Posted in: Books, Movies, Review | Tagged: Cassandra Khaw, crime, detective, Hammers on Bone, horror, lovecraft

Cassandra Khaw's Novella Hammers On Bone Is An Easy Read On A Hard Subject

Hammers on Bone is a short, but not sweet tale by Cassandra Khaw. The novella is 110 pages and took about an hour for me to read. This is the first of several works in the Persons Non Grata series. The story is situated in London, in the working class section; and while I've never been, they did a decent job of hitting the tone of those forlorn places where dreams die, and the jobs grind you down to the bone.

There were a few things that I found distracting; the main character is a bit eccentric, with a very affected speech, which could get on some's nerves, and does take some getting used to; I'm not sure how accurate it would be for the setting, or if it is meant to reference other time periods, noir flicks, and such. To my American inner ear, it just felt forced and fake, but made the main character stand out quite a bit tonally from his fellows. It also felt rushed, and there were places I would have liked to see expanded, in plot and character. It makes the ending hit hard, like an unexpected rubber-band snap.

On the whole, it was a good, easy read, and a decent introduction to a new world and characters without feeling like a primer. It doesn't explain everything, and leaves you wanting to know more, and doesn't talk down to the reader. I would recommend this to people who want a bit of light reading that doesn't shy from tough topics, such as child abuse. Its focus is crime and the impact of it upon its victims, with a rather thick dollop of lovecraft references and elder gods.

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