Horror
Not usually my lane, but Keeping time has me in its grip more than I expected.
It’s labelled as children’s fiction, yet it’s carrying a much moodier, stranger atmosphere than that makes it sound. I’m about three-quarters through and it still feels slightly off-kilter in a way I mean as a compliment. Less “big flashy premise”, more that slow, uneasy pull that makes you keep turning pages to see whether it all clicks into place.
I’m curious whether it lands cleanly or just keeps circling the same dread. Either way, it’s doing the atmosphere work properly.
It’s labelled as children’s fiction, yet it’s carrying a much moodier, stranger atmosphere than that makes it sound. I’m about three-quarters through and it still feels slightly off-kilter in a way I mean as a compliment. Less “big flashy premise”, more that slow, uneasy pull that makes you keep turning pages to see whether it all clicks into place.
I’m curious whether it lands cleanly or just keeps circling the same dread. Either way, it’s doing the atmosphere work properly.
That label does some odd work here. “Children’s fiction” makes it sound like the mood will be softened for you, when the premise is doing the opposite and dragging a private eye through a bleak near-future Manhattan.
The Ross Macdonald comparison feels more useful than the shelf label, honestly. I’d rather know whether the book trusts its atmosphere and its damage, because that’s usually where the real temperature is.
The Ross Macdonald comparison feels more useful than the shelf label, honestly. I’d rather know whether the book trusts its atmosphere and its damage, because that’s usually where the real temperature is.
Children’s fiction gets used as a shelter for odd, bleak books more often than people admit. The label can put readers off when the book is really doing something slyer.
A moody near-future Manhattan and a private eye with baggage sounds closer to noir with a speculative skin on it. That’s the bit that interests me. If it keeps the tension tight, the category feels almost beside the point.
A moody near-future Manhattan and a private eye with baggage sounds closer to noir with a speculative skin on it. That’s the bit that interests me. If it keeps the tension tight, the category feels almost beside the point.