What people are saying about Niedermayer & Hart
Many thanks to everyone for taking the time and trouble to post a review, send an email or comment on Facebook - it is so helpful and much appreciated.
A time and space spanning gripper!
Niedermayer & Hart simultaneously combines the mundane modern world, with all its frustrations and absurdities, with the darkness and myths of the historical world. In doing so, it's characters and events interweave over centuries. The main protagonist of the story is a classic British non-hero who, while attempting to get his life back on track, finds himself faced with a horror beyond belief. As a result, the story mixes hints of comedy with downright terrifying horror - and by the third page I couldn't stop reading!
***** 19 May 2013, Neill Hadlow, posted on Amazon UK
Fab book
I am not usually a fan of horror, but this book is not just a basic horror story. There's history, mystery and a cracking plot all of which is very well written by Martin Johnson. I am looking forward to his next book.
***** 19 March, 2013, Angela Ramsay, posted on Amazon UK
AN EXCEPTIONALLY WRITTEN NOVEL THAT INFORMS AS WELL AS THRILLS
Niedermayer & Hart is a most remarkable book, instantly absorbing and incredibly affecting. Perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay "Niedermayer & Hart" is to say it is a "real novel" M.J. Johnson uses his stunning sense of character and plot to create a most unique journey for the reader. Great novels transport the reader to locations they have never been, and into situations they have never dreamed of. Niedermayer & Hart is such a book. I felt an immediate kinship with the lead character, Jim Latimer who is a most complex person. The emotions and reactions he exhibits throughout the book are so finely rendered, that this character will stick with the reader long after reading the book.
When Latimer enters the elegant firm (at least from an exterior view..an upscale and impressive establishment!) Niedermayer & Hart, his life is forever changed. What I really loved about "Niedermayer & Hart" is Mr. Johnson's wonderful skill of capturing mood and location in so fine a way, as to create stirring "word pictures" for the reader. While I will not go into the plot..the synopsis above does that well..I like to focus on the overall experience of reading this novel.
Niedermayer & Hart was everything I look for in a book. Extremely well written and chock full of unforgetable characters and twists and turns. The reader is gripped as he/she tries to imagine what will happen next at the "quaint" firm of Niedermayer & Hart..needless to say..thanks to the sparkling talent of M.J. Johnson, most will be thrilled and surpised at each turn. A most worthwhile read, indeed!
***** 15 February 2013, Rick Friedman posted on Goodreads, Amazon.com
AN OFFICIAL JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB - MUST READ!
RICK FRIEDMAN
FOUNDER/MODERATOR
THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB (6,700+ MEMBERS)
A Gripping Read
I was totally gripped by Niedermayer and Hart from the moment I picked it up. A brilliant story - clearly meticulously researched - and beautifully written. It did give me nightmares, but I guess that's a tribute to the power of Martin Johnson's writing. Looking forward to his next book...
***** 5 February 2013, Sue Marshall posted on Amazon UK
A Darn Good Read
I was given a copy Niedermayer & Hart as a Christmas gift by a friend. My reading time is usually dedicated to the study of history and I had not read any fiction book for many years. However, I felt to some degree obligated to at least start reading Niedermayer & Hart as it was a gift and a recommended read from my friend.
From the prologue I was immediately drawn into a dark world of... well, I will not spoil it for the future reader. I was gripped and found it difficult to put the book down as I was now in a world of robust characters with the frailties of the human psyche in the conquest over evil.
The author fully sets the scenes, which leaves little to the imagination whilst retaining thought provoking mystery.
The plot of the book is certainly original and one that I never encountered in any medium. For me personally, Niedemayer & Hart made fiction reading a pleasure again and on completing the read and it also gave me the opportunity to discuss the complexity of the book with my friend, who rightly thought I would find it a darn good read and an excellent gift.
It would be nice to see Niedemayer & Hart as a TV mini-series as the substance of the story has all the qualities for good viewing. I challenge anyone not to be moved by Niedemayer & Hart.
