SCIENCE FICTION CRIME THRILLER: Jack Glass - Adam Roberts

Release Date: 27/07/12

SYNOPSIS:

Jack Glass is the murderer. We know this from the start. Yet as this extraordinary novel tells the story of three murders committed by Glass the reader will be surprised to find out that it was Glass who was the killer and how he did it. And by the end of the book our sympathies for the killer are fully engaged. Riffing on the tropes of crime fiction (the country house murder, the locked room mystery) and imbued with the feel of golden age SF, JACK GLASS is another bravura performance from Roberts. Whatever games he plays with the genre, whatever questions he asks of the reader, Roberts never loses sight of the need to entertain. JACK GLASS has some wonderfully gruesome moments, is built around three gripping HowDunnits and comes with liberal doses of sly humour. Roberts invites us to have fun and tricks us into thinking about both crime and SF via a beautifully structured novel set in a society whose depiction challanges notions of crime, punishment, power and freedom. It is an extraordinary novel.


REVIEW:

Whilst I’ve not always been enamoured of Adam’s writing style this book was one that whilst left on my TBR pile for a while was one that I was more than satisfied with upon finally engaging. The characters stand out, have different quirks and all come together to allow the tale to expand to its full length in an organic manner without there being any wasted space. The prose as usual is sharp, the pace solid and when added in with the touch of Space Opera, really brings the whole piece to life for the viewer.

Add to this a delightfully delicious darkness that doesn’t need to be something alien as mankind is capable of it all on his own and the reader will be engaged for quite some time. For me, this is one of my favourite books that Adam has written and I’ll definitely look forward to other titles by this author. Great stuff.