The Somnambulist
 Surely I am coming soon--Revelation 22:20 | |
| Written by: | Jonathan Barnes |
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| First published: | 2007 |
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"Be warned. This book has no literary merit whasoever. It's a lurid piece of nonsense, convoluted, implausible, people by unconvincing characters, written in dreadfully pedestrian prose, frequently ridiculous and willfully bizarre. Needless to say, I doubt you'll believe a word of it.
—The Narrator
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Jonathan Barne's debut novel, The Somnambulist is a Gothic Horror/Mystery/Fantasy set sometime in the late Victorian period. The story follows washed-up magician and amateur detective, Edward Moon, as well his companion, The Somnambulist, on their journey to solve their first truly big case in quite some time. What seems to start out as a simple murder, however, is soon revealed to be part of a larger conspiracy that could destroy all of London. There also also several subplots, including a top secret organization known as The Directorate, Edward's sister, his former pupil, as well as a man who lives backwards in time, and is hinted to be the first king of London. Only some are explained in detail. A sequel, The Domino Men, was published a few years later.
Tropes used in The Somnambulist include:
- Affably Evil: The Prefects, Reverend Dr. Tang
- The Aggressive Drug Dealer: The opium dealer.
- Ancient Keeper: The Archivist.
- Anti-Hero: Moon is either a Type II or III
- Batman Gambit: Like you wouldn't believe. And for possibly the stupidest reason such a gambit has been enacted. Incompetence causes you to dig yourself into the sewers while trying to rob a bank and you get caught by Moon. Obviously the solution to heal your wounded ego is start a cult, stage an elaborate setup of murders, ruin an entire section of London's secret service, resurrect a dead man a la Frankenstein and launch an assault on the city.
- Bigger Is Better: The Somnambulist. And how.
- Blatant Lies: The Narrator admits to telling a few.
- Career Killers:[context?] The Prefects
- Character Development: Moon becomes humbled by the events of the novel.
- Cassandra Truth: Innocenti is implied to have made up all of her seeings except those involving Moon and when her scam is uncovered, those seeings are discounted as evidence by investigators.
- A Chat with Satan: Moon's chats with Barrabas.
- Chaotic Evil: Hawker and Boon, full stop. Both are Type 1.
- Chekhov's Skill: The Somnambulist's invulnerability.
- Closer to Earth: Moon's housekeeper Mrs. Grossmith
- Clueless Detective
- Collector of the Strange: Barrabas
- Complete Monster: Skimpole is unabashedly shown to be this though he gets some brownie points with his crippled son. After that, it's up to reader interpretation.
- The Cynic: Edward Moon
- Equal Opportunity Evil: Love, Love, Love and Love
- Evil Foreigner: Yiangou
- Harmful to Touch: The poet.
- Ho Yay: Barrabas and Owsley.
- Informed Ability: Near the beginning, it's hinted at that Moon might actually be a real magician, instead of a mere illusionist. After one scene, however, nothing he does afterward seems to indicate that he has supernatural powers.
- Lemony Narrator: At times.
- Lethal Diagnosis: Skimpole.
- Made of Iron: The Somnambulist.
- Narrator All Along: Reverend Dr. Tan
- Noodle Incident: In spades, partially involving Moon's prior cases, but also as a side effect of What Happened to the Mouse?
- The Only One: Many believe that Moon is the only person who can possibly solve the mystery.
- Pet the Dog: Skimpole gets a few of these.
- Poetic Serial Killer: Possibly Barrabas
- Psychopathic Manchild: The Prefects have this in spades. Despite acting like school boys (almost like the Weasley Twins),[who?] they are also remorseless killers.
- Sick and Wrong: The Narrator comments that Moon's fetish might cause this reaction in some.
- The Reveal:
- Those Two Bad Guys: Hawker and Boon
- Trademark Favorite Food: The Somnambulist's love for milk.
- Trouble Follows You Home: Moon's Theater
- Ugly Cute: Moon's favorite type of prostitute. His current favorite is Mina, the bearded lady who has a thing described as a curious deformity, a grisly pink piece of flesh which bore a ghastly, visceral resemblance to the severed arm of an infant growing out of her chest.
- Unreliable Narrator: The Narrator freely admits that parts of the story are Blatant Lies, but points out moments of falsity almost as quickly as they arrive.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The Somnambulist's fear of heights.
- We Win Because You Did Not
- Wham! Line: But you will know me better, dear reader, as your narrator.
- The World Ends Tomorrow: Ned Love claims this when Moon finally meets him.