***** 12 January 2013, Ricky, posted on Amazon UK
Truly gripping
I went into this book not knowing what to expect. What I got was a superb tale spanning the modern and ancient worlds, from England to Acre and beyond. Well rounded and believable characters mix with a twisting plot that fiendishly reveals the true nature of the story. I won't reveal too much of the contents of the book, but suffice it to say that all is most certainly not what it seems. A gentle start portraying the imperfect nature and shattered life of the main protagonist is intertwined with a fascinating second plot set hundreds of years ago. The link between the two stories becomes apparent at just the right moment, pulling you into the tense build up towards the final moments of the book. Here's hoping that M. J. Johnson decides to write many more in this series.
***** 25 Dec 2012, Stuart , posted on Amazon UK
A tale that won't let go
Like some of its terrifying characters, Niedermayer & Hart has an inescapable, iron-like grip that won't let go once you become involved in it's story. I was truly moved, sickeningly disturbed and thoroughly addicted to this book. I'm now patiently awaiting Martin Johnson's next novel....
***** 15 Dec 2012, Pauly C, posted on Amazon UK and Smashwords
Kept me awake!
It kept me awake, not because I was (too) scared but because I couldn't put it down. I don't usually read much fiction, so when the book arrived it sat on the sofa arm for a week. Finally I picked it up at 1900 on a Sunday night and finished it in bed at 0345 on Monday morning. Mr Johnson combines natural dialogue in modern times, somehow making the supernatural believable, with a historical backstory (thankfully not set in cod Olde Englishe) which is equally gripping. One could freely imagine oneself in both worlds. The geographical and historical knowledge is excellent and realistic, demonstrating thorough research. Highly recommended.
***** 14 Dec 2012 , by johnnychips, posted on Amazon UK
A great read!
Niedermayer & Hart is a chilling tale ideal for the long winter nights. A compulsive page-turner following a small, sympathetic and somewhat eccentric band of modern-day crusaders battling against an ancient evil made manifest in 1990's Britain. The origin of this "thing of darkness" is vividly told in a skillfully interwoven narrative from the Middle Ages. Full of atmosphere, unsettling suspense and not a little gore, it will keep you enthralled and involved as you undertake journeys in two time-scales until the final denouement bridges the centuries. Definitely one for the Christmas stocking!
***** Nov 4, 2012, by Paul Davies, Posted on Amazon UK
A truly excellent book
A wonderfully written book. Captivated my imagination right from the beginning and was the result of many a late night as I just couldn't put it down! Highly recommended.
***** Oct 21, 2012, by Bert, Posted on Amazon UK
Excellent read
Niedermeyer and Hart was a good, lively horror story, that's a great page turner with endearing protagonists. What's most engaging is the build up of horror, from small hints to out-and-out terror: the feelings of anticipation that are not disappointed. The idea of parallel reincarnated lives worked well, as did the sheer horror of the gory parts.
The scale of the terrible discoveries at the Hove ceramic premises was shocking and exciting in equal measure, and the way the woman police officer had to balance public credibility with the actuality of what was happening was a difficult and clever balance to achieve, and it worked well.
All in all, it's one of those books that you promise yourself that time only allows you to only read a page or town and you next realise you're twenty pages on and cannot stop after that.
Martin Johnson is an exciting, highly accessible writer, who has that rare skill of making you want to read on. And on.
Looking forward to the next book.
***** Sept 02, 2012, by Geoffrey Smith, posted on Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Smashwords (15/11/12)
A Popular-Style Page-Turner
Mr. Johnson’s book belongs in the genre of paranormal/horror/suspense, a type of literature I don’t normally read. I was drawn to this book by the location and hints that a historical tale underlay the modern one. In fact, it is the constant cliff-hanger created by the alternation between the two plots – 12th century and 1990s – that keeps the reader eager to come back to the tale – usually a couple of modern chapters interleaved with one chapter of the historical story. A very proper British distributor of art porcelain conceals an ancient horror in the cellar of its building – a horror that is ultimately regurgitated into the light through a set of circumstances involving some very persistent characters and loads of action.
