Disorienting but dazzling, the story of Matthew Bright pulls you in on page one and never lets you up for air long enough to clear your head. Matthew feels much the same way – he is sick with a mysterious fever and wakes in a friend’s room. Beneath the bed, his bag waits with its cargo of smuggled grenades he is delivering to his brother Chris – but Chris is nowhere to be found. Matthew ventures out into a London where it always seems to be raining and begins searching for his brother.
The journey takes on the blur of a delirious dream when he serves as pall-bearer to a stranger. Guy Fawkes’ Day approaches, and with it the odd ritual of the burning man. As the climax approaches, the story becomes so tense that readers will be torn between rushing to the end and putting it off. Although some events appear to have no bearing on the story, and the mid-stream changes may be confusing at times, in the end this technique only emphasizes the disordered state of mind Matthew is in.
This book is little known, and that’s a shame. This is leagues beyond the average thriller and deserves a wide audience. Some scenes are chilling. Some are only filled with a lingering malice. All of them will stick with you. John Noone is a true craftsman.