Something More Than Night

De: Ian Tregillis

Narrado por: Scott Brick

Ian Tregillis's Something More Than Night is a Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler inspired murder mystery set in Thomas Aquinas’s vision of Heaven. It’s a noir detective story starring fallen angels, the heavenly choir, nightclub stigmatics, a priest with a dirty secret, a femme fatale, and the Voice of God.

Somebody has murdered the angel Gabriel. Worse, the Jericho Trumpet has gone missing, putting Heaven on the brink of a truly cosmic crisis. But the twisty plot that unfolds from the murder investigation leads to something much bigger: a con job one billion years in the making.Because this is no mere murder. A small band of angels has decided to break out of heaven, but they need a human patsy to make their plan work.Much of the story is told from the point of view of Bayliss, a cynical fallen angel who has modeled himself on Philip Marlowe. The yarn he spins follows the progression of a Marlowe novel—the mysterious dame who needs his help, getting grilled by the bulls, finding a stiff, getting slipped a mickey.

Angels and gunsels, dames with eyes like fire, and a grand maguffin, Something More Than Night is a murder mystery for the cosmos.

©2013 Ian Tregillis (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

part noir mystery, part philosophy class

I really really enjoyed this book. It's a strange combination of genres, and I thought it was great. To say too much would be to give away the plot, but the synopsis isn't bad. The book is told from Bayliss in the first person and Molly in the third person, which was a little odd, but I didn't let it bother me much. The narrator was excellent for both. I also thought that the author did a superb job of making the two very different characters, completely distinct in how they told their parts of the story, a rare talent in an author!

I imagine that reviews of this book will be very divided. If you want to sit back and listen to the poetry of a twisting, convoluted plot (which I'd advise requires if not a small knowledge of philosophy, then a dictionary (or google) on hand), then you'll love it. If you don't like super elaborate descriptions and metaphors then you'll probably find this book bloated in self-indulgent excess. So be forewarned. If you don't like the first twenty minutes or so, don't go on. If you loved it (like I did), sit back and enjoy!

Entertaining Fantasy/Sci-Fi Detective Story

Entertaining story with creative writing style. The plot could have used more development, the characters were flat, and too much was dependent on deus ex machina.

be prepared

slow story, much more interesting lore than plot, and you get a bit out of the loop more than you'd care for

Hard-boiled fantasy

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Only if they like 1930s/40s, hard-boiled slang and hard fantasy.

Any additional comments?

Hard fantasy meets classic crime noir. An odd mix that may or may not be to a reader's taste. If you like your fallen angels to talk as if they are straight out a Chandler tale, plots and a mystery that are billions of years in the making, and a heavenly choir described in terms of wonder and quantum physics, then this might be for you. If not, you just might not be the type of dame or mugg that is hip to such a hard-boiled tale.

Not quite what I expected

The writing was overly complicated and at times it was frustrating to listen to. Also the plot took a lot of unnecessary turns but the ending was okay.