The Body Library

Many great mysteries begin with a murder. But it’s far rarer for a murder to occur and the murderer not to know who they murdered or how it happened. And yet, that’s how The Body Library launches into action. As private investigator John Nyquist enters a strange apartment building, he wants to make sense of the murder and the strange experiences that follow…and his investigation will take him deep into not only the secrets of the city but into the secrets of storytelling itself.

The Body Library is the sinister and engrossing follow-up to A Man of Shadows, transplanting the previous novel’s protagonist into another strange city with rules of its own to follow. And yet, this feels like a wholly fresh adventure, so unlike A Man of Shadows that even Nyquist feels like a new character.

The mystery at the heart of the novel feels random until the pieces fall into place, and then it arguably becomes the most elegant of Noon’s works to date. Immersive and challenging, the novel demands both your attention and your willingness to ignore the conventions of storytelling as you know them.

You might not totally understand the end result, but you will find it satisfying. It’s marvelous stuff.