The style and characterization are pretty flat (with occasional sorties into the metaphorical e.g., in Chapter 24: “The people scurrying along the pavements were hunched over against the cold, like refugees from a Brueghel painting.” Or again, in Chapter 35: “An occasional tree loomed out like a spectral figure from the mist as if to warn them back.”) For the most part, the narration simply proceeds without embellishment.
I personally did not find the book particularly scary. Gruesome, grisly, and violent, yes, but the depiction of these qualities struck me as a little clichéd (except for the death of one particular character, whose depth of degradation makes him the most memorable of the whole nasty lot). The opening Prologue is a bit of a gem, successful in hooking the reader into the tale, but I was a little disappointed by the end. It was predictable – there were no unexpected or original plot twists – nothing to make you go, whoa, what just happened here? And the author did leave some loose ends – points I had hoped to see resolved. I think this might have been done deliberately. Is a sequel in the works?
However, taken all together, the originality of the plot premise and approach to the subject make N & H an entertaining page-turner that I definitely don’t regret reading, and so I’m giving it four stars. If a sequel is written, I would read it. And I think the novel would be a good candidate for a made-for-TV movie or a miniseries (perhaps on the Syfy network). It has a bit of a cinematic feel to it (possibly because its author is an actor?)
Recommended for followers of the genre.
**** Aug 23, 2012, by Lorinda J Taylor, posted on Goodreads and Amazon.com
A `bloody' good book!
A `bloody' good book - brilliantly written! Not the usual kind of book I'd read, however, after it was highly recommended, I couldn't put it down! Really great stuff.
Have a look on the author's website and at the animations on Youtube for Niedermayer and Hart - they are awesome!
***** Aug 03, 2012, by LoGo, Posted on Amazon UK
Couldn't put it down!
I don't read mysteries and I don't read 400+ page fiction. But N&H has required me to throw each of those caveats out the window. I have just finished this gripping story which I could not put down. Martin Johnson has a way of engaging the reader through seemingly effortless prose (although we all know the art is in the artlessness). There's enough of a commitment to the 'real world' to make that of the world that Johnson presents utterly convincing. Character, plot and setting work seamlessly on two planes to create worlds in which the reader becomes happily lost - until the suspense ramps up and you're sitting on the edge of your seat! I anxiously await both the sequel AND the film version!
***** July 31, 2012, S Mast, (Bronx, NY USA), Posted on Amazon.Com
Hi Martin, Thanks for sending the book. Husband, Stephen ordered it for me. Though honestly not my usual genre, I really got into it and got through at a pace. You hooked me in! Congratulations. S. P.
July 31, 2012, Posted on Niedermayer & Hart Facebook Page
Beware the Jabberwocky
I have just recently finished Niedermayer and Hart and feel as if i've just come up from Alice's rabbit hole my eyes gradually readjusting to reality as most of us see it.
The author affords us a look into a world so convincing that I found myself calling a halt to my reading because I feared I would have nightmares. Indeed it's so well written I felt compelled to pick it up the next day and by the time I hit book two I was on a runaway train which i could not put down.
It's a brilliant yarn.
Not for the faint hearted
*****A scary but worthwhile journey
I resisted reading this tale of suspense and horror because I'm rather squeamish and prone to nightmares. However the previous reviews got my curiosity up and drew me in. I had to know what it was all about. My strategy for reading this suspenseful and sometimes gory tale was to read only during daylight hours and to separate the reading from the sleeping by watching sitcoms before going to bed. This worked for me as I have not yet had a nightmare. But I must admit that putting the book down before the sun went down was not always easy. The book is so well written that it compels you to read just one more chapter and then another and another. I really had to be stern with myself at times. There are two distinct bands of brave souls seeking to find and put an end to an unimaginable evil entity and its protectors; one from the 13th century and one from the 20th century. Their harrowing adventures and grim discoveries kept this reader engaged. The author obviously did a lot of research in writing this story so as to be historically accurate. I enjoyed the book but I must confess, if they ever do a movie of it, I won't be watching it because there would be no avoiding of nightmares if I did.
