Interesting plot, totally grips me...but writing is rather newspaper-ish... ( )

Fast paced short chapters good mystery. The story was solidly told with a plethora of characters. Lots of red herrings that added to the intrigue. The murderer was a slight let down but the story held together well. ( )

I loved this author's earlier The Darwin Conspiracy (though not so much his first novel, Neanderthal), so pounced on this when I came across it. A series of murders in the building of the New York Globe (i.e., the New York Times, where Darnton has for a long time been an illustrious fixture) shocks all the journos and indeed the nation. The tale is full of roman a clef elements -- no prizes for guessing who's the prototype for Antipodean media mogul Lester Moloch, for example -- but that's just icing on what proves, after a sticky first 50 or so pages, to be a very delectable cake. Those early pages are annoying because Darnton opts for a cheap way of trying to keep our attention -- repeating wacky urban-legend-style journo tales. Because the tales actually are funny/bizarre/whatever, this first part of the book isn't boring: it's just that I got fed up by the fact that as good a writer as Darnton can be was so lacking in confidence as to be resorting to this tactic. The early part of the book is, too, marred by P.D. James-esque orotundity.

That hurdle over, the book got better and better. I laughed out loud quite a few times (as when the Globe boss, a man with a rare talent for mauling quotes, came out with "The only thing we have to worry about is worry itself", p198); meanwhile, I was turning the pages avidly to find out what was going to happen next. Great stuff.
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Fun to read for someone who once thought of being a newspaper reporter. The inside look at the newspaper world was very interesting, with all the politics and competition. The only problem was that there were so many characters, you needed some kind of chart or tree to keep track of everyone. ( )

Entertaining, funny, informative, nostalgic as well as a good mystery-- I really liked this book and the writing and newspaper anecdotes and insider-speak kept me interested. Look at some of the character names: Guilliam Toothy (the PR guy), Elisha Hagenbuckle (publisher), Priscilla Bollingsworth (police), Vickie Gimmy (national editor), Peregrin Whibbleby (gossip columnist), Judith/Dinah Outsalot (food critic)-- see what I mean? ( )