... a hair-raising, mind-bending trip ... Hand does not shy away from bleak, unlikable characters ... Hand’s language tightens when Cass spies a detail nobody else notices, but we feel the dead weight of her hangovers and the cranked-up jangle of her nerves. It’s unsettling but impossible to look away as elements line up to set a grim climax in motion ... Does this sound impossibly dark? It is! It’s also exquisitely suspenseful, and the paranoia suffusing the story is very much of our present moment. The idea that any single source can make sense of everything happening around us is as alluring as it is dangerous. Half of the mystery in The Book of Lamps and Banners is wondering whether Cass Neary will save us or take us down with her.
Elizabeth Hand’s Cass Neary series began in 2008 with Generation Loss, a startling and addictive novel that introduced a protagonist fueled by drugs and post-punk irreverence. The series continues with the fourth Cass Neary novel, The Book of Lamps and Banners ... Cass Neary is a remarkable heroine. As with Sherlock Holmes, her power lies in the act of seeing what ordinary people cannot, only where Holmes brings clues to light, Neary is content to linger in the dark. Her eye catches the liminal spaces between clarity and shadow so well I found myself rereading passages for the beauty of her way of seeing ... The darkness lingering in Cass’s psyche is the true mystery of this series. The question isn’t ever if Cass will solve the crime, but if she can overcome her own demons.
Hand fills her fourth novel in this series with many heartfelt scenes that speak to Cass’ character. A stroll down a London alley filled with independent bookstores is tailor-made for bibliophiles ... Hand’s affinity for brisk plotting keeps The Book of Lamps and Banners churning with twists and surprises leading to a finale that gives hope to Cass’ future.
It’s a wild ride that defies comparison: pill-popping idealist Cass Neary’s obsessive hunt piles on teeth-grinding, story-propelling tension, and Hand’s gifted portrayal of subcultures seamlessly links Cass’ past in New York’s ’80s punk scene, London’s rare-book dealers, and Odinist neo-Nazis.
Hand’s desolate descriptions and Cass’s larger-than-life persona help to carry a story that is not as intricately plotted as her 2019 stand-alone, Curious Toys, with a few characters not fully fleshed out. Still, followers of the series will be happy to see Cass return.
Cass Neary is a tough, self-destructive character who still exudes compassion, courage, and love for the beauty and the pain of life—even more so because she recognizes its impermanence ... Part The Club Dumas, part The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, all punk attitude and beautiful ache.
... enjoyable if at times overplotted ... The action hurtles toward an exciting climax on an island off the Swedish coast. That this adventure ends for once on a positive note for Cass, who so far has been living on an addict’s ragged edge, will please series fans. Newcomers will find this a good entry point.
