Published By: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 528
Released On: 25/09/2025
We begin with the last testament of William Shakespeare as he investigates the real-life murder mystery of his friend, playwright Christopher Marlowe.
The second story is a 19th-century Gothic tale about the discovery of Shakespeare’s manuscript, set in an isolated former Priory, now a clinic for those who cannot sleep.
The third is a lighter Golden Age detective tale set in Venice, where private investigator Honora Feldman looks into a baffling case of theft and murder in the British expat community, with the Gothic story at its heart.
And finally, a 1940s American Noir, as Ken Kourian finds that a serial killer is recreating all the murders in The Waterfall, the companion book to his friend Oliver Tooke’s The Turnglass.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
Oh I feel so bad writing this review. I so wanted to love it because I love Gareth’s previous books The Turnglass and Holmes and Moriarty, but sadly I didn’t.
Firstly, I am vocal about my dislike for books over about 400-450 pages as they rarely warrant being this long. But I do love Gareth’s work and so was willing to go in with an open mind as I have been surprised by long books before.
We have four stories that do interlink which was an interesting way to write it. Gareth is clearly going to be known for his less-than-normal novel formats and in a world where I read 350+ books a year, it’s nice to get something different occasionaly.
But here comes the negative bits I’m afraid…
It doesn’t really have chapters, it has sections really, and they’re really long and I am a lover of short chapters, so this annoyed me somewhat.
I just really struggled with it. The lure of Gareth Rubin and Shakespeare is what drew me to this book, but this was such hard work and I couldn’t really keep up. I really wanted to like it, so much about it was calling my name, but I just didn’t. It was too long, too drawn out and too complicated. I felt the stories, whilst hints of a connection, felt too tenuous for them to be part of the same overarching story. For the most part I had no idea what was going on, I couldn’t get on with the characters and I just found it really confusing.
I could have stopped reading it several times but I was determined to get to the end in the hope something might perk it up but I didn’t get it. I think this will be a divisive book, and some will think it’s excellent whilst others, like me, will be stumped. A promising premise but without the proper execution, in my opinion.
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