The American Boy

A Critical Eye

THE ONLY THING reviewers of The American Boy could not seem to agree on is whether the novel is a better piece of historically precise fiction or satisfyingly menacing crime writing. Andrew Rosenheim of The Times was impressed by Taylor's ability to balance historical accuracy with superb plotting: 'The 1820s London both of high society and cesspit is vividly portrayed… The attention to period detail is both loving and minute, yet it never overwhelms the story.' Philip Oakes of the Literary Review agreed, noting that the novel had 'a plot stuffed with incident and character, with period details impeccably rendered'.

Critics were also won over by the complexity of Taylor's engagement with his nineteenth-century literary predecessors. 'Taylor has produced a novel that recalls Wilkie Collins, a book that sounds like an original but contains all the candour and purpose of a contemporary thriller,' wrote Will Cohu of the Daily Telegraph, as he praised Taylor's skill at blending the conventions of nineteenth-century fiction with the tropes of modern crime writing. Patricia Craig in the Times Literary Supplement concurred, borrowing Charles Palliser's phrase 'ironic reconstruction' to describe Taylor's work as 'being both an elaboration of the primary genre (in this case, the Charles Dickens/Wilkie Collins school of intrigue) and a commentary on it'.

Many reviewers applauded the novel as a worthy addition to the legacy of Edgar Allan Poe, the American boy of the title. Jane Jakeman of the Independent wrote, 'Taylor's deeply absorbing and beautifully written book is a fitting tribute to the founding father of crime fiction', while Michael Carlson of the Spectator said that 'It is as if Taylor had used the great master of the bizarre as both the starting- and finishing-point, but in between created a period piece with its own unique voice. The result should satisfy those drawn to the fictions of the nineteenth century, or Poe, or indeed to crime writing at its most creative.' In the end, everybody agreed that The American Boy is a most successful and unusual crime novel, a 'hugely entertaining… beguiling mystery' (Observer) that is sure to become a modern classic.