{"id":8705,"date":"2017-01-24T19:45:30","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T00:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=8705"},"modified":"2025-10-01T16:12:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:12:49","slug":"full-dark-house-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8705","title":{"rendered":"Full Dark House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Full Dark House<\/a><\/em> (2003) Christopher Fowler<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bryant & May met during the bombing of London during WWII, when May joined the force and was set to the Peculiar Crimes Unit, where Bryant was the lead detective.<\/p>\n

The story starts in the modern day, when the PCU office has been blown up and it is believed that Bryant was inside at the time. Since Bryant was starting to outline his memoirs, May believes that their first case has something to do with his death, which is how we end up going back and seeing that first murder case.<\/p>\n

Bryant & May are partners, but also best friends, although they could not be more different from one another.<\/p>\n

\u2018I once took a call while I was going through the Gates of Hell, hit one of the pit-stickers and nearly broke his leg. The cheeses weigh about twelve pounds.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018Am I supposed to have any idea what you\u2019re talking about?\u2019 May asked.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

May\u2019s modern appearance matched the freshness of his outlook. Despite his advanced age, there were still women who found his attentiveness appealing. His technoliteracy and his keen awareness of the modern world complemented Bryant\u2019s strange psychological take on the human race, and their symbiotic teamwork dealt them an advantage over less experienced officers. But it still didn\u2019t stop them from arguing like an old married couple. Their partnership had just commenced its seventh decade.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mystery is interesting, but what I find most fascinating about this particular book are the glimpses of life during WWII.<\/p>\n

On the second to last page of his ration book was a list of mysterious serial numbers and a government message that read: DO NOTHING WITH THIS PAGE UNTIL TOLD WHAT TO DO. It summed up the official attitude to everything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Children carried their gas masks to school. Public information leaflets explained the rules of the blackout. Rationing made the nation healthier.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He kept his shirt-tail hanging out below the hem of his jacket as a white flag to motorists; over four thousand people had been killed in blackout accidents during the first few months of the war.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Conan Doyle had been dead for a decade.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think that one statement, more than anything else, took me aback.<\/p>\n

Plus, there are lots of fun words and phrases that make me love having an ereader.<\/p>\n

demob suit
\ntachygraphy
\ncumuliform
\nokapi
\nentresol
\nvitrine<\/p>\n

I think demon suit is my favorite of that lot. :)
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Bantam <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Full Dark House (2003) Christopher Fowler Bryant & May met during the bombing of London during WWII, when May joined the force and was set to the Peculiar Crimes Unit, where Bryant was the lead detective. The story starts in the modern day, when the PCU office has been blown up and it is believed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,30,33,8,42],"tags":[256,255,257,898],"class_list":["post-8705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-police","tag-bryant-may","tag-christopher-fowler","tag-peculiar-crimes-unit","tag-ww-ii"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2gp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":300,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/300","url_meta":{"origin":8705,"position":0},"title":"The Water Room","author":"Michelle","date":"August 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Water Room (2004) Christopher Fowler The second Bryant & May mystery, The Water Room takes place a month or so after the events of Full Dark House--at least the current day events. The Peculiar Crimes Unit is being rebuilt, and during the reconstruction, the unit is at loose ends,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Water-Room.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":299,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/299","url_meta":{"origin":8705,"position":1},"title":"Full Dark House","author":"Michelle","date":"August 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Dark House (2003) Christopher Fowler A Bryant & May Mystery Full Dark House is the first Bryant & May mystery. An explosion destroys the Peculiar Crimes Unit, and Arthur Bryant is believed to have been inside. In order to discover the course and cause of the bombing, John May\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/Full-Dark-House.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2790,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2790","url_meta":{"origin":8705,"position":2},"title":"Bryant & May Off the Rails","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Bryant & May Off the Rails (2010) Christopher Fowler I have to admit, I put off reading this book for several months, and once I picked it up, put it down several times before I could actually get into the story. This has absolutely nothing to do with the story,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Bryant-and-May-Off-the-Rails.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":696,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/696","url_meta":{"origin":8705,"position":3},"title":"White Corridor","author":"Michelle","date":"October 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"White Corridor (2007) Christopher Fowler Once again the Peculiar Crimes Unit is in danger of being closed. After Raymond Land decided to close the until for a week's vacation, a member of the unit is found killed, while Bryant and May are on their way to one of Bryant's spiritualist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/White-Corridor.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1980,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1980","url_meta":{"origin":8705,"position":4},"title":"Bryant & May on the Loose","author":"Michelle","date":"September 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Bryant & May on the Loose (2009) Christopher Fowler At the close of Victoria Vanishes, the PCU was disbanded, the staff placed on leave, and Bryant remains at home, barely able to get out of bed and slowly slipping away. However, the accidental discovery of a body by a staff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Bryant-and-May-on-the-Loose.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1529,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1529","url_meta":{"origin":8705,"position":5},"title":"Victoria Vanishes","author":"Michelle","date":"December 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Victoria Vanishes (2008) Christopher Fowler The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) has changed Oswald's retirement party to a wake, and on the way home Bryant sees a woman who is later discovered murdered. Unfortunately for him, he sees her across from a pub that hasn't existed in decades. Unsurprisingly, the PCU\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Victoria-Vanishes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}