Caught between the Devil and the Marshalsea...

Late last year, I knew I'd had a bit more time on my hands than usual, so applied for a couple of prize draws on the Waterstones website.  Last weekend, two books turned up... Whoops.

The first arrival was absorbing historical crime novel 'The Devil in the Marshalsea', Antonia Hodgson's first book.

'The Devil in the Marshalsea'
by Antonia Hodgson
(Hodder & Stoughton, 2014)

Tom Hawkins is in the worst possible trouble.  Unable to resist the lure of London, its coffeehouses, brothels and gambling dens, relying luck and living life to the full, he finds himself not just penniless but in debt and heading towards the feared Marshalsea debtors' prison.  Estranged from his vicar father, not knowing who to trust and reliant on his best friend Charles Buckley, he soon realises he has no hope of raising either the money to pay his debt or fund his stay in the Master's side of the prison.  Just as he thinks all hope is lost and he is destined for death from jail fever in the Common Side, Hawkins is thrown a lifeline.  A murder has taken place at the Marshalsea and Buckley's rich patron promises Hawkins his freedom if he finds the killer.  But to do so, he must negotiate the prison's complex web of truth, lies and alliances.  Can he do it before he becomes the Marshalsea's latest victim?

To begin with, I absolutely loved 'The Devil in the Marshalsea'.  Ms Hodgson has used her research well and did a fantastic job of evoking this time and a place.  Equally, Hawkins is an easy character to become attached to.  He's impulsive and flawed but hard not to like and identify with.  After all, we're all only human.

Although I felt that this was a good read overall, I felt that the ending was disappointing.  I can't go into detail because I don't want to give away the mystery at the heart of the novel, but I felt that both the murderer and motive were a bit cliched and disappointing after such a well crafted set up.  I say cliched because it seems that the murderer has two attributes that keep reappearing in TV crime dramas and seem to say more about modern attitudes than having anything to do with good plotting.  What happened to the good old days when characters killed each other for lust, greed or revenge?

It took me a while to work out what the other thing that bothered me was.  Quite near the end of the book, as Hawkins looses all faith and becomes dehumanised by the brutality he has both seen and suffered, he begins to change quite dramatically.  By the end of the book, however, he seems to have forgotten what he's been through and back to his happy-go-lucky ways, neither looking back nor thinking what he might be able to do to help those left behind, even on the ghastly Common Side of the prison.  I could understand a character just wanting to run away and leave the Marshalsea and its inhabitants behind a mental as well as physical locked door, but I just found it hard to believe someone who is supposed to be "honourable" would not in the very least want to do something to help those still trapped in the notorious prison, even if they couldn't do much.

Overall, I think this book is let down by the ending, which is a real shame, especially as the writer is such a friendly presence on Twitter.  Putting the ending to one side, 'The Devil in the Marshalsea' was well written, absorbing and taught me about a time and place I wouldn't have otherwise visited.  I certainly hope to see more from this writer and hope that there is much better to come.