Fu Manchu in the Literary Review

There is a review of Lord of Strange Deaths in the December edition of the Literary Review, by none other than the great John Sutherland.  It took a while, but I eventually tracked down a copy in WH Smith at Victoria station.

Here's the first paragraph:

"Phil Baker and Antony Clayton write good books about bad books.  It is a pity that George Orwell, connoisseur of the 'good bad book', is no longer with us to relish their intrepid ventures into the swampy depths of the uncanonical.  'The existence of good bad literature - the fact that one can be amused or excited or even moved by a book that one's intellect simply refuses to take seriously - is a reminder that art is not the same thing as cerebration,' wrote Orwell.  In other words, turn off your minds, all ye who enter here.  There may be pearls in the schlock."