He Died With His Eyes Open Book Review, for Kathmandu

He Died With His Eyes Open is the first novel in Derek Raymond’s Factory series. A man is found beaten to death in West London, and in the publisher’s words the case goes to “a nameless detective sergeant” from the Department of Unexplained Deaths at the Factory police station.

In my video review I called it “fantastic noir”, and I meant it.

The narrator has no name

What I love about this book is that word nameless. The whole thing is written in the first person, the way a lot of noir is, and nobody in the novel ever says the detective’s name. You get through the entire book without it.

Think about how that works in real life. We don’t introduce ourselves to people who already know us, so in a work situation you’re just the person in the room talking and watching. Raymond writes his sergeant like that, and I found it really interesting.

I had my own reason for reading it. I’ve written a revenge novel called Till It’s Done, and one of its characters is written in the first person while the rest of the book is in third. Seeing how Raymond carried a whole novel on a narrator with no name was good research for me.

Get #dealwithit

Stripped back

Noir is a stripped-back style. It often holds back emotionally, and the description sticks to the very specific things that set a mood. Raymond does that well.

I called it a great read in the review, and a challenge too, because there isn’t a lot of neo-noir like it around. If you like noir, give it a go.

You might find my book #dealwithit: Duct Tape for the Soul useful.

Get #dealwithit

Sources and further reading
– He Died With His Eyes Open on Amazon.
– Dr. John A. King’s video review on YouTube

This is for personal reflection, not medical or crisis advice.