An under-rated gem of a book. Evokes a great sense of London around the time of Wren and Hawksmoor. You will have an enjoyable time in London if you use the book as a historical guide to the churches and their architecture. The conspiracy may or may not be true but it's certainly entertaining. ( )

This was my first Peter Ackroyd and it ensured that it was not my last. Dense, complex, shifting in time and perspective, the book was far from an easy read, but it was incredibly rewarding and it has stayed with me all these many years. While others comment elegantly and accurately on the beauty of Ackroyd's writing or upon the way he weaves past and present, it's his skill at giving Place a soul that struck me. As Nicholas Dyer creates his seven London churches in the eighteenth century and Hawksmoor stands within them 250 years later as the crime scenes of inexplicable murder, it is the churches themselves, what they hold within them, and the environs which linger in the mind. ( )

I have read this book several times since it was first published in 1985, and I stil think it is the best of his fictional works. It works on several levels: the historical, the supernatural, biographical, but it has the ability even now to make my flesh creep. There is something curious about the language which makes it unsettling. Nicholas Dyer does not smile but he grins, or shows his teeth. I love the way Ackroyd makes connections between different centuries. He seems to imply that history is destined to repeat itself, and that traces or memories of events are contained within spaces and buildings, which is a theme also explored by Iain Sinclair in his studies of London. ( )

"This mundus tenebrosus, this shaddowy world of Mankind, is sunk into Night; there is not a Field without its Spirits, nor a City without its Daemons, and the Lunaticks speak Prophesies while the Wise men fall into the Pitte. We are all in the Dark, one with another. And, as the Inke stains the Paper on which it is spilt and slowly spreads to Blot out the Characters, so the Contagion of darkness and malefaction grows apace until all becomes unrecognizable."

In 1711, Nicholas Dyer is commissioned to design seven new churches in London. Orphaned when his parents died from Plague, the young Nicholas is taken up by the mysterious Mirabilis. Dyer's religion is demonic and bloody (to Mirabilis, he first introduces himself as 'Faustus'). Dyer believes that God wants blood and that each of his seven churches must have a human sacrifice.

The novel alternates between 18th century London and 20th century London. The past seems to spill into the present and the chapters slide easily and seamlessly between the past and the present.

The 20th century Hawksmoor is a detective investigating a series of murders around London. Each murder corresponds to an 18th century one. All are committed within the grounds of one of the seven new churches. Every main character in the 20th century narrative has his or her 'twin' in the 18th century thread. Thus Dyer's assistant is Walter Pyne, and Hawksmoor's is Sgt Walter Payne. Dyer's near neighbour is Mrs Best; Hawksmoor's is Mrs West. Thomas Hill is both the son of the mason who falls to his death at Spitalfields after the church was built there, and also the first victim of the serial killer in the 20th century narrative.

Finally, Hawksmoor begins to crack up. Unable to solve the case, he's taken off it. The personalities of Dyer and Hawksmoor seem to merge in a world where time is of no account and fluid. They come together at last in the last and finest of the churches, Little St Hugh, a place that does not exist, where the two identities finally merge.

This is a disturbing, dense novel about the impact of the past upon the present and upon the nature of time itself. Most of all, perhaps, it's a novel about alienation - from the self, and from society. [Sept 2005]

Ackroyd takes liberty with history and time, but presents an intriguing mix of past and present in this dense and challenging mystery without complete resolution. Ackroyd plays with historical characters-- the character Hawksmoor in the novel is a contemporary detective while Dyer in the past is a talented but paranoid and satanic architect in the employ of Christopher Wren; historically, Hawksmoor is the actual architect of the churches mentioned. Knowing the urban geography of London was an asset in visualizing the places and events presented. The 18th century prose is challenging, but gives the book a certain sense of honesty. ( )