The Face of a Stranger - Anne Perry

This novel really stood out for me among other detective fiction. For one thing, it begins very unexpectedly – with the detective having entirely lost his memory following a carriage accident in which he suffered head injuries. William Monk’s sense of loss and his discomfort with feeling at odds with his former self are portrayed well throughout the novel. The other thing that sets it apart is the fact that, as well as the central mystery, this story is very much about people. They aren’t merely pieces in a puzzle, but feel like well-rounded characters with a past and a future. You really come to care about their fates in a way that I don’t often find in detective series.

The only negative thing I have to say about The Face of a Stranger is that it does tend towards being anachronistic in its values. Monk feels contempt towards his former self’s apparent social mobility, now thinking of the upper classes as no better than the lower, and the female protagonist, Miss Hester Latterly, is predictably independent with no patience for convention. Both characters are well-drawn and compelling, but neither really seem to suit the environment in which they’re placed. That said, it’s very hard to find historical novels that don’t modernise the views of the central characters to some extent.

The central mystery itself is cleverly done, and very human rather than being a contorted logical puzzle, which fits the tone of the novel very well. Definitely worth reading!

Next up: Half Moon Street by Anne Perry

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

I’ve been meaning to read Brave New World for years, and I wish I’d done so sooner – this novel is intriguing, disturbing and surprisingly engaging as well. The reader is shown round a world in which technological progression has reached the point at which babies are replicated in bottles, growth stunted or assisted according to their destined caste, and then conditioned as children to believe as their caste should. Everybody is happy because they have no wish to be anything other than they are – and when they are unhappy, there is the intoxicating drug soma to distract them for a while.

Bernard Marx, however, is a misfit, trying to reject the ideals of instant gratification and mindless enjoyment and to think, and feel, for himself. When he brings a ‘savage’ back from a reservation outside their utopia, questions start to be asked and human passions begin to cause turmoil in the stagnant, content society.

The main characters are well-developed and interesting, as well as the overarching ideas, and the way Huxley’s society in this novel views the human past with revulsion forms a challenging reversal of viewpoint. Brave New World strikes a disturbingly relevant note in our own increasingly materialistic, instant-gratification-demanding world, and really makes you rethink your values.

Overall, very thought-provoking and well worth a read, if you haven’t already. Also, I have no idea what's meant to be on the cover of my edition. I think I can see a face, but maybe I'm just imagining it? Guesses welcome below!

Next up: The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry