Even as The Peculiarities veers far from the Benjamin Weaver template into strange and unsettling new terrain, infused with dark magic and vivid body horror, it should delight and surprise those who reveled in the intricate plotting, exquisite pacing, crackling suspense, and fascinating historical rabbit hole revelations that distinguished his earlier work.”
—New York Journal of Books
“Wry, witty, twisty and tricky, The Peculiarities will slowly draw you into Liss’s strange world of magic and monsters, and compel you to pay attention no matter how you might prefer to look away. An involving take on the mysteries of myths and mathematics that have been embedded in our collective consciousness.”
—Shana Abé, New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Second Mrs. Astor
“A historical fantasy that combines the worlds of high finance and occultism, specifically the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and aberrations such as lycanthropes, ghostly slashers called Elegants, and women giving birth to rabbits. The hero is Thomas Thresher, age 23, who has been doing little beyond gambling and whoring when he’s forced to take a junior clerk’s post with the family bank and get engaged to the daughter of a Jewish businessman (Liss expends an unpleasant amount of ink reflecting period-appropriate antisemitism). With the proposed nuptials and the bank’s problems in mind, Thomas stumbles on puzzling purchases of debts and London buildings. His investigations lead him to a Golden Dawn gathering, which includes William Butler Yeats, Bram Stoker, and Arthur Conan Doyle. He also meets Aleister Crowley, who becomes an ally, as well as a woman who has turned wolflike, while Thomas himself has green leaves growing on him. Many such Peculiars have appeared in London recently, along with a thick fog that has nasty tendrils, all of it tied perhaps to real estate and mystical portals. . . . Liss tells his story well, with some nice Dickensian surprises. What’s most fun is when he snaps off a comic line that plays on the absurdities involved: 'Yes, he is becoming a plant, but he comes from an excellent family.'”
—Kirkus
“5/5 stars. The Peculiarities is a rich, engrossing novel with an unusual hero. The pacing is quite Victorian in that the story unfolds by degrees, a slow burn starting out, but once it kicks into gear, it picks up momentum to a spectacular finish. Cerebral and fun, Liss’ book challenges and explores notions of family, Victorian ideas of propriety, and of what is and is not magic. Liss executes this novel gracefully and believably, giving readers an excellent experience along the way.”
—San Francisco Book Review
“In The Peculiarities, David Liss brings his mastery of historical writing to bear on a Victorian tale of weird transformation. There’s a strange alchemy at work in this novel where the fantastic lives alongside reality and both are truly frightening and humorous at the same time. This is a fun, horrific, engaging mystery.”
—Jeffrey Ford, author of A Natural History of Hell
“David Liss's winning supernatural mystery will charm readers of fantastic Victorian fiction.”
—Shelf Awareness
“The Peculiarities is an adventure of unraveling conspiracies, exposing London’s most hidden secrets, and witnessing the unexplainable. It is Terry Pratchett’s satire mixed into a darker version of Alice in Wonderland.
—Grimdark Magazine
“The Peculiarities is an immensely entertaining and propulsive potboiler with a twisty-turny plot steeped in magic and the occult.”
—Locus
“David Liss turns a new corner, and at the end of it is a splendid, unique and surprising tale of the supernatural drenched in historical atmosphere and fine characterization. You won't want to miss this one.”
—Joe R. Lansdale, author of Hap and Leonard
“David Liss masterfully blends rich historical fiction with terrifying supernatural body horror. He stands with Robert Louis Stevenson and Bram Stoker. Highly recommended.”
—Jonathan Maberry, author of V-Wars and Ink
“Full of adventure, familial betrayals, glorious special effects, and some deeply existential thrashing in the correct manner of a first-person Victorian novel.”
—Green Man Review
“Fascinating events, surprising at first but completely believable. Characters I cared about more with each page. And best of all, it made me think, and go on thinking as one idea sprang to another, and on, and on. That is the greatest gift a writer can give.”
—Anne Perry, author of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series
“David Liss leans into early 20th century occult thinking with the same mystical fervor as Crowley, Mathers, and Yeats—the holy trinity of the era. If anything can be imagined, then anything is possible.”
—Mark Teppo, author of the Codex of Souls series
“There are some deep, dark themes explored here—occult violation of body and soul, control, dark magic—weaving in the realities of race and gender discrimination of 19th century London, so the book definitely comes with the label of adult history-based fantasy fiction, but there is a tongue-in-cheek aspect to the writing and a joyful naïvety to Thomas’ narration that keeps the story flowing nicely and the more disturbing elements in check through to the end of a satisfying read.”
—British Fantasy Society
“At once a coming-of-age story, a thriller, and historical fantasy, The Peculiarities has much to offer. The plot twists like an eel, sometimes in melodramatic fashion, with one incredible revelation after another. But the prose is beautiful and lucid, and the characters never strike attitudes, as they might in a full-fledged melodrama.”
—Novelhistorian
“A delightful and occasionally droll mix of alternate history, mystery, the arcane, and Victorian atmosphere.”
—Shepherd
“Liss’s supernatural reinvention of London was highly original and very entertaining.”
—A Bookish Type
Praise for David Liss
On The Devil’s Company
“Accomplished, atmospheric and thoughtful.”
—The Washington Post
On A Conspiracy of Paper
“Tremendously smart, assured, and entertaining.”
—Newsweek
On The Whiskey Rebels
“Smart, page-turning fun.”
—St. Petersburg Times
On The Ethical Assassin
“[A] page-turning thriller . . . a thought-provoking and highly enjoyable yarn.”
—Baltimore Sun
2021-07-10
In 1899 London, the scion of a banking family abandons his wastrel life for a lowly job with the firm that draws him deep into supernatural oddities.
Busy, busy, busy. First there’s Liss, who's known for his historical mysteries but who has also written middle-grade science fiction and Marvel stories—14 full-length novels since 2000, plus short fiction and comic books. Then there’s his latest, a historical fantasy that combines the worlds of high finance and occultism, specifically the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and aberrations such as lycanthropes, ghostly slashers called Elegants, and women giving birth to rabbits. The hero is Thomas Thresher, age 23, who has been doing little beyond gambling and whoring when he’s forced to take a junior clerk’s post with the family bank and get engaged to the daughter of a Jewish businessman (Liss expends an unpleasant amount of ink reflecting period-appropriate antisemitism). With the proposed nuptials and the bank’s problems in mind, Thomas stumbles on puzzling purchases of debts and London buildings. His investigations lead him to a Golden Dawn gathering, which includes William Butler Yeats, Bram Stoker, and Arthur Conan Doyle. He also meets Aleister Crowley, who becomes an ally, as well as a woman who has turned wolflike, while Thomas himself has green leaves growing on him. Many such Peculiars have appeared in London recently, along with a thick fog that has nasty tendrils, all of it tied perhaps to real estate and mystical portals. There are signs of haste in the writing, and Thomas’ frequent bouts of self-doubt slow the pace, but Liss tells his story well, with some nice Dickensian surprises. What’s most fun is when he snaps off a comic line that plays on the absurdities involved: “Yes, he is becoming a plant, but he comes from an excellent family.”
A colorful read with some rough edges but entertaining throughout.
