Review – Cheap as Chips Debut
The Office of Lost and Found
Author: Vincent Holland-Keen
Publisher: Anarchy Books (anarchy.com)
Price: £2.86 (E-book)
Page count: 671pp
Reviewer: Theresa Derwin
One day Thomas Locke wakes up in a darkened room with no memory of who he is and what he does. But at least he has a job. He is reliably informed by persons unknown that he is Thomas Locke – and finds things. Locke works for The Office of Lost and Found as a detective, tracking down all manner of lost items, including the soul of Leonard now reincarnated as a toaster. Veronica Drysdale, his latest but unwanted Customer is looking for her husband; the one she recently tried to kill to no avail.
Locke has a partner, a partner, Lafarge, who can lose pretty much anything. Things that his Customers don’t want found ever again. Hunting for a butterfly that inadvertently started a hurricane, Locke isn’t off to a great start when he finds a butterfly with an alibi. With shades of Dirk Gently, Locke manages to solve all number of cases quite often by fate or coincidence, call it what you will. As his search for Drysdale continues, Locke finds himself working side by side with Veronica, who becomes embroiled in his agency.
The Office of Lost and Found is pretty much passages of random madness that is interconnected and somehow works. There are some fantastic ideas here and though the narrative is a little fast paced at times leaving the reader breathless, and the novel runs a little long at 671 pages, each of the adventures or story strands latches onto the next one creating a larger story arc throughout the novel.
With its twisting strands, this novel is a little like a China Mieville novel (written with simpler language) combined with Terry Pratchett’s world building.
Through a myriad of characters interacting together, Holland-Keen nails the different ‘voices’, particularly the voice of numerous children, which he handles wonderfully. From Emily, to Billy and the other school children, each of the children retains his/her own distinctive personality.
The passages in each chapter are very short, sharp bursts of narrative, which can be a little confusing at times until all aspects of this adventure link, leading up to a crescendo of a finale. Overall, the novel is a real achievement and shows the author’s future potential, as well as being fun and entertaining. Definitely worth investing in.
If you want to know more about this writer’s latest projects take a look at his website Blogger: User Profile: Vincent or his FB Page
Check out my interview with author Vincent Holland-Keen.
August 1st, 2011 at 11:50
[...] July, 2011 – Terror-Tree – “Overall, the novel is a real achievement and shows the author’s future potential, [...]