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A review by arkrayder
The Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins
4.0
Joe Zabbidou is a secret pawnbroker, who pays for people’s secrets and records them in a black book. Hence the title. Ludlow Fitch is a pickpocket who escapes from his parents as they prepare to sell his teeth to keep them in gin. Pagus Parvus a small desolate mountain village is where these two characters meet and so unfolds a tale that has echoes of Dickens in its atmosphere, dark landscape, gravediggers, street urchins, and a fiendish landlord.
The story never dawdles as Zabbidou collects the town's catalog of unhappiness, while his own secret intentions are an enigma to everyone even Ludlow Fitch who he has befriended and taken under his wing.
The author uses the device of claiming to have found extracts of Joe's book and Ludlow's memoirs, bridging the gaps with her imagination. The images used are deep-rooted imagery (rat pies, people buried alive) and contrasts of light and dark to illuminate the loneliness of wealth and despair. The story has a share of suspense and the intriguing idea that fear of our own actions is our greatest enemy.
The ending leaves an opening for future volumes. This book is a smart, curiously thrilling tale, which for all the grisly details, gets at themes about self-determination and trust. Original and engrossing, The Black Book Of Secrets is a compelling read.
The story never dawdles as Zabbidou collects the town's catalog of unhappiness, while his own secret intentions are an enigma to everyone even Ludlow Fitch who he has befriended and taken under his wing.
The author uses the device of claiming to have found extracts of Joe's book and Ludlow's memoirs, bridging the gaps with her imagination. The images used are deep-rooted imagery (rat pies, people buried alive) and contrasts of light and dark to illuminate the loneliness of wealth and despair. The story has a share of suspense and the intriguing idea that fear of our own actions is our greatest enemy.
The ending leaves an opening for future volumes. This book is a smart, curiously thrilling tale, which for all the grisly details, gets at themes about self-determination and trust. Original and engrossing, The Black Book Of Secrets is a compelling read.