Raymond Chandler meets Murakami in this inventive reimagining of the classic detetctive novel. In this tightly plotted yet mind-expanding debut novel, an unlikely detective, armed with only an umbrella and a singular handbook, must untangle a string of crimes committed in and through people's dreams. In an unnamed city always slick with rain, Charles Unwin is a humble file clerk working for a huge and imperious detective agency, and all he knows about solving mysteries comes from filing reports for the illustrious investigator Travis Sivart. When Sivart goes missing, and his supervisor turns up murdered, Unwin is suddenly promoted to detective, a rank for which he lacks both the skills and the stomach. His only guidance comes from his new assistant, who would be perfect if she weren't so sleepy, and from the pithy yet profound MANUAL OF DETECTION. Unwin mounts his search for Sivart, but is soon framed for …
Raymond Chandler meets Murakami in this inventive reimagining of the classic detetctive novel. In this tightly plotted yet mind-expanding debut novel, an unlikely detective, armed with only an umbrella and a singular handbook, must untangle a string of crimes committed in and through people's dreams. In an unnamed city always slick with rain, Charles Unwin is a humble file clerk working for a huge and imperious detective agency, and all he knows about solving mysteries comes from filing reports for the illustrious investigator Travis Sivart. When Sivart goes missing, and his supervisor turns up murdered, Unwin is suddenly promoted to detective, a rank for which he lacks both the skills and the stomach. His only guidance comes from his new assistant, who would be perfect if she weren't so sleepy, and from the pithy yet profound MANUAL OF DETECTION. Unwin mounts his search for Sivart, but is soon framed for murder, pursued by goons and gunmen, and confounded by the infamous femme fatale Cleo Greenwood. Meanwhile, strange and troubling questions proliferate: why does the mummy at the Municipal Museum have modern-day dental work? Where have all the city's alarm clocks gone? Why is Unwin's copy of the Manual missing Chapter 18? When he discovers that the greatest of Sivart's cases - including 'The Three Deaths of Colonel Baker' and 'The Man who Stole the Twelfth of November' - were never solved correctly, he must enter the dreams of a murdered man and face a criminal mastermind bent on total control of a slumbering city. THE MANUAL OF DETECTION will draw comparison to every work of imaginative fiction that ever blew a reader's mind. But, ultimately, it defies comparison; it is a brilliantly conceived, meticulously realised novel that will change what you think about how you think.
Review of 'The manual of detection' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
"Berry expertly weaves together these strands of plot (plus a few others) with an assurance that belies his first-time novelist status. His world is that of the classic noirs of the 1950s, alongside a vision of a gothic city (caught in a perpetual rainstorm) straight out of Terry Gilliam's visionary film Brazil. When one character comments to the deceptively competent Unwin, "I do know a thing or two about detectives, Mr. Unwin. I know that with a few words you could have won my heart. But you're one of the noble ones, aren't you?" you can feel the ghosts of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler urging Berry on."