***** March 6, 2013, Barbara E Towle (Seattle, WA) posted on Amazon.com
AN EXCEPTIONALLY WRITTEN NOVEL THAT INFORMS AS WELL AS THRILLS
Niedermayer & Hart is a most remarkable book, instantly absorbing and incredibly affecting. Perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay "Niedermayer & Hart" is to say it is a "real novel" M.J. Johnson uses his stunning sense of character and plot to create a most unique journey for the reader. Great novels transport the reader to locations they have never been, and into situations they have never dreamed of. Niedermayer & Hart is such a book. I felt an immediate kinship with the lead character, Jim Latimer who is a most complex person. The emotions and reactions he exhibits throughout the book are so finely rendered, that this character will stick with the reader long after reading the book.
When Latimer enters the elegant firm (at least from an exterior view..an upscale and impressive establishment!) Niedermayer & Hart, his life is forever changed. What I really loved about "Niedermayer & Hart" is Mr. Johnson's wonderful skill of capturing mood and location in so fine a way, as to create stirring "word pictures" for the reader. While I will not go into the plot..the synopsis above does that well..I like to focus on the overall experience of reading this novel.
Niedermayer & Hart was everything I look for in a book. Extremely well written and chock full of unforgetable characters and twists and turns. The reader is gripped as he/she tries to imagine what will happen next at the "quaint" firm of Niedermayer & Hart..needless to say..thanks to the sparkling talent of M.J. Johnson, most will be thrilled and surpised at each turn. A most worthwhile read, indeed!
***** 15 February 2013, Rick Friedman posted on Goodreads, Amazon.com
AN OFFICIAL JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB - MUST READ!
RICK FRIEDMAN
FOUNDER/MODERATOR
THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB (6,700+ MEMBERS)
A Gripping Read
I was totally gripped by Niedermayer and Hart from the moment I picked it up. A brilliant story - clearly meticulously researched - and beautifully written. It did give me nightmares, but I guess that's a tribute to the power of Martin Johnson's writing. Looking forward to his next book...
***** 5 February 2013, Sue Marshall posted on Amazon UK
A Darn Good Read
I was given a copy Niedermayer & Hart as a Christmas gift by a friend. My reading time is usually dedicated to the study of history and I had not read any fiction book for many years. However, I felt to some degree obligated to at least start reading Niedermayer & Hart as it was a gift and a recommended read from my friend.
From the prologue I was immediately drawn into a dark world of... well, I will not spoil it for the future reader. I was gripped and found it difficult to put the book down as I was now in a world of robust characters with the frailties of the human psyche in the conquest over evil.
The author fully sets the scenes, which leaves little to the imagination whilst retaining thought provoking mystery.
The plot of the book is certainly original and one that I never encountered in any medium. For me personally, Niedemayer & Hart made fiction reading a pleasure again and on completing the read and it also gave me the opportunity to discuss the complexity of the book with my friend, who rightly thought I would find it a darn good read and an excellent gift.
It would be nice to see Niedemayer & Hart as a TV mini-series as the substance of the story has all the qualities for good viewing. I challenge anyone not to be moved by Niedemayer & Hart.
***** 12 January 2013, Ricky, posted on Amazon UK
Truly gripping
I went into this book not knowing what to expect. What I got was a superb tale spanning the modern and ancient worlds, from England to Acre and beyond. Well rounded and believable characters mix with a twisting plot that fiendishly reveals the true nature of the story. I won't reveal too much of the contents of the book, but suffice it to say that all is most certainly not what it seems. A gentle start portraying the imperfect nature and shattered life of the main protagonist is intertwined with a fascinating second plot set hundreds of years ago. The link between the two stories becomes apparent at just the right moment, pulling you into the tense build up towards the final moments of the book. Here's hoping that M. J. Johnson decides to write many more in this series.
***** 25 Dec 2012, Stuart , posted on Amazon UK
A tale that won't let go
Like some of its terrifying characters, Niedermayer & Hart has an inescapable, iron-like grip that won't let go once you become involved in it's story. I was truly moved, sickeningly disturbed and thoroughly addicted to this book. I'm now patiently awaiting Martin Johnson's next novel....
