The Osiris Ritual: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation by George Mann
| The Osiris Ritual: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation by George Mann | |
|
| |
| Category: Crime (Historical) | |
| |
Reviewer: Sophie Diamond
 | |
| Summary: An entertaining detective tale of monsters and machines in Victorian London. | |
| Buy? No | Borrow? Maybe |
| Pages: 288 | Date: November 2015 |
| Publisher: Titan Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781783298259 | |
|
Share on: | |
|
| |
Sir Maurice Newbury, his majesty's special agent, and his assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes are on the case once more. When a group of well-to-do explorers return from an Egyptian expedition, they unveil a mummy and unleash an ancient mystery. Soon the explorers are being picked off one by one and Newbury must solve the mystery if he is to catch the culprit. But there's more than one brute on the loose; while Newbury attempts to track down a rogue agent, Veronica takes the case of disappearing women into her own hands with dangerous consequences …
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. From the outset, it sounds like an excellent recipe for a rollicking good read but the problem is that sounds more exciting than it is. I really struggled to get into this novel. I'm a big fan of detective fiction, especially the original Victorian novels and this fell short of my hopes. I found Newbury a bizarre cross between Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, which for me, didn't really gel. On the other hand, Veronica had the potential to be a really interesting character but she was used by Mann as a disappointing damsel in distress, consequently she was superfluous to the plot. Her role could have been taken out entirely and nothing would have been lost or gained.
I think Mann’s downfall was that he tried to do too much in this book. So, instead of one twisting, turning murder mystery, he had three strands of subplot that didn’t really develop into anything mindblowing. The twists were visible a mile away and the conclusion was very predictable. I would have preferred the story to have stuck to the ancient Egyptian theme and really develop it but that’s my personal taste.
The comments on the front of the novel describe this as a cross between detective and steampunk genres. When I researched steampunk, more aspects to this novel started to make sense but I think the steampunk subplots took away from the core of the book, which was the mystery.
This book was fun, quite well written and enjoyable, I just wish the mystery would've been more mysterious.
If Newbury and Hobbes sound like your kind of reading, catch up with their first adventure Affinity Bridge. You might also enjoy The Stranger by Max Frei.
Please share on: 
Facebook, 
Twitter and
Instagram
You can read more book reviews or buy The Osiris Ritual: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation by George Mann at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Osiris Ritual: A Newbury and Hobbes Investigation by George Mann at Amazon.com.
Comments
Like to comment on this review?
Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.
