Teaser

A serial killer prowls the streets of Calcutta. A tug pilot mourns the family he barely spoke to. A distant world holds promises of life. On the surface none of these things are linked, but the bonds of the universe are stronger than any one man can know . . .

Review

On the face of it, Eric Brown’s third novel sounds a lot like his second. It’s set in the relatively near future, with Earth reaching out across the galaxy. It centres on a pilot dealing with a difficult family. There is a distant planet populated by enigmatic aliens. In the final act, events pivot away from science and towards spirituality. These similarities are not particularly unexpected, nor indeed unwelcome. Many authors find themselves returning to the same themes over and again. Some aspects, such as the nature of spacefaring, are so hardwired into the foundations of the genre, that it would be odd not to see them crop up regularly. The surprise comes when reading these two books in the same month, as one’s first exposure to Eric Brown. Taken apart, each one is a fantastic piece of fiction. Considered in relation, they can’t help but feel like different drafts of the same work.

What separates Penumbra from Engineman is the character arcs. As with that other book, they remain independent for most of the novel, only crossing over for the climax, but each individual arc is stronger than in Brown’s previous novel. First we have Bennett the tug pilot, whose arc drives much of the novel. We first meet him struggling with mortality, as his prodigal father chooses to die. This drives a search for meaning as a guilt-wracked Bennett takes on a dangerous job to un an unknown world. This is perhaps the most standardly space operatic side of the novel, complete with lost colonies and explorations alien worlds. Bennett’s companions are a wealthy but typically secretive investor, and a young Buddhist, the latter of whom feels like they should have been a viewpoint character, s they are one of the more interesting people we meet along the way.

The other half of the novel remains on Earth, with police detective Rana tracking a believed serial killer through the streets of Calcutta. Interspersed with her investigations are chapters from the perspective of the killer. This approach does remove a lot of the mystery from the crimes, with the focus shifting to why rather than who. Nevertheless, Rana’s chapters are what stick with me the most. I love a good science fiction crime novel, and this is at least half of one. There’s a version of the story that removes the spacefaring element, and I dare say the book would be the stronger for it.

Things do eventually coalesce into a single story, but after so long apart it feels awkward. Though months pass, the ending is rushed as plot gives way to theme. Now, things do get spiritual, and it’s hardly surprising that a book with so much murder shows an interest in the afterlife. In some ways, the ending does feel like an easy way out, but Brown manages to pull it off without coming across as heavy-handed. No mean feat for a book about the desire to seek enlightenment.

In spite of the split narrative, Penumbra narrowly has the edge over its predecessor, which puts me in a positive mood as I eye up the other Eric brown works on my TBR.

Book Stats

• A Standalone Novel
• Published by Millennium in 1999
• 346 Pages