***** 15 Dec 2012, Pauly C, posted on Amazon UK and Smashwords
Kept me awake!
It kept me awake, not because I was (too) scared but because I couldn't put it down. I don't usually read much fiction, so when the book arrived it sat on the sofa arm for a week. Finally I picked it up at 1900 on a Sunday night and finished it in bed at 0345 on Monday morning. Mr Johnson combines natural dialogue in modern times, somehow making the supernatural believable, with a historical backstory (thankfully not set in cod Olde Englishe) which is equally gripping. One could freely imagine oneself in both worlds. The geographical and historical knowledge is excellent and realistic, demonstrating thorough research. Highly recommended.
***** 14 Dec 2012 , by johnnychips, posted on Amazon UK
A great read!
Niedermayer & Hart is a chilling tale ideal for the long winter nights. A compulsive page-turner following a small, sympathetic and somewhat eccentric band of modern-day crusaders battling against an ancient evil made manifest in 1990's Britain. The origin of this "thing of darkness" is vividly told in a skillfully interwoven narrative from the Middle Ages. Full of atmosphere, unsettling suspense and not a little gore, it will keep you enthralled and involved as you undertake journeys in two time-scales until the final denouement bridges the centuries. Definitely one for the Christmas stocking!
***** Nov 4, 2012, by Paul Davies, Posted on Amazon UK
A truly excellent book
A wonderfully written book. Captivated my imagination right from the beginning and was the result of many a late night as I just couldn't put it down! Highly recommended.
***** Oct 21, 2012, by Bert, Posted on Amazon UK
Excellent read
Niedermeyer and Hart was a good, lively horror story, that's a great page turner with endearing protagonists. What's most engaging is the build up of horror, from small hints to out-and-out terror: the feelings of anticipation that are not disappointed. The idea of parallel reincarnated lives worked well, as did the sheer horror of the gory parts.
The scale of the terrible discoveries at the Hove ceramic premises was shocking and exciting in equal measure, and the way the woman police officer had to balance public credibility with the actuality of what was happening was a difficult and clever balance to achieve, and it worked well.
All in all, it's one of those books that you promise yourself that time only allows you to only read a page or town and you next realise you're twenty pages on and cannot stop after that.
Martin Johnson is an exciting, highly accessible writer, who has that rare skill of making you want to read on. And on.
Looking forward to the next book.
***** Sept 02, 2012, by Geoffrey Smith, posted on Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Smashwords (15/11/12)
A Popular-Style Page-Turner
Mr. Johnson’s book belongs in the genre of paranormal/horror/suspense, a type of literature I don’t normally read. I was drawn to this book by the location and hints that a historical tale underlay the modern one. In fact, it is the constant cliff-hanger created by the alternation between the two plots – 12th century and 1990s – that keeps the reader eager to come back to the tale – usually a couple of modern chapters interleaved with one chapter of the historical story. A very proper British distributor of art porcelain conceals an ancient horror in the cellar of its building – a horror that is ultimately regurgitated into the light through a set of circumstances involving some very persistent characters and loads of action.
The style and characterization are pretty flat (with occasional sorties into the metaphorical e.g., in Chapter 24: “The people scurrying along the pavements were hunched over against the cold, like refugees from a Brueghel painting.” Or again, in Chapter 35: “An occasional tree loomed out like a spectral figure from the mist as if to warn them back.”) For the most part, the narration simply proceeds without embellishment.
I personally did not find the book particularly scary. Gruesome, grisly, and violent, yes, but the depiction of these qualities struck me as a little clichéd (except for the death of one particular character, whose depth of degradation makes him the most memorable of the whole nasty lot). The opening Prologue is a bit of a gem, successful in hooking the reader into the tale, but I was a little disappointed by the end. It was predictable – there were no unexpected or original plot twists – nothing to make you go, whoa, what just happened here? And the author did leave some loose ends – points I had hoped to see resolved. I think this might have been done deliberately. Is a sequel in the works?
