"’I always suspected hell would be a place of poorly performed music’, he said."It is sentences like the above, uttered by one of the characters during a veritable trip down into the maw of hell, undertaken with the view of helping the unusual heroine of the story dispose of the “Trouble Within”, that render this book especially memorable and entertaining. But it is not just sentences like that.For a start, the Australian writer Anthony O’Neill has come up with an intriguing story of mystery and murder set in 1881 Edinburgh, although the prologue that is going to be unearthed dates back twenty more years. The story starts with the Scottish capital being haunted by a series of seemingly gratuitous murders and one case of a desecration of a dead body. A lighthouse keeper walking his dog, a renowned, yet rather prim and fire-and-brimstone theologian from Edinburgh University, a seedy con-man, they all meet death in the streets of Edinburgh, gruesomely ripped to pieces like old newspapers. Nobody can give a description of the perpetrator, although the last victim was killed on a platform full of passengers; there is some rumour of a “dark force” being at work, and there is a young girl, Evelyn Todd, an avid reader of scientific and philosophical works, who claims to have dreamed of the murders simultaneously to when they were committed.O’Neill is not only a master of knitting a haunting plot, but also of creating impressive characters: There is Evelyn, the orphan, who hides within herself the memory of something terrible, and who is both irascible and shy; there is Thomas McKnight, a disillusioned university professor, and his meek, good-hearted friend Jospeph Canavan, who are determined to help Evelyn face the terrors of her past, and there is Inspector Groves, the character I liked most: an over-ambitious, jaundiced man who has set his mind on hunting down Evelyn as the person responsible for the killings. The more he works his way into the case, the more this originally sober and unimaginative man is convinced that Evelyn is a sort of witch possessed by a demon and that she has killed the victims by using supernatural forces.O’Neill throws in a bunch of unforgettable minor characters, that deftly caricature members of professions like university professors, clergymen, or actors. One of my favourites here is the histrionic actor Seth Hogarth, Esq., who is driven to the brink of frenzy by Groves’s frequent mention of the name of the play “Macbeth”, much to the astonishment of the unsuspecting inspector.Another charm of the book is the author’s wit and knowledge, which he displays in a playful and unobtrusive way. This is not just a crime story, but also a book about the power of imagination, or rather the unconscious, about fact and fiction and about how people envisaged the Devil according to the predominant philosophy of the time. One interesting detail the author points out is that the apple can be seen as both a symbol of the Fall from Grace and of modern science and the renuciation of myth, in that it was an apple that apparently inspired Sir Isaac Newton to draft his theory of gravity. Not only content, but also form bears witness to the author’s talent, since his style of writing is elaborate and redolent of the masters of the 19th century. Apart from that it is full of caustic humour, for instance when Professor Whitty (“by name and nature”) says, upon examaning the body of one of the victims: “’A body in three pieces […] A case, it would appear, in which the body is as much a puzzle as the murder.’”If, however, you are rather meticulous about genres, be warned, because this novel is very difficult to classify, as you must be prepared to accept a touch of the supernatural, something that does normally not go down well with dyed-in-the-wool fans of detective fiction. I, for my part, have read this novel twice already, because I think it is really a special treat.
The Lamplighter is a thought-provoking exploration into what it means to be human, and the best historical thriller that I've read so far. (I need to read more!)The story follows one Evelyn Todd, born in the shadowy recesses of late 1800's Edinburgh and promptly turned over to an orphanage. Run by Mr Abraham Lindsay, a man whose severity is tempered only by the kindness of his wife, life is tolerable for Evelyn - for a time. She amuses the other girls with wild tales of her imagination. Following the death of Mr Lindsay's wife, the orphanage experiences a violent crackdown. Meat is rationed more severely. Robinson Crusoe is replaced with Scripture. Bible lessons and canings increase, while tales of the imagination are expressly forbidden - and the tellers of such tales are punished severely.Evelyn finds solace in the Lamplighter, a figure around whom she knits various tales of wonder. The Lamplighter, she claims, is a man who has travelled far, and after setting London alight he leaves for miraculous places over the seas that Evelyn knows only from Geography lessons.One day, a man arrives at the orphanage claiming to be Evelyn's father. James Ainslee is of shifty character, but Evelyn is desperate - and naive - enough to trust him. He lets her out of one nightmare, yes, but she is immediately plunged into a another...And twenty years later, the streets of Edinburgh are running with blood.Professor Smeaton of the University, a teacher of all things ecclesiastical. Colin Shanks, retired lighthouse keeper. James Ainslee, swindler, thief, and rogue. Colonel Munnoch, "A Christian and a Soldier". What do they have in common, apart from being torn apart by something not quite human? Following a puzzling trail of clues are Inspector Groves, a long-standing fixture of the Force with dreams of glory; and Professor Thomas McKnight, of the Metaphysics department, along with his nightwatchman friend Joseph Canavan.O'Neill skilfully knits a rich story world, encompassing Edinburgh in a mixture of darkness and fog as both groups of investigators ask unanswerable questions. And in the climax, O'Neill does something truly masterful: he makes you wonder what it means to be human.I can't say more for fear of ruining the whole thing, but I would highly recommend this if you like surprise twists, historical thrillers, Edinburgh, and crime with a supernatural bent. A comprehensible, highly enjoyable, and well researched novel.
What do You think about The Lamplighter (2003)?
A devilish good book! At first I thought it would be a victorian whodunnit ( it remind me of " The Dante Club" which I liked also) but soon I became aware it was not. It´s not easy to classify this novel: an dreamlike thriller perhaps??? The final scenes are haunting as a Hyeronymus Bosch´s or Dali´s painting with a Lynch-esque flavour to it. I wonder why this novel wasn´t yet turned into an horror movie as it has the required elements to be a great one.
—Roberto
A co-worker loaned me this because she found the presentation of physical vs philosophical interesting and wanted to discuss the ending. I've enjoyed serial killer books so I had no objections. The writing style is college-age, with big words and convoluted sentences. The characters are interesting but not entirely likeable, so it has a British flavor. No one does unlikeable but interesting like the British. The story is interesting, with enough twists on standard religion to make me call it speculative fiction but not get me overly riled. The pacing is reasonable, until the last thirty pages when the climax is presented in a "24" like split screen among four story lines. However, it didn't grab my emotions, even at parts where I know that was the intent, like the last 30 pages. The climax was ant-climactic, and the ending a bit too happy, which is an odd thing for me to complain about. I have no desire to re-read it, and I can't even really say I liked it, which is why I gave it 2 stars. There's nothing entirely wrong about the story, but it wasn't entirely right for me, either.
—Robynn
BaroccoGiallo storico/filosofico/gotico insipido ambientato in una Edimburgo atterrita da un bestiale serial killer.Ambientazione inesistente in una Edimburgo che è più evocativa nel titolo (che in originale era The lamplighter e basta) e nella copertina che in tutto il romanzo.Personaggi piatti e contradditori, motivazioni inesistenti, protagonista principale inesistente.Trama confusa, che oscilla tra giallo e gotico senza prendere una posizione e rivelando diverse contraddizioni.Stile estremamente barocco, pomposo, pesante e banale che finisce con il sembrare una parodia di se stesso.Finale inesistente, telegrafato. Non c'è una risoluzione, ma la (già poca) tensione si sgonfia su se stessa.Sconsigliato.
—Roberta
