Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780099477730
ISBN number: 0099477734
Label: Vintage Books
Manufacturer: Vintage Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 224
Printing Date: January 09, 2007
Publishing house: Vintage Books
Release Date: January 09, 2007
Sale Popularity Level: 305141
Studio: Vintage Books
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Product Description:
Jack Havoc, jail-breaker and knife artist, is on the loose. It falls to Albert Campion to pit his wits against the killer and hunt him down through the city’s November smog before it is too late.
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Rated by buyers 
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This is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. I just finished reading it for the third time. Each time I read it I am fascinated by the author's ability to capture and express an almost inexpressible truth of the way life works. The main character, Havoc, calls it *the Science of Luck*. Look to this book for more than the thrilling read it is.
Rated by buyers -
It's been a while since I read it -I thoroughly enjoyed this book (much better than that overrated Da Vinci code). Some reviewers inferred that the villian was not evil enough (a bit weak by lofty contemporary standards of evil villainry) but I thought this made the book stronger. It displays a vulnerable, human side to that particular character, brought about via a brief scene where the heroine recalls an incident from childhood involving both herself and the said villian. The character is strengthened by this and made less arch and less caricature as a result. I very much like the novels of Charles Dickens so I really don't mind a story hinging on incredible coincidence, just as long as it's handled deftly, which this is. Well worth the effort of reading it. I'm going to read it again!
Rated by buyers -
This is one of the authors better novels in my opinion, more thriller than who dunnit as other reviewers have said, but non the worse for that. The pace of the book is good moving you on through the pages and the story which I won't divulge keeps you interested all the way through.
In today's world the characters are a little hard to swallow, Albert Campion the hero is a gentleman detective with no apparent source of income, Lugg the ex con manservant is corny, the evil Jack Havoc doesn't come across as especially evil by todays standards and Meg the heroine is a tad pathetic although she is supposed to be a modern woman. The setting, a dank and fog bound London is also a little trite, but makes some of the twists and turns in the plot more believable.
That said if like me you enjoy the period and can mentally get in tune with the values and society of the time it's a really fun book to read. I am a sucker for the twenties through to the end of the fifties and could read books like this one after the other.
I agree with the reviewer who felt it would make a good movie, my only condition is that it would have to be in grey and white.
Rated by buyers -
For excellent plot summaries, read the longer reviews in this string. I won't rehash what others have said so well...
Allingham does in this book what Sayers and sometimes Christie did. They take a break from routine or just lighthearted mysteries & get a bit (dare I say) theological.
But don't get scared off.
The heart of good drama is...meaningful conflict.
And the theological concept from Judaism/Christianity
...is the war between good versus evil---
...personified in Canon Avril (I know his "kin"--those who handwrestle evil regularly)
.......and in "Havoc". Can't tell too much here to give "Havoc" away.
If you are a real postmodern & laugh at the idea of evil, be thrilled by a retro book like this one nonetheless.
This story just "itches" to be remade...as a "period" thriller with British consultants who can get the post World War II London right.
Rated by buyers 
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Despite the blurb and critical praise, this late novel is really no more than a thriller, not a "crime novel." As a thriller, it is quite successful, with some notably tense scenes in the London fog, although the finish on the French cliffs makes very little impact, and the plot, with its mixture of albinos, hunchbacks and dwarves, psychopathic ex-Commandos, saintly canons and buried treasure, is preposterous in the extreme. As a novel, it is less successful. Jack Havoc never comes across as the truly wicked man all the other character say he is, and the famous scene in the church is grossly over-rated. Thus, a rather pretentious return to the author's early `plum pudding' approach combined with her late style, which is often very good but equally often requires close and careful reading to avoid headache (particularly in the scenes with the ghastly ex-service men).
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