I'm not really a mystery reader, but I did enjoy this book. Monk is a great character and I really liked how Perry developed his returning memory of himself. I did feel like it moved really slowly for the first 200 pages or so. Monk kept thinking the same things (about who he was) over and over that I found myself skipping paragraphs at a time in order to get to the action. Other than that, I liked it and have started the second in the series. ( )

A rather unusual mystery -- Anne Perry at her best. Without giving any more than the first few pages away: Inspector William Monk wakes in a London hospital in 1856, with no memory. Faced with dismissal if he makes his problem known, he instead labors to learn his own identity, conceal his memory loss, and solve a high-profile murder case all at once.

The book isn't flawless -- there are habits of phrase ("color burned up his cheeks", for example) and occasional overflorid emotions that recur across the Perry ouevre. At some points the reader may see connections between clues while Monk remains stunningly oblivious.

However, it's a very enjoyable story. It's rich in period detail that adds to the narrative rather than cluttering it; the mystery itself is most satisfying; the prickly, flawed characters are pleasingly human. The paper-thin barrier between the Victorian worlds of opulent comfort and penury is not only depicted; it's part of of the narrative tension, in Monk's awareness of the consequences of joblessness in the uncaring city. Imaginative and engaging.

Note on audiobook: Davina Porter is my favorite narrator. She has range, elegance, nuance, and amazingly precise diction. ( )

Very interesting beginning with Monk waking up in a hospital not knowing who he is. He goes back to work and has to hide his loss of memory from everyone while solving a case he was working before the accident. He meets Hester Latterly (his future wife) during the investigation. It was kind of slow and repetitious. ( )

The first William Monk, and the story of how he lost his memory. It's a credit to Anne Perry that I read others without knowing the backstory, and they didn't suffer for it.The mystery itself was a sidelight - not enough attention paid to it for me to care much. But it would have been difficult for there to be a mystery that was not overshadowed by the story of Monk discovering himself. ( )

Habe nur Die Russische Gräfin gelesen und war nicht sonderlich begeistert, da reichte eins aus dem Doppelband. Zuviel Zufall und Beschreibungen ( )

A great series debut. I've always liked the thoughtful and hard-hitting aspects of the Monk mysteries from Perry as opposed to the lighter Pitts. The mystery is well written and affecting, with the consequences and emotional damage of the crimes clearly spelled out. Monk's a great character, asking hard questions about his past as a man he discovers was capable, clever, and something of an abrasive, cold jerk, his present as he struggles to find his feet again, and his future as the man he realizes that he hopes to become. Hester is an excellent heroine and a great companion/foil to Monk, with courage and adventures of her own. Their romance starts here on a sharp note, and the concluding lines to their mutually acid-tongued first meeting are still among some of my favorite lines in fiction. ( )

This is the first novel in Anne Perry's William Monk mystery series, set in Victorian London. I enjoy all Perry's mysteries, but I think this is the best. It's about a policeman who wakes up in a hospital with amnesia, the result of a blow to the head he suffered during the course of a murder investigation. His pride will not allow him to admit to his superiors or colleagues that he has lost his memory, so he must now conduct a multi-layered investigation, finding out what he learned in his previous investigation, as well as continuing it. He must also reconstruct who he is by piecing together various clues about his past. As he discovers more, he begins to suspect that the person he is would not have liked the person he that was. He wonders, even, whether the person he was might have been capable of murder. This is a tense and suspenseful mystery, but the aspect of the novel I most enjoyed was the psychological process of Monk discovering and coming to terms with himself.

I enjoyed this, but man... it took me a long time. Two weeks! Part of that was the fault of my schedule, but it was also a slow-moving story. When you first meet Monk, he doesn’t know who he is. I think this lends an extra bit of flair to this book — you don’t have any background about your main character. As he relearns about himself, you’re learning about him too. And since he doesn’t particularly like what he’s learned about himself, you get to see him grow. He really doesn’t have a choice but to become an entirely new person.

The mystery here is interesting, but it’s the main reason that the plot is slow-going. Things didn’t become really interesting until Monk started putting the pieces together and remembering things, and that’s more than 3/4 of the way through the book. My only other experience with Anne Perry is her Thomas and Charlotte Pitt novels, and I didn’t think this was quite as good. I’ll read more in the series because I really like a good historical mystery, but I’m going to have to work my way into the next one. ( )

The first book of the William Monk detective series had an interesting plot device. The hero wakes up in a hospital with no memory of his past life at all. So he gets to solve a murder while at the same time trying to piece together his past.I was never really sure why Monk felt compelled to keep silent about his amnesia to everyone except his sister's family. It must be related to the male trait of not asking for directions. ( )

I've read all of Anne Perry's Monk books, and a few of her Pitt books. I have to say that by the end of each of the Monk stories, the overall feeling is _emotional exhaustion_. The story is always very compelling, and the settings are excellent, but it's the characters that run the show.

Monk is a particularly complicated man, psychologically speaking, and the author devotes a lot of time delving into his head. The other main characters who get the cerebral treatment are fascinating, as well. They all interact during each book, and it usually ends up in a very tense court scene.

So, I would not want to read them all together, straight in a row -- not because they are grisly (they aren't) or boring, but because I would need time in between to rest!

Other authors to try, as well: Boris Akunin, Barbara Cleverly, Jane Jakeman ( )

This is the volume that first introduces the character Detective William Monk in Anne Perry's second mystery series. This story begins with an intriguing concept: William Monk wakes up in the first chapter from an accident with, not only no memory of himself, but no memory of the case he's supposedly working on. He must solve the case even as he tries to find out who he is-- all without letting his superiors know what has happened to him.

I suppose this makes the book a duel mystery.

As time passes, the case becomes progressively more dangerous-- a danger that's amped further by Monk's wide knowledge gaps.

Monk is not a likable character; he's rude, insensitive and abrasive to the point that everyone he meets seems to hate him. Yet at the same time, there's something to his intensity and dogged search for truth, despite the things he discovers about himself, that makes me give him a grudging sort of respect that eventually became admiration. He's a worthy anti-hero sort of character, and I found him intensely intriguing. (And as he is pretty much the exact opposite of Thomas Pitt, the starring detective from Perry's other Victorian series, I was chewing for a crossover of some sort-- which, alas, never happened. Even though Monk, or was it Pitt, does pass by the old precinct of the other other detective at some point.)

This story was an intense and entertaining read. ( )

English Detective Monk, amnesia

I'm hooked, what can I say. I read this book because a friend couldn't move all her books when she went back to America, and not by any conscious choice to buy the series. Now I'm happy I've got a four day weekend so I can spend it all reading every single book she has written! "The Face of a Stranger" is a dectective story set in Victorian England, but with a definate twist! ( )

I raced through it - but pretty predictable and over-described ( )

no. 1

Good story