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This book really piqued my interest. Newman made two actual people characters in his fictional story: Billy Pratt, aka Boris Karloff, and famed novelist Raymond Chandler. Yes, sir, I am in like Flynn.
The story got off to a great start. Newman brought these two characters to life within his pages, he created a traditional noir type setting and style. Having these two well-known characters as his protagonists added an instant connection to the story. Newman built the connection through connections to things that I already knew, and by giving me more facts about the people, time, and place. I was having a great time.
Then something happened. It really is very strange; life and the story took strange twists at the same time. My life got temporarily complicated and I just didn’t have the time to read that I normally would have. I lost my connection to the story and really had a hard time finding the time/desire to read. I started just reading the words.
Now, I will fully accept part of the fault in what went wrong between Something More Than Night and myself, at the same time, when reading a story, it has a responsibility. The story is supposed to take me away when life gets complicated. The story has a job to do. When I’m not reading the story, I should be thinking about the story; I should have wanted to know what Raymond and Billy were up to. Something More Than Night did not do its job to the best of its ability.
I find this unfortunate; I was looking forward to my first adventure with Kim Newman. Would I read another Kim Newman book again? I really don’t know. Yes, I should have been more present, but Newman didn’t make his book unputdownable for me.
*3 Stars