Drinking Midnight Wine by Simon R. Green
01/11/2002 . Source: Lucy A.E. Ward 

Pub: Gollancz. 328 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99(UK). ISBN: 0-575-07297-0.

Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK.

Check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk

After a very mundane start, this novel escalates into a fast-paced and darkly amusing tale.

The plot revolves around a mortal human, more specifically a bookshop assistant with a talent for self-pity and panic.

As he is introduced it actually seems as though Green is doing everything he can to make you dislike 'focal point' Toby Dexter.

'Toby was still looking for a role to play that interested him; something to live for, to give his life purpose and meaning. He didn't know what he needed, only what he didn't want, and so he drifted through his life, sometimes employed and sometimes not, achieving nothing, going nowhere. Knowing that his life was slipping away like sand through his fingers, but somehow unable to do anything about it.'

Most of the first chapter is filled with such musing and although you may be able to identify with some of his life's problems (particularly if you're from the UK), it is quite irritating. This is surely deliberate as every character in the book is fully fleshed with both good and bad character traits.

Madness, violent tendencies, lust, cowardice, sarcasm and downright rudeness all appear prominently amongst the eclectic cast of entities that dwell in Green's Bradford-on-Avon.

At the end of the first chapter, everything improves dramatically. Toby exits a train with a woman who has 'the most perfect mouth in the world' and follows her accidentally into Mysterie - a world almost identical to Veritie (the real world) but filled with 'marvels and wonders, banes and malignancies.'

When he goes outside the next day, the streets are oddly filled with classic cars but it is not until his cashpoint gives him a flurry of free money because it likes his face that he starts to suspect something very strange is afoot…

As it turns out, Toby Dexter does have a purpose. The annoying thing for him is that no one seems to know exactly what it is.

Pitched against some gloriously evil villains with abilities and fondness for causing death, Toby is thrown into a chaotic re-exploration of his home town and reality. The old Chapel is still in its normal position but it now contains the 'Howling Thing'. Carys Galloway is still sitting in her usual place in the Dandy Lion Pub, but she has another name and claims to have lived for centuries.

The brilliant thing about this book is that all the main action takes place over the course of a single day. This enhances the pressure and gives you no time to pause and question the events unfolding in this inventive fantasy.

The dialogue is snappy, the characters are colourful and it all blends to create a very entertaining whole. Toby, Gayle, Jimmy Thunder, Angel and the other lead characters are unforgettable. The supporting cast including the Death-Walkers are just as memorable, contributing to the bizarre atmosphere of Mysterie by their presence even if they are irrelevant to the central plot.

Do not be fooled into thinking this is a lightweight book just because it is humorous. It is an intelligent and well-crafted text containing many references to Euro-centric folklore and history. It doesn't lose any pace until after the conclusion - scenes without ferocious battle sequences contain quick and vivid conversations, conspiracy theories and narration.

If I were to criticise any aspects, they would be very minor indeed. The repeated generalisation that all single men live in filth is simply not true. In addition, the cover illustration did not seem to match the author's descriptions of the characters depicted. Very small points though, which do not detract from this being a great read.

Toby is warned that 'it's a dangerous thing, to be a mortal man in a world of magic' but I found it fascinating. I couldn't put the book down for long after I started reading it and will heartily recommend it to my friends.

If you enjoyed Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere', you should not miss this book!

Lucy A.E. Ward