Something More Than Night

By: Ian Tregillis

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

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.

A quantum theorists idea of heaven's mythology

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

Highly recommended for anyone with the love of noir, strong female characters, and metaphysical humor. Hilarious, unexpected despite being trope filled, and attention grabbing. A joy to read.

Great story; hard to follow

The stylish noir twist on Heaven and Earth is great. The humanization of angels and the deification of mortals is thought-provoking to say the least. Looking back over the story I can see the whole plot Land how it all came together. However, the prose used to describe many of the Heavenly realms and interactions between angels is SO lofty that it practically makes no sense. That could be the whole point, in a manner of speaking, in that mortals can't comprehend the afterlife.

The narrator is amazing and brings a great characterization to each player in the story. I would definitely listen to another book with him reading.

As a final note, I have read/listened to all of Ian Tregillis' books and I am a fan...this one was just a bit off the well-worn path for him.

as confused as a chicken in a cement mixer

but one hell of a yarn. the sort of book that grabs you by the lapels and makes your ears stand on end.

Confusing imagery, but interesting language

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Too much -- the plot is confusing, the style of writing even more. I find the kind of images used to describe situations not appealing, but confusing.

What three words best describe Scott Brick’s performance?

Brings over the snoops language very good.

Do you think Something More Than Night needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, I don't like the style of the story.

Any additional comments?

Despite I found that it is difficult for me to find a sense or plot in the story I kept listening to it because I really like the style of talking of the main character: He uses slang and style of a classical P.I. novels snoop, which is really appealing and a bit funny. It reminds me of Bogart and of Tracer Bullet (Bill Watersons, of course). Very nice.

More than a few moments of Brilliance!

I feel like I appreciate it more for what an astounding writing accomplishment it is than I actually enjoyed listening to it. I gave this book my full concentration and while it had some of the most enjoyable writing I can remember, a lot of it went over my head.

I am not always a fan of Scott Brick's narration for some books, but I thought he was spot on for this book and writing style.

Overall, I enjoyed it, maybe more of a 3.5 stars than 4. I still look forward To Mr. Tregillis' next writing effort.

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!

Just an amazing story

Brother, this is a humdinger. Park the body. Have a read. You'll be glad you did.

Pass

I loved the Alchemy Wars, so I was excited to give this a try, but I was sorely disappointed.

It's like the whole first third of the book is setting up the twist, but it really needed an editor. The first 10 chapters of so is one of the main characters narrating the story as if he were a noir detective. But it's bad. And the story doesn't really progress. It's just long-winded, hard-boiled prose.

It makes sense once you get to the twist, but man I almost gave up on it.

Angel Noir and the Epistemological Challenge

Any additional comments?

There is so much cleverness in this book that it oozes into every sentence. After finishing it up, I have to fight the urge to try to mimic its tough talking angel-protagonist’s tune. Bayliss is a tough guy immortal, an angel who’s chosen to carve out his slice of the cosmos, his “magisterium,” as if it’s a diner out of an Edward Hopper painting.

Meanwhile, Molly is a mortal – or, as the hardboiled angels call us, “a monkey” – who’s just died in an accident and been reborn as a new angel, one whose memories of her human life both cripple her and give her insights the other angels lack. Bayliss is her crass mentor, the only hope she has of making sense of the metaphysics of the multiverse she can finally take in.

Things may get a bit tricky near the end, more on that in a moment, but the star of this show is Tregellis’s deep gift for language. Bayliss is a brilliant invention, less so for his character (which works well for most of the novel) than for his endless and clever patter. His narrative style, whether he’s smoking “a pill” (or cigarette), explaining the nature of the Mantle of Ontological Consistency with its outlying “ontological boondocks,” or telling a “jasper” of an interfering Throne (one type of angel) to “scram,” his every utterance is a joy. Yes, Tregellis is showing off. Yes he must have been a philosophy or theology major (or at least spent a long time smoking pills at dingy coffee houses). But this is always fun.

I think Molly works a little less well throughout. At first her confusion means we get some of the same material in a different and somewhat less clever voice. Later, as she begins to pull things together, she’s more effective, but the story begins to stretch at the seams, so she still doesn’t quite come together.

The brilliance of this is in the premise and then again in Tregellis’s pitch perfect rendition of it. As the explanations of the situation fade and the central mystery rises, though, this starts to drag a little.

[SPOILER ALERT] For me, this takes a real downward turn when we discover that Bayliss is actually an unreliable narrator. I suppose I see what Tregellis is doing; he’s answering the cleverness of the premise with one more clever turn (that Bayliss/Gabriel is imposing not just the voice of the noir narrator but the plot as well, with him in a kind of femme fatale role).

As it plays out, though, we learn so many of the premises of this cosmos from Bayliss that it saps some of the fun to find that many of our first principles are suspect. To put it as Bayliss might, I was ready for the book to take an ontological swing at me, but I never saw the epistemological haymaker coming. That’s a sucker punch to us readers, while the rest of the book makes it feel as if we’ll be fighting under legit rules.

So, if the end disappoints me, it still doesn’t undo the fabulous beginning here. This is funny enough and clever enough in its first three quarters to make it worth reading all the way to the end.

The best part of this is the narrator

The story isn't bad, but the narrator carries this story and lifts it from the realms of just another fallen angel story to a modern noir. Don't get me wrong, the writing was actually pretty good, but this was raised to its heights by the narration.

