A glance at Noon’s bibliography reveals he produces books quickly, and occasionally it shows: the odd line of action sticks out awkwardly, or a piece of dialogue clunks very slightly. But these are minor quibbles, and this an excellent book — an original plot, a character it’s a pleasure to spend time with, and the deployment of the author’s clever, ranging talent to freshen up a great genre. Best of all, it’s a novel drenched in that most elusive and valuable of literary elements — atmosphere.
House with No Doors is a genuinely creepy exercise in neo-gothic that flirts with the supernatural and horror genres — “we are born from the night flesh” — yet always retains at least one flat foot on the ground. Many of the characters are haunted by past events; others, refusing to live “beholden to our hearts”, suffer in their own way. A sad tale, certainly, but also a rousing hymn to the capital: “Dark, overcrowded, noisy, vibrant, dangerous, a poem of good and ill.”
