a member of one of London's most unusual police units being blown up in his office. He is John May, partner to Arthur Bryant, who now starts to investigate his death. The search takes Bryant back to the time of their first meeting in 1940. London is struggling to survive the Blitz when a beautiful dancer is found without her feet. Bryant and May's investigation uncovers a weird gothic mystery, involving a killer who appears to be faceless. In the present day, May speculates whether that old adversary might be the killer. He needs to solve a riddle that began more than 50 years earlier. It is a tense, clever novel which keeps one riveted from the first page. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Bookseller June 2003

`An assured move into crime and mystery by the acclaimed dark horror writer.` --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Full Dark House
78% buy the item featured on this page:
Full Dark House 3.7 out of 5 stars (7)
£6.84
The Water Room
8% buy
The Water Room 4.8 out of 5 stars (4)
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White Corridor (Bryant & May 5)
5% buy
White Corridor (Bryant & May 5) 4.9 out of 5 stars (7)
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Ten-second Staircase (Bryant & May 4)
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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Whizz in a blender, 14 Aug 2003
This review is from: Full Dark House (Hardcover)
If you were to take one Agatha Christie crime novel, a couple of episodes of the X-Files and the two crabbit auld geezers from "The Fast Show" and whizz them in a blender, the result would be very similar to this book.

The "misfit" section of the Metropolitan Police is called the PCU (Peculiar Crimes Unit), and its creation during the Second World War led to the working partnership of Arthur Bryant and John May. Their very first case (theatrical serial killer) comes back to haunt the unit with a vengeance, when Arthur is believed murdered in a bomb blast 50 years later. The plot twists and turns very satisfactorily throughout the book and the switches between present day and the past are well handled.
The background of London during the Blitz is very convincingly written, and is fascinating and challenging to a younger generation who may have only read the historically sanitized versions.
This is a good old-fashioned crime novel, and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who may have bemoaned the fact that all the best crime novelists are dead (Christie, Sayers, etc). Christopher Fowler promises that we will hear more from his detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May (who have appeared already in "Rune") and I'll certainly be looking forward to that.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Dark Tale of a Dark Time, 23 Jan 2005
By J. S. Bundy (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
This is a very enjoyable book; Bryant and May are offbeat, eccentric but ultimately believable characters. The book is set both in present day London and the London that was being devastated by World War Two.

The author paints a vivid picture of turbulent times and has obviously done a great deal of research to make sure that period details are correct, particularly the descriptions of the backstage areas of theatres and the varied staff and procedures for putting on a show.

The premise that the Met should have a department specially set up to investigate peculiar crimes is sheer brilliance and will hopefully lead to a further outing for Bryant and May.

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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars history of some old favourites, 12 Sep 2003
By shansu69 "ag171269" (london) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Full Dark House (Hardcover)
if you are a regular christopher fowler reader you would have come across the 'decrepit detectives' Arthur Bryant and John May and their adventures in the North London Peculiar Crimes Unit.This novel takes us back to the beginning of their investigations which started in 1940 as two young policemen seconded to the newly opened unit.The story flashes back between 1940 and the present day and is the usual mix of the weird and wonderful that graces a Fowler book.
The story concerns the mysterious murders that happen during the rehersals and opening for a show of Orpheus at the Palace Theatre (the one where Les Mis plays).the characters are well drawn and fufill their roles well and the good thing is that you find out how some of the other characters that inhabit the Bryant and May universe came to be.This book is part mystery,part horror and part hisory guide with the descriptive writing that Fowler uses to give us the flavours of London 1940.The goods thing is that after a couple of appearances before this looks like the first in a continuing series of B&M novels which in my opinion would make a great tv series(any commissioning editors out there take note Fowlers works would make GREAT tv !!)
A well written book that is definitely worth reading and hopefully this being the first of many.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Full Dark Curate's Egg
I'm sorry to disagree with an enthusiastic majority and I can only express an opinion. I'd never heard of Fowler and I approached him with an open mind. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Sandro Clementi

4.0 out of 5 stars Something Different
Detective stories aren't really my thing but this one certainly caught my imagination. Basically, it's Phantom of the Opera in wartime London investigated by a pair of novice... Read more
Published 24 months ago by M. Marshall

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book to read when your brain can't cope with anything serious!
I read this book in a couple days whilst off sick from work. It's a good plot but I read after just finishing Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca and for a while I found the book really... Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2007 by hanbee

4.0 out of 5 stars Shame about the duo's name!
Told in flashbacks to London in the blitz this is the first of the adventures of the hilariously named "Bryant and May"'s detective stories. Read more
Published on 16 April 2006 by D. WOOD

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