A review by robinwalter
Such Bright Disguises by Brian Flynn

mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

My overriding reactions reading this book was that I was being punished. It felt like retribution for a previous review of another Golden Age mystery.

In my review of Darkling Death, an Inspector Knollis mystery by Francis Vivian, I complained at some length about the excessive amount of philosophical musing  in the story and the lack of engaging murder mystery. I felt like this one was punishing me for those comments by doubling down on all of those elements.

In this story the titular detective, Anthony Bathurst in this case, does not even appear until exactly the 75% mark. The first three quarters of this book are instead devoted to character studies — lengthy detailed character studies of the three main characters. The one thing they all have in common is that they are utterly unlikeable people.

 The biggest problem with such a delayed introduction for the detective is that by the time he did turn up,  I really didn't care. Overall I was numb by the time Bathurst actually turned up and the murder mystery started. There is only so much analysis of internal guilt and grief and  descent into madness that I personally can take in what I was hoping would be an entertaining murder mystery.

So, if a character study that focuses more on the internal is what you look for in a murder mystery, it would be hard to go past this book. If you want a light, entertaining read where the murders happen quickly and the bulk of the story is about working out who done it and why, then this is not the book for you, just as it was not the book for me. One other lesson I may take from this experience is that I should not be misled by a catchy title. Such Bright Disguises was a catchy title, and the source quote was incredibly apt for the story that developed. Sadly, it failed to capture my interest.  In fact, I was delighted when near the very end Bathurst used a quote from Hamlet to sum up the story. It confirmed that I had read the book right, as a  lumbering and tedious attempt to rewrite Hamlet as a murder mystery. Even better, it provided the PERFECT way to end this review - with Bart Simpson's review of Hamlet:

I can't believe a play where every character is murdered could be so boring.