Author: Gareth P Jones
Series: N/A
Published: 4
October 2012
Length:192 pages
Source: Publisher
Other info: Gareth
has also written The Thornthwaite Inheritance, The Dragon Detective Agency and
also works as a TV producer.
Summary : Sam
Toop lives in a funeral parlour, blessed (or cursed) with an unusual gift.
While his father buries the dead, Sam is haunted by their constant demands for
attention. Trouble is afoot on the 'other side' - there is a horrible disease
that is mysteriously imprisoning ghosts into empty houses in the world of the
living. And Sam is caught in the middle - will he be able to bring himself to
help?
Review: Sam Toop
has grown up in a funeral parlour. And from that, he’s been able to talk to
ghosts. He has rather nice conversations with them actually. Not so nice is
when his uncle Jack pops in for a visit-a man who has murdered a policeman and
is therefore on the run. So here Sam is, carrying messages for the dead. Here
the afterlife office people are, trying to stop the houses of the town being
infected with a disease that traps ghosts in it. And here’s another murderer
stalking the streets.
From the launch list, this was one of the nine that I thought
“I have got to read that.” Funeral parlours! Ghosts! Murder mystery! Spookiness!
Fun times indeed.
What we weren’t told about (or at least, I never noticed)
was the inclusion of an afterlife beaurau sorting things out in the form of
Lapsewood, secretaries and so on. liscences to haunt, policing the haunting,
crisises to sort out, hopefully in an ordered way. I love these things so
points to Gareth!
Lots of things are introduced at the start. But it takes a
fair bit of time for them to all come together, so for about half the novel I
was wondering where it would all converge and everything would be relevant. But
all these little plotlines that are separate are interesting in their own
right, so I don’t really mind them.
Sam is nice, a younger protagonist than what I’m used to,
but nice on his own. He changes a bit, becomes a bit more mature, and
interesting. Lapsewood and Tanner are seen so often they may as well be billed
as joint main characters as well as Sam. My favourite character is Clara, not
just because she’s the most prominent female character in a mainly male-driven
story, but because she’s inquisitive and the opposite of a good little
Victorian girl..
There’s some fun touches with the afterlife with Gareth talking
about Jane Austen and Charles Dickens writing more after their deaths. The
Unseen Door and not passing on if you have unfinished business is something
often seen, but the idea of the Black Rot keeping people ghosts are original.
The ghost have attitude and are so cool. Oh, and dog ghosts. So cute!
The chapters are short, sweet and have nice little names
that sum up what happens or who is introduced. The writing has is good, fully
descriptive, with little quips such as “there’s no age limit on dying” that
made me happy.
I love the scenes in which the ghosts appear, especially the
ones where they talk to Sam and casually remark on their family’s ways of
handling their affairs. Things like that
always make me laugh, and Constable & Toop is no exception!
Overall: Strength 5 tea. Funny, cute and scary- a
suitable intro to mild horror for younger readers, but a great read for horror
lovers of all ages.
On a side note, at
the moment, if you just type Constable and Toop into google, you actually come
up with a real funeral director’s site.
oooo I really wanted to read this one, I will have to get hold of it soon now that I know how awesome you found it!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds fun. Something I'd definitely like to read.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds another really great book to read and one which i will also just have to add to my ever-increasing list of books to read. Thank you for your review on this book. x
ReplyDelete