As I mentioned in my last review post, 2020 did not get off to the best start in terms of reading, and this book definitely was part of that. Again, on the face of it, this sounded like something I'd love, but I just found it a real slog to get through.
Things in Jars is set in the Victorian Era with Bridie Devine, a female detective, as the main character. When she's asked to find a stolen child, she doesn't expect things to take the turn they do. As soon as she arrives at the family home, she realises things are amiss and that the child might not be as human and normal as she was led to believe initially. Coupled with the tattooed ghost that starts following her around, Bridie is surrounded by the supernatural. She's not quite short why this top hat and underwear-only wearing man from beyond the grave has turned up, but he's getting in the way of her focusing on the task at hand.
I really expected to enjoy this, but I found the whole thing a bit disjointed. I don't think the magical realism worked very well in this - there was a almost naked tattoo covered ghost interspersed with very sensory descriptions of a gritty London. I felt like the author had attempted to add some lightness to the novel with his character, but it just didn't work for me. I also couldn't get invested in the weird love story between Bridie and her ghost pal because you knew from the start that this could never work out?
I gave this three stars because I was invested in the search for the missing girl and the descriptions of London made the book very easy to imagine and almost feel as though you were there.
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