Rachel Reviews: The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

If you've read my summary statement that accompanies my review, then you might be thinking that this is a book that doesn't really know what it is. Is it a detective book? Yes, it is. But it is also, within that, a journey into a world of misfits and threat and dreams, all tied together with the idea of carnival. And this is the difficulty of review writing in that I could explain all of this and make it sound a lot less surreal than it seems on first appearance but then that would take all of the magic away for you as a reader discovering it for yourself.

We follow Charles Unwin, a clerk in a detective agency, who is in charge of the files of a detective called Travis Sivart. The book actually starts with Unwin following a woman in a plaid coat with whom he has become fascinated, going out of his way to encounter her. Unwin is not a detective and so, this initially seems like the behaviour of a man who has found a new obsession. It is also the sort of thing a detective would do, a skill set which Unwin spends ironically most of the book refuting.

When Travis Sivart goes missing and Unwin is unexpectedly promoted to detective himself, the narrative moves sideways from just purely being a book where mysterious disappearances and murders need to be solved into a discovery of an underworld at work. Unwin refers to "The Manual of Detection" to guide him (which is also used by Berry to structure the chapter titles of his book - nice touch!) but is it really helping him?

The novel then develops into a journey into a dissonant world that is hiding itself and its freakish traits from the rest of the world and Unwin seems the worst person possible to be leading the uncovering to end the mystery.

He meets helpers along the way and there is always an element of "who can he trust?" There is danger and chases and meetings which mislead and clarify in equal measure. Berry is skilled at making us (and Charles) feel insecure and drops clues like breadcrumbs in the narrative from Charles' remembrances of Sivart's files to help us understand the world in which we find ourselves.

It's not as baffling as it seems, I promise. Berry has created a setting which is unique, reminiscent of Gotham in its gloominess and its juxtaposition of officials trying to find out the truth, with unsavoury carnivalesque characters trying to stop them, all reinforced by the idea that some sort of spell is being cast and all is not how it appears.

An original read.

Rachel Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