The Night Inspector

As a reader whose favorite work is Moby-Dick and whose favorite author is Melville, I get nervous and prone to defensiveness whenever Melville is re-imagined. But this novel is a delight for the Melville fan and scholar. Other reviews have talked about the plot and milieu, but few have talked about the pleasures for the Melvillean. Starting with a joke about a "pasteboard mask" on page two, the references to Melville and his works are frequent and well handled, both the humorous and serious ones. Busch also deserves credit for taking on the "silent" Melville rather than the perhaps easier or more eye-catching Melville of the Whale or Confidence Man periods. It's a work of imagination, obviously, but one that rings true to my sense of the tortured, rejected, but earnest Melville. I like the book on several levels, but the interest for the Melvillean is a highlight. A quick read will not reveal this book's delights. Like Melville's works, it needs to be read with care, both in the sense of "carefully" and "caring."

Frederick Busch has given us a heady mixture of emotion, narrative and history in The Night Inspector. This is a powerful novel, a gripping tale of a hero who is damaged emotionally as well as physically. William Bartholomew is a civil war sniper whom fate has punished with a hideous face wound, forever hidden behind a papier-mache mask. The title character of the book is the then for gotten author, Herman Melville- Bartholomew's new friend- who lives a twilight existence as a customs inspector. Melville and the Phantom-like wander a bleak Victorian New York City, drinking heavily and visiting sights of depravity in the old city. Interspersed with the narrative, the masked protagonist's mind keeps wandering back to his days in the war, and the grisly but efficient assassinations he made on behalf of the Union side with his Sharps rifle, prior to his disfigurement. This is a fascinating adventure, written by an excellent storteller. Atmospheric, moody,violent, and sometimes bawdy, this is a novel well worth a few night's reading.

There is something about the language in this book which caused me to enjoy it greatly. There doesn't appear to be much of a plot at the beginning, but once the action takes hold of you, there is a sense of unrelenting suspense that keeps your attention until the conclusion. The author wears his research lightly, but I felt that I was actually viewing events and characters from 1867 New York. Even the minor characters have depth to them, which is often unusual. This is also a very literary work, but one which rewards the reader with excellent writing, a quality that is all too often lacking in the vast majority of what pass for "best sellers" these days.

Billy Bartholomew served as a sniper in the Union Army during the Civil War. He survived a minnie ball to the face, but after the war, has trouble dealing with his disfigurement and the memories of his work as a sniper. He tries to isolate himself in a slum neighborhood in Manhattan but his humanity gets the best of him. He helps his poor neighbors. He befriends an alcoholic Herman Melville whose writing has been ignored. He plots to rescue a group of black children from slave dealers. He even falls in love. Busch's writing is exquisite (if only the English language were spoken in America today as it is spoken in this book...!). His complex characters have a mystery about them which is enticing. He presents a fascinating picture of New York and America embarking on a new era. A great work of fiction!!

If you read the Kirkus review above then you already know what "The Night Inspector" is "about."It is a brilliantly written book about a time in the life of a deadly sniper in the Army of the North, Herman Melville, and a writer called Sam Mordecai.I am no book reviewer. I am a reader. As a reader I search constantly for books containing this magnificient writing.What's it about? It's "about" the nature of Man. It's "about" the benevolence or brutality of Luck.It's "about" finding parts of ourself in the mix of characters.If we can be honest.The book costs about as much as a cheeseburger, french fries and a Pepsi BUT will nourish you for a long time.