However, taken all together, the originality of the plot premise and approach to the subject make N & H an entertaining page-turner that I definitely don’t regret reading, and so I’m giving it four stars. If a sequel is written, I would read it. And I think the novel would be a good candidate for a made-for-TV movie or a miniseries (perhaps on the Syfy network). It has a bit of a cinematic feel to it (possibly because its author is an actor?)
Recommended for followers of the genre.
**** Aug 23, 2012, by Lorinda J Taylor, posted on Goodreads and Amazon.com
A `bloody' good book!
A `bloody' good book - brilliantly written! Not the usual kind of book I'd read, however, after it was highly recommended, I couldn't put it down! Really great stuff.
Have a look on the author's website and at the animations on Youtube for Niedermayer and Hart - they are awesome!
***** Aug 03, 2012, by LoGo, Posted on Amazon UK
Couldn't put it down!
I don't read mysteries and I don't read 400+ page fiction. But N&H has required me to throw each of those caveats out the window. I have just finished this gripping story which I could not put down. Martin Johnson has a way of engaging the reader through seemingly effortless prose (although we all know the art is in the artlessness). There's enough of a commitment to the 'real world' to make that of the world that Johnson presents utterly convincing. Character, plot and setting work seamlessly on two planes to create worlds in which the reader becomes happily lost - until the suspense ramps up and you're sitting on the edge of your seat! I anxiously await both the sequel AND the film version!
***** July 31, 2012, S Mast, (Bronx, NY USA), Posted on Amazon.Com
Hi Martin, Thanks for sending the book. Husband, Stephen ordered it for me. Though honestly not my usual genre, I really got into it and got through at a pace. You hooked me in! Congratulations. S. P.
July 31, 2012, Posted on Niedermayer & Hart Facebook Page
Beware the Jabberwocky
I have just recently finished Niedermayer and Hart and feel as if i've just come up from Alice's rabbit hole my eyes gradually readjusting to reality as most of us see it.
The author affords us a look into a world so convincing that I found myself calling a halt to my reading because I feared I would have nightmares. Indeed it's so well written I felt compelled to pick it up the next day and by the time I hit book two I was on a runaway train which i could not put down.
It's a brilliant yarn.
Not for the faint hearted
***** July 25, 2012, Posted by Robin Hayter on Amazon.Com and UK
Gripping and compulsive reading
I finished your book and really enjoyed it. It was compulsive reading! That is a significant compliment coming from someone who absolutely can't bear blood and gore ('Casualty' gives me panic attacks ...). I'm quite into the supernatural, though am easily spooked. Despite all of my phobias, I was totally engrossed and was sorry when it ended - but having said that, the end of the story was really satisfying. A really great read.
***** 24 July 2012, Posted by Anne on Amazon UK
Niedermayer & Hart by M J Johnson
There’s something rotten in the basement of Niedermayer & Hart Fine Porcelain, which photographer Jim Latimer discovers to his peril. Jim has been commissioned by the company to photograph their collection for an upcoming catalogue, but he soon realises that there is something very wrong with his employers, and it isn’t long before he finds himself fighting to save his very soul.
Hugh Apsley, once a Knight Templar, has a very strange tale to relate to Brother Anselm of the Abbey of Valle Crucis in a letter dated 1202. It is a disturbing story which shakes the very foundation of their religion and transcends the boundaries of death.
The lives of Jim and Hugh are inextricably linked together and via their individual narratives the story begins to unfold and converge.
This independent novel was very enjoyable to read. The quality of the writing is very good, and the structure of the story intriguing. On one hand we read about the young Hugh Apsley and the horrors he tries to make sense of in a superstitious world, and on the other hand we are transported to the 20th Century involved in a detective story that tries to make sense of what the modern world cannot explain away.
If you like a touch of horror with some solid foundation then you won’t go far wrong with this novel.