Mind bendingly brilliant!

Would you listen to Something More Than Night again? Why?

I actually went to the trouble to deliberately log into Audible and write this review, that should say a lot. Fantastic book which comes to life with Scott Brick narrating who should be familiar to anyone who's listened to the Ender's Game books as the voice of Bean.

The fact that Tregillis has a PhD in physics is pretty obvious throughout this book but the surrealist descriptions teamed with the classic Bogart one liners make this a very original piece of work.

What other book might you compare Something More Than Night to, and why?

Somewhere between Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and the mind folding complexity of Ian M Banks.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Delivery. Just plain old delivery. He makes Bayliss into a real person during the course of this book!

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes. I won't spoil it but yes.

Any additional comments?

The most unique story I've read/heard in a long time!

Great novel

What did you like most about Something More Than Night?

It is a fascinating setting with an awesome mix of religion with a little theoretical physics sprinkled for fun.

What other book might you compare Something More Than Night to, and why?

on the surface it seems like other urban fantasies but it is much more.

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick – was your favourite?

Bayliss of course,Scott got the Noir feel if the novel exactly right,It was a pleasure listening to the book.

Nearly gave up on this; very glad I didn't.

At first I found the Phillip Marlow lingo far too much and it felt derivative, but I persevered and very soon I was hooked. Definitely worth spending a couple of chapters adjusting to the narration of the Bayliss POV parts, this story is truly excellent. Fantastic descriptive turns of phrase without being purple, great twists and turns in the plot. Will listen again in a few years when I've forgotten those twists.

Decent, gets better

The mixture of science and metaphysics is quite interesting in the world building, but I found the protagonist a bit tiresome for a while. In the second half the plot suddenly becomes more competing and I listened to the last couple of hours in one sitting.

Scott Brick is a great narrator and has a lot of fun with the Chandleresque monologues.

Intelligent, Genre-Bending for Noir Fans

The thing that I really love about Something More Than Night is it's completeness. Where Jim Butcher might throw "Noir" and "Magic" at the wall in order to see what sticks (with admittedly fun results), this book is utterly deliberate right through to the end; what seems like a genre-quirk becomes utterly essential to the plot, and you can't shake the feeling that a very clever writer is at work.

This is fundamentally a hard-boiled detective novel, and those elements are right on the nose, so really don't go in expecting anything else. The characters are sometimes charming, often funny, but I don't think I'd call any of them likable, and they're not trying to be. The prose is great, and there's a complexity of plot that Raymond Chandler would be proud of. Most importantly it really, really works as a detective story - never predictable, and you don't feel like the author has magicked the solution out of the air.

As for the more fantastical stuff, Tregillis has successfully blended Judaeo-Christian mythology with various concepts from modern Physics to come up with a satisfyingly smart and deep world, full of supernatural beings and extended metaphors about quantum entanglement. Possibly this will be off-putting for anyone who hasn't read, say, a popular science book recently, but it's fun, smart, and allows the author to be properly thought-provoking from time to time.

Finally, Scott Brick is just great. Anything read in the first person needs a first class narrator, and Mr Brick just nails the jaded, hardboiled-detective persona required of Baylis. Perfectly pitched, I really couldn't have enjoyed this book more.

Something more than straightforward

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

Yes. The narration is excellent and enhances the overall "feel" of the story. Very unusual and complex tale of things that are, things that might be, and things that were.

What other book might you compare Something More Than Night to, and why?

Not sure I can think of any. Scott Brick's narration brings The Passage to mind.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

A sense of world weariness and impending disaster. His delivery adds depth and shading to the journey.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Molly goes back to visit her partner.

Any additional comments?

Not an easy story to follow but well worth the effort in the end.

Good in parts

What would have made Something More Than Night better?

Less meandering science/pseudoscience. Make a point. Don't keep playing with it in greater and greater detail.

What was most disappointing about Ian Tregillis’s story?

The first half was good for setting the scene, but then collapsed into ever decreasing circles of self indulgence. The detailed intricacies were fine as a hook, but it just got a bit much.

What about Scott Brick’s performance did you like?

Unlike others I found it clear and understandable. Sadly, it was the best thing about this recording.

What character would you cut from Something More Than Night?

The protagonist. Is that allowed?

Any additional comments?

I usually like novels like this, but this just didn't float my boat.

Angelic noir

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not. It was a strange mix of science fiction and angelology.

What was most disappointing about Ian Tregillis’s story?

The structure of the plot meandered and there wasn't a strong, central relationship.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Haven't listened to his other performances. His performance wasn't the problem. It was the strange nature of the book.

Do you think Something More Than Night needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I wouldn't be interested in a sequel, but others might like the strange genre mix.

Any additional comments?

Not really my cup of tea, but I did listen to it all so perhaps others might like it.

Ponderous narration ruins a good story

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Ian Tregillis writes fantastic books and I was really looking forward to this. I have tried several times to get into this one and I can't get past the truly awful narration.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Didn't get to the end, only made it about 2 chapters in.

How could the performance have been better?

Remove Scott Brick and get someone who can read a story, make it gripping and not make it sound like he's reading the instructions to a self-assembly wardrobe.

Do you think Something More Than Night needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I didn't reach the end so didn't know.

Any additional comments?

I feel very harsh giving a review that might impact on the author's sales as I intend buying this book to read as the content of the first chapter was very intriguing.