Some Danger Involved

Barker & Llewelyn Series, Book 1

De: Will Thomas

Narrado por: Antony Ferguson

An atmospheric debut novel set on the gritty streets of Victorian London, Some Danger Involved introduces detective Cyrus Barker and his assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, as they work to solve the gruesome murder of a young scholar in London's Jewish ghetto. When the eccentric and enigmatic Barker takes the case, he must hire an assistant, and out of all who answer an ad for a position with "some danger involved", he chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man with a murky past.

As they inch ever closer to the shocking truth behind the murder, Llewelyn is drawn deeper and deeper into Barker's peculiar world of vigilante detective work, as well as the heart of London's teeming underworld.

Brimming with wit and unforgettable characters and steeped in authentic period detail, Some Danger Involved is a captivating novel that introduces an equally captivating duo.

©2004 Will Thomas (P)2016 Tantor

Clever writing!

I really enjoyed listening to this book. Will Thomas has written a story about a clash of cultures in Victorian London that was interesting to listen to because he is a very good story teller who includes many historical and even theological bits of information that take it well beyond a simple period mystery.

Told from the perspective of Thomas Llewelyn, the assistant to the eccentric but brilliant Cyrus Barker, the story focuses on their efforts to find the killer of a young Jewish man, and stop the possibility of there being another pogram against the Jews who inhabit this London ghetto.

I find it somewhat interesting as well, that the author has given his own name to the assistant who is initially desperate for any sort of job--indeed is contemplating suicide because he sees no way to go on living--but quickly becomes a character with a lot of fortitude and intelligence and who develops the most over the course of the book.

I nearly marked the stars down a bit because there are a few anachronisms (mostly in language that probably would not have been true to the times) that were a little pesky, but the overall story was so engaging that I decided they didn't make that much difference. A good story, a good mystery and good narration. That's worth 5 stars to me.

Meh

Any additional comments?

The period atmospherics were well done. Barker at least was developed into a mildly sympathetic and interesting figure. The story line was simplistic, with some limited sub elements that were not really engaging. The ending was pretty flat. The whole book was something of a prolonged wander that left this reader unsatisfied. Someone interested in this gendre might want to read Caleb Carr's Alienist or another superior novel for a more robust and challanging period mystery.

Solidly average story

Nothing really stands out for me with this story. There were no clues as to the answer to the mystery, which made me feel like the main narrator of the story did me a disservice. Also there were a few times that I just scratched my head. In one scene Llewelyn smokes a pipe in a club and has a lovely chat, and then later on he has to pack a pipe and states that he hopes he did it correctly since he'd just been observing Barker do it...ok....

Also can we please invest in women reading the female characters? Ah well.

I wanted to be In Love with this

I ended up in quite serious Like. It's good, but in the end it's not Great because it comes off as a sort of mash-up of Holmes and everything else you've ever read about Victorian London. It feels like the author sat down and made a check list and then stuffed every idiosyncratic trait he could think of into the main character of Barker. And... why do side kicks always have to be short? This is a bit like Holmes and Watson meet Morse and Lewis with a big dose of 'grit' and what I guess you'd term Victorian noire thrown in. They are all also very 'issue-y'. There's the Jewish one, the Irish one, the Chinese one etc etc. For me, the plot actually suffers because of this and the character development ends up hemmed in by the sheer amount of colorful detail. I didn't end up feeling deeply engaged. But, all that having been said, it is entertaining. Narration in this one was good.

Fantastic Fun

A great Sherlock style duo unique enough to be great fun while still tipping a hat to the master of Victorian sleuths. I can't get enough of Barker and Llewellyn!

The narrator has a great gift for accents without sounding cartoonish.

Just when I think I'm going to cancel audible...

I love this book, and that it's a series! Mysteries are my favorite genre and I've really been enjoying Victorian Era settings. This was great and the performance was enjoyable.

Great story and narration

Story was humorous and engaging. Interesting characters and story line. So glad there is another in the series! Already purchased the second book.
Narration very well done.

Sherlockian with a different twist!

The author follows the Sherlock type story in which the "writer/storyteller" is written from his point of view versus the main character. Barker is Sherlock (basically) and Llewelyn is Watson. The cases they follow happen in London, as does Sherlock. But the author, Will Thomas, takes a twist by adding the historical Chinese (martial combat skills, Buddhist monks, and even many Jewish aspects (historical and religious types).
Barker is a smart, independently wealthy, Scottish "private enquiry agent," and his Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn (equally as smart, quick to learn, but not as worldly as his employer), with the novels set in the 1880s.
I think that as a fan of the original Sherlock tales, I would highly recommend this series. I'm currently on book 2 and look forward to the next iterations.

Victorian Crime Procedural

What made the experience of listening to Some Danger Involved the most enjoyable?

Antony Ferguson's take on Barker's voice was my favorite aspect of the listening experience.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Barker, certainly. He is not the point-of-view character but the protagonist. That said, creating distinct and novel characters is a forte of this author. His characters are as quirky and internally inconsistent as real people, but not the Hollywood collection of cute eccentrics that passes for ensemble these days. Each character has a strong, coherent personality, such that he could leave attributions off of the dialog and we would never become confused.

Which scene was your favorite?

There are many vivid set pieces. Personally, I enjoy Barker's approach to mental and physical training.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Witcher in Victorian London (Note: There are no supernatural elements)

Any additional comments?

I should note that I am reviewing the series as a whole. I wish there were twenty more books. The first book has a bit of early exposition that worried me. Much was simply blurted out that could have been shown over the course of the story, and Will Thomas does occasionally tell what could be shown even late in the series, but this slight first-book blemish improved after the first few chapters of volume one.
This is a fine expansion on Victorian Crime fiction which I did not find derivative at all.

This is not a take on Sherlock Holmes, though they would be contemporaries. Barker is intelligent, but not at all a superhuman intellect. This is more of a procedural, but not a police procedural. The author gradually develops the theme of why a "Private Enquiry Agent" is a needed function in that society. The legal system prioritizes cases based on wealth and politics. How "important" is the victim? Scotland Yard is not painted as incompetent, nor indifferent, but constrained by tight funds and a brutal class system.

The relationship between private agents, the Constabulary, and the underworld is portrayed as an ecosystem of frenemies and interdependencies.
There is plenty of action and adventure, but they are used to explore some of the issues of the day, and I found myself doing a little follow-up research on many of these interesting topics.

Llewelyn is a shallow, self-absorbed young man whose impetuous actions can lead to disasters, yet he always seems to think he’s done nothing wrong. I found that grating at times, but it highlights Barker’s typical long game approach, as he cultivates Llewelyn’s better qualities with patience, insight, and a certain amount of casual brutality. In fairness, Llewelyn is also intelligent and surprisingly competent.
I expect I will read any further books in the series as soon as they become available.

a good set up for future stories

I liked vivid descriptions.
I disliked that the narrator used cockney instead of a good Irish accent for McElroy.