Just Finished Reading: Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann (FP: 2010) [326pp] 

New York, 1926. Despite the deepening Cold War with the British Empire Manhattan’s police commissioner has more pressing problems. There’s a new crime lord in town who has managed to muscle his way into the world of organised crime using a combination of extreme violence and mystery to intimidate his enemies. The NYPD are at a loss to discover who this player is and can only refer to him as ‘The Roman’ because of his habit of leaving priceless Roman coins on the eyes of his high-profile victims. If that wasn’t bad enough a new vigilante is running around the streets doing what the police are singularly incapable of – fighting the Roman’s minions on their own turf. Leaving dead gangsters, along with the occasional civilian bystander, in his wake the press has named him ‘The Ghost’ for his ability to appear and disappear at will. Detective Donovan has been given the dubious ‘honour’ of tracking down both ‘The Roman’ and his seeming nemesis-wannabee ‘The Ghost’ but is at a loss as how to proceed. In an act of desperation, he decides to enlist the one person who is actually making headway in the case – the spectral apparition himself. But is joining forces with a self-appointed crime fighter the right thing to do? Only time and results will tell. 

To be honest I picked this first book of the series up because of its amazing cover. Generally, I’m a sucker for all things steampunk so I thought it was worth the punt. What sold it for me – even before I read the first page – was the overall description of the book on the back. This was ‘a glorious mash-up of alternate history, science-fiction, supernatural horror and detective thriller.’ With that to look forward to how could I possibly resist? The noir feeling of 20’s America was handled well with seedy streets, seedy people doing seedy things to get by. There was a depression era feel to things throughout and I couldn’t help visualise a Sam Spade vibe whenever the police were involved. ‘The Ghost’ came across as a Batman/Bruce Wayne/Gatsby character (with probably a healthy dose of Hemingway thrown in) who struggled with his wartime experiences in France as well as nightmares about ‘things’ he experienced in no-man's land (I’m REALLY hoping we find out more about that in subsequent novels!). The cop, Donovan, is reasonably drawn but is the weaker of the pair. ‘The Roman’ I thought was a bit disappointing and could have been a much stronger protagonist given his unusual background and was probably the weakest part of an otherwise excellent and highly entertaining romp. Overall though I enjoyed this first installment a great deal. It was MUCH fun with the mashing together of multiple genres (generally) working very well. Some aspects were a little silly – such as steam-powered cars requiring regular top-ups with powdered coal which resulted in quite a lot of mess (something that would’ve been fixed long before it came into general use) and others intriguing, like the use of holographic video phones! The sprinkling of the supernatural element (with strong hints of Lovecraft) was totally intriguing as was the political falling out of the USA and British Empire after the victory of WW1. I DO hope we learn more about THOSE aspects going forward. I’ve scheduled in the 2nd book soon with the final two probably going to be read later in the year. If you find the idea of a steampunk Batman with a supernatural ‘edge’ interesting then this is definitely the book/series for you. Much fun and highly recommended.