The Manual of Detection
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Average rating3.8
"This debut novel weaves the kind of mannered fantasy that might result if Wes Anderson were to adapt Kafka." --The New Yorker Reminiscent of imaginative fiction from Jorge Luis Borges to Jasper Fforde yet dazzlingly original, The Manual of Detection marks the debut of a prodigious young talent. Charles Unwin toils as a clerk at a huge, imperious detective agency located in an unnamed city always slick with rain. When Travis Sivart, the agency's most illustrious detective, is murdered, Unwin is suddenly promoted and must embark on an utterly bizarre quest for the missing investigator that leads him into the darkest corners of his soaking, somnolent city. What ensues is a noir fantasy of exquisite craftsmanship, as taut as it is mind-blowing, that draws readers into a dream world that will change what they think about how they think.
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Thoroughly enjoyable, in fact so much that after I finished it on Sunday morning I spent most of the rest of the day being sorry that it was over. Although I snobbishly prefer literary over mainstream novels, Berry managed to balance on the line between the two very well – although it doesn't read as literary, there is a lot to be found here.
I picked this up from the bookstore at random because the cover looked nice. I've been into the mystery/crime genre lately, and the first page was intriguing. This book makes up for all those times I bought books under the same impulse but ended up regretting it.
Also, I could not help imagining the book as a film. It would be an amazing cross between Dark City, City of Lost Children, and Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe.
