Let’s be honest: I don’t really understand how publishers choose reviewers on Netgalley. When I signed up, I figured I’d mainly get books from small-time, Canadian, publishers, but no, they reject me more often than not. Penguin Canada rejects me a lot too. But Random House seems to like me, and so gives me a new David Mitchell book to read, in August, asking nicely for me to wait to review until the week of the release. I put off reading it for as long as I could, even though the book sat there on my kobo, mocking me while I read books I didn’t really like.
You can read me Slade House whispered. But you can’t talk about me yet.
You can read me Slade House whispered. But I’m a secret.
But now, in two days, release date! I can talk talk talk about Slade House all I want!
So we have the new David Mitchell novel. After the dumb-bell weight of The Bone Clocks, Slade House is a much slighter commitment. My epub has 151 pages, 6 of which are copyright and publishing info and TK‘s. So it’s a quick read and now this is what I’ll say:
It’s a David Mitchell novel. We have the chummy, lad-like style, not too approachable, and not too posh. Like every David Mitchell novel, characters from other David Mitchell novels pop-up, mainly from The Bone Clocks. Our characters are soul vampires that appear every nine years, with a shifting narrative told three-quarters by the people they will feed upon, somewhat like Under The Skin from the victims’ standpoint. Slade House could be read as a companion, or a prequel/sequel to sections of The Bone Clocks. If you haven’t read The Bone Clocks though, it likely stands-alone. Everything is more-or-less self-contained, and the ties to The Bone Clocks (Horologists and schisms and Atemporals) don’t really need more explanation than what Mitchell gives here. The fact that this is less daunting that The Bone Clocks works in its favour: one doesn’t have to remember loads and loads and loads of stuff to enjoy the creepiness.
And, of course, I love creepiness. I also love solid, literary writing. Slade House gave me a solid, literary, creepy story, so I was happy. A+, thumbs up. Of course, nothing’s perfect — there was some weird, dream, logic and after The Unconsoled, I’ve had enough of weird, British, dream logic to last a reading lifetime. But, come on, there’s an info dump that feels natural. I could never write an info dump so beautifully. I was halfway through the dump before I realised I was in an info dump. David Mitchell is my writing G-d.
Good writing. Spooky story. It’s almost Hallowe’en. A book to read on a rainy, October evening, curled up in bed, with my USB slippers on my feet (they warm your toes!).
Slade House by David Mitchell goes on sale October 27, 2015.
I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.