“Gavin Meadows gives guided tours of Liverpool. Some of his stories are based on history and some on local legends. As a summer of rainstorms and redevelopment overtakes the city, his research starts to disinter the true nature of the place. What originally brought settlers to the Pool? What used to take place in the cellars of Liverpool’s Whitechapel? Why did Joseph Williamson, the Mole of Edge Hill, construct a maze of underground tunnels only to brick them up? What drove Virginia Woolf’s uncle mad in Liverpool as he summed up a prosecution for murder? As Gavin and his partner Lucinda delve deeper they’re confronted by the truth behind the legends and encounter what has always lived under the city. At the end, what will come up from the dark?”
Ramsey Campbell’s latest novel is an enjoyable romp through the streets of Liverpool. Mr. Campbell’s attention to detail and his use of historical information added a lot of depth to the book. Though I have never been to Liverpool I can safely say that I have a good understanding of what it is like after reading this book.
For me the book started off a little slow but once well into the book you can understand why there is so much detail. The mystery and suspense are built up slowly and meticulously.
This book is told in first person which with the atmosphere Mr. Campbell injects into his prose can be a bit unsettling as you are not sure if what Gavin is experiencing is real or not. I really loved that aspect of this book. The twists and turns are many and varied. The characters are well thought out and fully realized.
I would have to say my favorite part of the book was the atmosphere Mr. Campbell creates in his version of Liverpool. It was almost like it was a character itself.
I highly recommend this for someone who likes their fiction challenging and detailed with loads of atmosphere.
I found this book to be challenging only in that Campbell assumes that readers all have the same familiarity of Liverpool and British history that he does. This assumption forced my progress through the book to a crawl as I had to research all the history mentioned and study maps of the area. Not that the book was bad in any way, it wasn’t, but I almost did not make it through due to a lack of time and eventually a lack of desire to TRY to comprehend this work. I understand that this is partially my responsibility as the reader, to comeprehend the material, but I think this work would have benefitted from an attempt to make it more accessible to those of us outside of the UK or who have never visited Liverpool.