So, quick history lesson with me and Bryant And May. Been vaguely aware of this series for a while, but I always thought this was a crime series with a slight paranormal twist/element to it. I even have two eProofs from NetGalley – Hall of Mirrors and Oranges and Lemons. But kept putting them off as I wasn’t in the mood for it. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when Audible doing their Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sales. And yes, I am a sucker for a sale. So, when I saw this, this caught my eye.
Title And Author: Bryant and May Off The Rails by Christopher Fowler
Publisher: Transworld
Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
Length: 386 Pages or 10 Hours 46 Minutes
Arthur Bryant, John May and the rest of the Peculiar Crime Unit are in shock and grief. One of their brightest and bravest members was murdered by a violent enigma that they already caught once and escaped. Everything about Mr Fox is false and he can hide easily in plain sight. The Peculiar Crime Unit are desperate to catch him – but they have less than a week to catch him. Otherwise, the department will be shut down. As they have nothing to work with, expect Mr Fox has a link to King's Cross train station. The same place as a strange, motiveless death has just happened. A woman was pushed violently down the stairs. The only clue on her is a sticker of a university bar on her back. Are these two separate cases linked in a twisted way? Can the history and myths of the London Underground and King's Cross be the key? And will Bryant and May finally catch Mr Fox before he strikes again?
Right, this is not the best place to start if this is on your radar. This is the eighth book in the series (I didn’t know that) and this is the second book in a two-book arc (the first in this arc, I believe, is Bryant and May On the Loose), so you can understand that for a good chunk of the first half, I was going “What is happening? What the heck have I missed?!” with the story, the characters and the stories unravelling.
The way the cases work is that the death of the woman at King's Cross takes the forefront, and yet, Mr Fox and his menace is lurking in the background (though the murder of the Peculiar Crime Unit teammate and the grief the team are going through is played throughout the book). But are the two connected? That would be telling…
I found both cases full of twists and turns and both worked beautifully. I didn’t figure out what was going on or who the murderer is (I always like it when I can’t figure it out. But, with this, I was going along with the ride, not trying to figure out whodunnit [which is a nice change for me. I need to do this a little more with crime/mystery novels]). And the added layer of the myths and legends of the London Underground added a nice little element to the story.
But what made this book was Bryant and May. Two grumpy old farts who bicker, like to wind their boss (one of my fave scenes was Bryant and his boss, Lamb, bickering about a manuscript of Bryant and May’s first case and the changes Bryant made [setting the crime during the Blitz, around 15 years earlier than it should and other elements changed]. And the moment of “Yes, that happened.” “No, it didn’t.” “Yes, it did.” “No, you didn’t!” is a nice random comedic relief in this book. And there are a good few in this book, and I sense the series has this throughout which is a huge selling point for me.
But (and yes, there is a but as… come on, it’s me here!), I have one or two problems. I wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of the audiobook’s narrator. By the end I got the end, I got use to his reading but, there were times I got muddled with voices of Bryant and May (I did this so many times, I can’t decide if it’s because I listened to this over the course of three days or because I just got confused over who’s who. Which is possible with me.) There are one or two other niggles, but seeing as I jumped in halfway through a two-book arc, I will forgive the book and blame my ignorance.
Though not the best place to jump in, but I am planning to continue my adventures with the two old grumpy so-and-so (though I am going to admit I am worried that Bryant’s eccentricities might drown out the other characters, including his partner). We shall see when I get to Hall of Mirrors (a case set in the 1960s – a flashback case!) and Oranges and Lemons (a case, I think, set in the modern day [like Off The Rails).
Title And Author: Bryant and May Off The Rails by Christopher Fowler
Publisher: Transworld
Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
Length: 386 Pages or 10 Hours 46 Minutes
Arthur Bryant, John May and the rest of the Peculiar Crime Unit are in shock and grief. One of their brightest and bravest members was murdered by a violent enigma that they already caught once and escaped. Everything about Mr Fox is false and he can hide easily in plain sight. The Peculiar Crime Unit are desperate to catch him – but they have less than a week to catch him. Otherwise, the department will be shut down. As they have nothing to work with, expect Mr Fox has a link to King's Cross train station. The same place as a strange, motiveless death has just happened. A woman was pushed violently down the stairs. The only clue on her is a sticker of a university bar on her back. Are these two separate cases linked in a twisted way? Can the history and myths of the London Underground and King's Cross be the key? And will Bryant and May finally catch Mr Fox before he strikes again?
Right, this is not the best place to start if this is on your radar. This is the eighth book in the series (I didn’t know that) and this is the second book in a two-book arc (the first in this arc, I believe, is Bryant and May On the Loose), so you can understand that for a good chunk of the first half, I was going “What is happening? What the heck have I missed?!” with the story, the characters and the stories unravelling.
The way the cases work is that the death of the woman at King's Cross takes the forefront, and yet, Mr Fox and his menace is lurking in the background (though the murder of the Peculiar Crime Unit teammate and the grief the team are going through is played throughout the book). But are the two connected? That would be telling…
I found both cases full of twists and turns and both worked beautifully. I didn’t figure out what was going on or who the murderer is (I always like it when I can’t figure it out. But, with this, I was going along with the ride, not trying to figure out whodunnit [which is a nice change for me. I need to do this a little more with crime/mystery novels]). And the added layer of the myths and legends of the London Underground added a nice little element to the story.
But what made this book was Bryant and May. Two grumpy old farts who bicker, like to wind their boss (one of my fave scenes was Bryant and his boss, Lamb, bickering about a manuscript of Bryant and May’s first case and the changes Bryant made [setting the crime during the Blitz, around 15 years earlier than it should and other elements changed]. And the moment of “Yes, that happened.” “No, it didn’t.” “Yes, it did.” “No, you didn’t!” is a nice random comedic relief in this book. And there are a good few in this book, and I sense the series has this throughout which is a huge selling point for me.
Though not the best place to jump in, but I am planning to continue my adventures with the two old grumpy so-and-so (though I am going to admit I am worried that Bryant’s eccentricities might drown out the other characters, including his partner). We shall see when I get to Hall of Mirrors (a case set in the 1960s – a flashback case!) and Oranges and Lemons (a case, I think, set in the modern day [like Off The Rails).
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