Lead Review

  • Book: The Life Assistance Agency
  • Location: Europe, Krakow, London, Prague
  • Author: Thomas Hocknell

Review Author: tripfiction

Location

Content

Hocknell’s debut novel takes us on a journey through Europe – past and present – as his central character, Ben Ferguson-Cripps, attempts to hunt down missing historian, Thomas Foxe. Ben is the rather cynical, world-weary author of a mildly popular blog, who has produced his first novel (just like Thomas Hocknell) to very faint acclaim (hopefully less like Thomas Hocknell). Since sales of his novel are so poor, Ben accepts a job working for his old friend, Scott Wildblood, owner of the mysterious Life Assistance Agency, which offers an improbable and rather ridiculous range of services including finding soul mates, arranging hits, and bonsai trimming.

Screen Shot 2017-02-11 at 13.38.13Scott and Ben take on the task of locating the aptly-named Mr. Foxe, who leads them a merry dance across Europe. They are closely tailed throughout this enterprise by two thugs who desperately want to get to Mr. Foxe before they do. So far so good.

Unfortunately, these thugs are employed by the Psychic Society and are intent on preventing ordinary folk from straying into the occult; they’re hunting Mr. Foxe because the latter is retracing the steps of Dr. John Dee, an Elizabethan angel summoner. Mr. Foxe, himself, has more than a passing interest in scrying (communing with angels), alchemy and the secret of eternal life. And thus the novel passes into the realms of the fantastical and frankly ridiculous.

Having said that, there are, however, wonderful things about this novel. Firstly, it’s chock full of very funny, laugh-out-loud one liners that I’m still sniggering about such as, “He pulled a face like Morrissey playing downwind from burgers,” or “like finding a late tent pitch at Glastonbury and waking up on the main stage.” Hocknell is a skilful writer: he is a keen observer of the idiocies of modern life – the pub full of hipsters will live long in my memory, for example. He is also, without doubt, capable of really good thriller writing – the twists and turns of the plot are cleverly worked and often surprising. But best of all is Jane Dee’s diary which is touching and sensitive and brings 1500’s London and Prague convincingly to life. Hocknell is also good at conveying the same modern day cities, albeit with a tendency to focus on the rather seedy underbelly – the grotty hotels and transport traumas.

It’s such a shame that Hocknell hadn’t absorbed the essential truth that less is more. I think he has just tried to put too much into this first novel. It’s an impossible combination of genres – comedy, thriller, fantasy, historical. His undoubted skill as a thriller writer is undermined by the comedy; scenes that should have you wincing and holding your breath end up making you laugh. He could have gone with the thriller and historical element together and ditched the comedy or, alternatively, have settled for a comic novel with acute observation of modern life. In my opinion, the fantasy would be best left out altogether … but then I always think that.

I’ll bet Hocknell’s next book is more limited in genre and probably just brilliant.

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