Hannah Berry

I got a big kick out of Livestock by Hannah Berry, the author of the unique and wonderful noir with a teabag, Britten and Brulightly. In Livestock big pharma is trying to distract everyone while they push through human cloning. This is a sharply satiric and cynical look at our obsession with celebrities, and pr manipulation as practiced in the Trump era. The conclusion is both devastating and "of course".

An appealing and very atmospheric book, with a good plot, credible dialogue, and deft art-work that's thoroughly in keeping with the text.

A few people are on the last night train out of London. The carriage(s) they are in suddenly and without explanation stop moving and it gradually dawns upon the passengers that this is not the result an obstruction on the track or BR incompetence but of something altogether different. Their journey has become one into high strangeness.

Glimpses of show more back-stories of these passengers are offered, and with them hints of the reason that this might be happening to these particular people. And really I don't think I can say much else about the plot without revealing what a reader would better find for himself, or without giving my own interpretation of the book's ambiguities. I re-read the book immediately after finishing it partly because I'd been so tense (rather frightened, actually) on first reading that I'd gallopped through without giving the art the attention it deserves, and when I did so I found that many things that seemed out-of-place or utterly confusing the first time had been explained later in the story.

And the art is very fetching and very effective. The second time around I studied each panel, and many of them are gems. (As well, the free approach to panel boundaries, like the changes in viewpoint and in focus are well-considered.) I'm especially taken with Berry's feeling for light and darkness: a wash, I think, that tells us that a kitchen is on the north side of a house, the panel with a mobile's screen shining through a layer of paper, the depiction of a carriage's lighted interior seen from outside on a starless night. Berry's skilful drawings are probably the main element in the book's atmosphere and creepiness.

In fact, I don't think the story would have been so strong had it been told with text only; it would in other hands and in conventional form probably have lost much subtlety and degenerated into a standard thriller-like horror story. This really should appeal to anyone who relishes the odd, the unexplained, and a search for clues and not only to people who are used to reading comics. show less

Britten is a depressed private detective who hates his life, mainly because he's known for delivering news that ends marriages, a fact that has earned him the nickname of "The Heartbreaker". Brulightly is his partner, a lecherous tea bag that sometimes has a good idea. The latest case involves a wealthy young woman who hires Britten to prove her fiance didn't commit suicide, as she believes he was murdered by the same someone who was blackmailing her father. The detectives quickly find that show more everyone the woman knows has something to hide.
A graphic novel, noir style. The mystery holds til the very end, where there are not one, but two twists. The artwork is mostly shades of gray, with Britten himself being a raccoon-eyed fellow who dresses like Gomez Adams. show less

“Ten years ago I began a private investigation agency with the glorious aim of serving humanity and righting wrongs. In all those years the only wrongs righted have been on my tax returns.”
Meet private detective Fernandez Britten, although he actually prefers private “researcher”. He is hired by a young woman to look into the mysterious suicide of her fiancé. Along with his highly unconventional sidekick Brulightly, Britten begins to investigate and quickly finds himself entangled show more in a complex web of danger and deceit.
This wonderfully atmospheric graphic mystery, has a classic noir texture, echoing both Chandler and Hammett. The illustrations, shaded in blues and grays, are beautifully rendered. This is Berry’s first novel and it’s a knock-out. show less