Penny Dreadful

Penny Dreadful begins with an alleged journal entry of Phineas Poe, our beleaguered protagonist from Kiss Me, Judas. The tone of the journal entry is reminiscent of the first novel. The entry is only a page and a half long and when the book proper begins Phineas isn’t the narrator.

Penny Dreadful takes place 13 months after the events in Kiss Me, Judas. Poe arriving back in Denver with no Jude, no money and no place to stay tracks down Eve, a character from Kiss Me, Judas to stay with her.

Each day is given its own header, so you always know when everything takes place. Over the course of the novel the events will be told in the first person point of view by everyone involved, probably 20 characters in all. This may seem a bit pedestrian to discuss but its worth mentioning because the entirety of the story has such a strikingly different tone then Kiss Me, Judas. It reads much crisper, cleaner and coherently but without losing any of the darkness. Each chapter title carries the name of the character for that section, so there aren’t any guessing games. Phineas' portions of the story however, are with out any such heading. Much as Phineas drifted into town he drifts in and out of the narrative.

The central premise of Penny Dreadful is Eve's participation in and Poe's gradual introduction to The Game of Tongues. A game played in the after hours where the goal is to amass points by collecting tongues. The reader is left to fend for himself to determine what the rules system and the hierarchy are. We are introduced to terms (tremble) actions (redeem) and titles (Glove, Breather) with little or no explanation. This isn’t a detriment though, it’s actually challenging to try and puzzle everything together. I've said it before and I'll say it again, when handled properly its far more rewarding to learn about a literary "world" from the inside out. Unfortunately though, The Game also provides one of the weaker elements of the story. As Phineas becomes further introduced to The Game later in the novel, Baer felt it was necessary for a character to lay the ENTIRE layout of The Game out for him and by extension, us. Whereas previously The Game existed in the shadows and carried a certain amount of menace, now after the unnecessary expository paragraphs though it just comes off as a D&D knockoff albeit with more deadly consequences. Think of the shadowy monster lurking in the darkened corner of your bedroom which becomes a coat draped over a chair when showered in light.

As anyone who has had any experience with gaming knows a lot of time goes into the creation of your character. Any gaming session of length forces a player to inhabit his character or the created world for extended periods of time. Everybody who plays The Game has their "real" lives and their "game" lives, their "real" person and their "game" person. In Penny Dreadful there is enough doubling of characters to make Nabokov proud as every character is ostensibly two characters. Sometimes the differences between the two are striking. Its interesting to note that some characters in the novel have created a peace between their two lives while others have a deeper discord in their lives as one personality wants to assert dominance over the other and still others are so immersed in The Game the one personality has all but taken control. This dichotomy proves to be a great source of character exploration and development.

Poe's entry into the game is initiated by Moon, the only other character from Kiss Me, Judas to make an appearance. Moon informs Poe that twelve police officers have gone missing in the past year. Moons superior is six months away from full retirement benefits and doesn’t want to investigate. It takes Poe some time to realize what we already know, that the missing cops and Moon are playing The Game. Thus facilitating Poe's entry into The Game. It's also interesting to note that Moons sections of the book are told in the third person perspective where as the majority of the rest of the book is told in first person. Much like his namesake Moons character orbits around the other characters and his narrative orbits around the others as well.

The trilogy of books is of course about Phineas Poe, but in Penny Dreadful Eve is given just as much if not more time then Poe. In fact, having read all three of the books her character is also the most fully realized, human and sympathetic. It’s telling that her character also has the hardest time reconciling the two opposing sides of her life. Eve is beautifully realized and shows not only real growth but depth also. There is a genuine fondness and caring for her by the final act. Her story arc alone is worth the price of admission especially since we know what happened to her in Kiss Me, Judas and how far she has come and the mystery of her future.

Now, on to that final act. I felt that the ending of Penny Dreadful was the strongest of the three. I've not been one in the past to give away ending and I'll not start here. I'll say a couple of things though. There is an elevator ride that might just be the best scene in the entire trilogy. No, strike that it IS the best scene in the trilogy. It’s only a couple of pages long but is fraught with suspense, terror, peril, emotion and Tension. It is an exquisite piece of writing.

One could be tempted to argue that the final act of the novel suffers from conventionality. I'll admit to thinking the same thing...at first. But I soon realized that the conventional nature of it was also its greatest attribute. For the first time in the series the story doesn't appear as a disjointed, hallucinogenic haze. It’s firmly grounded in a plot structure with clear intent even if we don't yet know the outcome. Like something suddenly coming into sharp focus the clarity of the "conventional" final act possesses the ability to take your breath away. Where as the ending of Kiss Me, Judas leaves one feeling dreamy, ethereal and unreal Penny Dreadful ends with a finality and suddenness that is both reassuring and devastating.

Miscellanea:

-The image shown above is that of the omnibus edition of the three Phineas Poe novels. The titles are available separately but this seems to be the most common edition these days. There will be future reviews posted of the other novels in the series as well.

-There’s a lot more to say about this novel that wouldn’t be appropriate in a review. I may work on an extended criticism of the trilogy after I finish reviewing the third book.


-Brian Lindenmuth

Other Reviews of works by Will Christopher Baer

Hell's Half Acre - Sep 25, 2006

Kiss Me, Judas - Aug 16, 2006