Nevermore (Paperback)

Falling Angel (No Exit Press 18 Years Classic) by William Hjortsberg 5.0 out of 5 stars (3)  £11.69

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Review
A carefully researched thriller that provides many fascinating details about celebrities of the Jazz Age but fails miserably and completely to provide any suspense. The novel has three protagonists: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the British creator of Sherlock Holmes, who is on a US tour to promote the spiritualist practices in which he ardently believes; Harry Houdini, the masterful escape artist, magician, and debunker of mediums; and Mrs. Opal Fletcher, a.k.a. Isis, a wealthy widow and clairvoyant to the elite. Doyle and Houdini are great friends and together resolve to find the serial murderer who patterns his killings on the grisliest death described in the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe. But Hjortsberg is not interested in spinning a good detective yarn. He hardly ever shows the pair sleuthing, and when he does, their efforts seem elementary and uninspired. Even Poe's ghost, who appears to Doyle regularly, can't get the men out of their easy chairs and into some serious action - physical or mental. It doesn't help that the author can't decide who the real hero of the story is; both men seem equally inept, while the murderer is determined, methodical, and obvious to the reader from the start. Houdini's love affair with Isis starts off titillatingly (she uses an ivory dildo filled with warm milk to bring him to a heightened, prolonged orgasm) but withers almost immediately, since the author denies him any sense of involvement with the woman or their child. All the characters wander through this fact-filled, name-dropping plot in a stupor, as if they - like the killer's victims - had chloroformed bags pulled over their heads. Hjortsberg is the author of seven previous novels (Falling Angel, 1978, etc.) and a number of screenplays. Practice does not always make perfect. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Description
The year is 1923 and a viciously ingenious maniac is leaving a trailof corpses across New York City. It isn't ling before ace crime reporter Damon Runyan begins to see a strange pattern emerging from these apparently random slayings -each murder uncannily recreates the gruesome denouement of an Edgar Allan Poe short story. Arthur Conan doyle, in New York on a lecture tour, cannot resist the challenge of solving the murders, assisted by his friend and fellow debunker of fake spiritualists Harry Houdini. But unknown to Conan Doyle, Houdini has fallen under the spell of a mysterious and compelling beautiful widow who claims to be the incarnation of the goddess Isis. As the bodies mount up ever more horribly and the spirit of Poe himself seems to be abroad, can the two friends unravel the deadly mix of illusion and reality before Houdini himself becomes the final victim of this bizarre madness.

3 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (2) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A splendid historical "whodunnit", 16 Jul 1999 By A Customer I enjoyed this book very much. It is set in 1920s New York, and the main protagonists are real life people, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, and Damon Runyan, amongst others. Mr. Hjortsberg deals with these people sympathetically and amusingly, whilst intertwining their lives with a series of murders all linked in with famous Edgar Allan Poe stories, and Conan Doyle and Houdini's well documented differences of opinion on spiritualism and contact with the other world through mediums. This is a literate and intelligent book, and I thoroughly recommend it to lovers of modern history and classic whodunnits. We even have Poe's ghost intervening in the action! Great stuff. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   2.0 out of 5 stars a period diversion, 7 Mar 2005 By  barbicandy "barbicandy" (lost) - See all my reviews This review is from: Nevermore (Hardcover) This farily competent detecetive story suffers somewhat from excessive name dropping, the same names in some cases that Doctorow used to far better period effect in "Ragtime". Implausible, but with a reasonable pace and an accessible style this is a mystery for those who find mystery stories unrewarding. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   0 of 2 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars Too much waffle and padding, 24 May 2001 By  M. I. R. Clarke "ian clarke" (northern ireland) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)       This "detective thriller" takes far too long to get going and then it's over before you know it. Hjortsberg gets bogged down setting the scene, introducing a host of historical characters (Conan Doyle, Houdini, Damon Runyon, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack Dempsey, Ring Lardner, Douglas Fairbanks, Louis Meyer ......),a debate on spiritualism, and period details, often for their own sake. Finally there's very little deductive work, Conan Doyle is a bit of a bumbler - more like Watson than Holmes. The motives and psychology of the mad serial killer are poorly explained and the plot becomes wildly convoluted, implausible and melodramatic. The characters are fairly single dimensional - like vaudeville performers rather than real people. Hjortsberg should read Caleb Carr for some tips about working period details into a plot and always remember it is "background". If he's going to write social history he's got to research his facts better - for instance, in cricket, you don't "bowl a century". Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 3 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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