Lambert Ramkin aka Imperium Dart, techno trickster and ambient music wizard of the 1990s, has gone walkabout, disappearing from his rather palatial home in Kent. This isn’t the first time he’s pulled a vanishing act, but he’s never been gone so long before and his wife — wives, actually; it’s complicated — are worried and hire the Vinyl Detective to find the old rascal.
They theorise that wherever the missing man is, he won’t be able to resist turning up at a record fair somewhere in search of 12-inch white label acid house singles, which he collects compulsively. And no one knows the world of record fairs better than the Vinyl Detective. They’re not wrong, but once our hero finds the wandering Lamb the trouble really begins — including terrifying mind-fucks with a side order of, if things break the wrong way, mass murder.
Noise Floor, the seventh Vinyl Detective novel by Andrew Cartmel, was published April 28, 2024, from Titan Books.
I am a big fan of this series and its author (see my earlier reviews) and was very excited to dive into another of his mysteries.
Of course, the entire gang is back. Cartmel has created a solid dynamic between the detective, Nevada, Agnes and Tinkler; it is like checking back in with old friends each novel. He has established the voices and rhythms of these characters over the past eight years which makes their banter come across easy and natural.
The story moves along at a steady pace, with the Vinyl Detective and company following the trail of wayward Lambert. However, just when I thought I had a handle on the plot's flow, Cartmel makes a sharp turn and moves everything into an unexpected and thoroughly entertaining direction. By the end, though, he manages to wrap things up by bringing all the elements to an exciting conclusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment