A story about stories within stories as four interconnected mysteries take the reader through the ages, from Shakespeare’s day to a 19th century Gothic former Priory, to 1920s Venice, and finally to 1940s California, from the internationally bestselling author of The Turnglass.
We begin with the last testament of William Shakespeare as he investigates the real-life murder mystery of his friend, playwright Christopher Marlowe.
The second story is a 19th Century Gothic tale about the discovery of Shakespeare’s manuscript, set in an isolated former priory, turned into a clinic for those who cannot sleep.
The third is a lighter Golden Age detective tale set in Venice, where private investigator Honora Feldman looks into a baffling case of theft and murder in the British expat community, with the Gothic story at its heart.
And finally, a 1940s American Noir as Ken Kourian finds a serial killer is recreating all the murders in The Waterfall, the companion book to his friend Oliver Tooke’s The Turnglass.
The Waterfall is a beguiling and intricate mystery that cements Gareth Rubin’s position as one of the most original authors writing today.
GARETH RUBIN is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Turnglass, which was also a top 10 bestseller in Italy. His other books include Holmes and Moriarty, Liberation Square and The Winter Agent. He lives in London and writes about social affairs, travel and the arts for British newspapers.
My thoughts: I really liked this, it’s a very playful but dark book. There are 4 narratives nestled inside each other like Matryoshka dolls, a technique known as mise en abyme (in the midst of the abyss) where each builds up the overarcing narrative.
If you’ve read The Turnglass, you’ll be familiar with the author’s love of playing with narratives and text. You’ll also recognise some of the characters from the final story in The Waterfall.
But we begin with William Shakespeare trying to solve the murder of Christopher Marlowe, stabbed to death in a Deptford bar, possibly for being either a spy, a Catholic or gay. A mystery still unsolved all these years later. Will gives it a good go, but discovers something far stranger than expected, the secrets of a man best known as Rabbi Loew of Prague. And possibly the early notes of Romeo & Juliet, as written by Kit, which he takes and improves…
Suddenly we jump forward from the 16th to the 19th Century, to probably the weirdest story in the book. Which is saying something. Set in an isolated former Priory, where a peculiar man conducts research into sleep disorders and rules his family with an iron fist. Or so it first appears. Strange incidents occur but we are left without answers as the next story begins.
In 1930s Venice, a detective and her assistant are on holiday, but the Golden Age of crime fiction means that there are crimes to be solved, a fire, a theft, murders. And a curious book called The Waterfall at the heart of it.
And finally another decade and in sunny California strange occurrences again. Here we are reunited with a few of the characters from The Turnglass, more jaded than in that novel, as a world-weary Ken Kourian is reunited with Coraline Tooke, and someone appears to be recreating the deaths in a strange book called The Waterfall….
I love a metatextual, story within a story, littered with familiar tropes, characters and even some I’ve read about before (not to mention real-life people like Shakespeare and Marlowe), there’s something really fun and enjoyable about these literary games authors play and this is a great example of that. Defying genre by mashing several different ones together in one book but separate, the narratives like little boxes folded inside one another. It’s a delight for literature nerds like me.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 