**** 3 July 2012, Maxine, Caffeine and Chapters blogspot, posted on Goodreads
I entered the competition after my sister told me about it through her friend Rob Mason.And i won one of the free copies.Just finished reading the book which was an excellent read. The plot was well thought out and I could picture the characters in my mind. A. Evans
3 July 2012, Facebook comment
martin, i have just finished the book and am absolutely flabbergarsted!!!! It is incredible, i couldn't put the bloody thing down! how on earth could you think all the plot out, amazing. anyway congratulations and keep the good work going, am waiting for the next one! The only thing i cannot imagine is how judy could have proof read all of it, with the scaredy cat she is about these themes hee hhe, lots of love and congratulations again, hope it sells a lot for you. besos Liz
29 June 2012 Posted on Facebook
Niedermayer & Hart will keep you up at night
You could be smart and just read Martin Johnson's "Niedermayer & Hart" on my say so, no questions asked. If you enjoy horror stories with a nice historical background, you will enjoy this book. If you liked "Quatermass and the Pit" (or the later "Five Million Years to Earth") or Stephen Laws "Ghost Train," you will like this book. If you like stories with a slow incremental unraveling of the true horror that lies beneath an antiques dealer in Hove (near Brighton, England), you will like this book. If you like a book with an unfortunately high body count, noble sacrifices and stomach turning evil, then you will like this book.
Believe me, the less you know, the better you will enjoy "Niedermayer & Hart" because you might be like me, somewhat jaded about some of the themes and myths used in book. You might think, oh no, not another book about ... But since I had very little information about the novel before I started reading, I never had a chance to form an opinion and thus read with an open mind.
OK, if you're still reading, then let me explain that "Niedermayer & Hart" follows recently recovered alcoholic Jim Latimer, a photographer who drove his family away by his drinking, but is slowly rebuilding his life with the help of his friends. Thanks to a stroke of someone else's bad luck, he even landed a job completing a catalog for the eponymously named company. It seems their previous photographer, a man Jim knew thirty years previous, had killed himself and a mutual friend recommended Latimer to the company.
When Latimer goes to the company to complete the photo shoot of the antique porcelains, however, he feels a distinct unease that he puts down to news of the previous photographer's gruesome suicide and maybe a fetid smell emanating from the basement. He develops a headache that disappears once he leaves the building and its curious inmates. On his first visits, he never meets Mr. Hart and is informed Mr. Niedermayer passed away some time ago.
All this unfolds gradually, but not slowly, as we meet Latimer's friends: his painterly neighbor Ruth Allison who's had a psychic vision of Latimer; their mutual friend Erich Ledermann who's also Latimer's hypnotherapist; Bob Isherwood, the photographer who recommended Latimer to Niedermayer & Hart; and Jim's daughter and his estranged wife. Sadly, many of these people will die or will be horribly scarred by Latimer's introduction to the firm, established in 1957 but so much older than that.
Are you still reading this? You really should turn back because now I have to tell you there's a parallel story that takes place during and after the Third Crusade (the one with Saladin and Richard the Lionheart). A great evil is unleashed by an act of hubris by a marshal of the Knights Templar, and yes, some of you may be saying, I know where this is going, but believe me, it goes in directions you wouldn't guess. I will not go further than this, except to say that unspeakable horrors await Latimer. You may lose hope at times and I can only say the book ends as well as it can.
Actually, "Niedermayer & Hart" is three books in one. The first is Latimer's story, the second the ancient story told to a Cistercian monk, and the third is the police procedural that begins after Latimer's friends strike a small blow against the company. The third book introduces us to Detective Chief Inspector Susan Harris who gets to uncover the mystery largely without the benefit of Latimer and his friends knowledge, and the tension, of course, comes from not knowing whether the police will discover what they need to know in time.
If you've read this much of my review, I'm sorry, but I'm sure you'll still enjoy Martin Johnson's "Niedermayer & Hart." Even if you've figured out the nature of the evil, the writing and the action of the climax will still have you turning pages relentlesssly. Just don't plan to get a lot of sleep between your late-night reading and your nightmares.
***** 31 May 2012 Posted by Jennifer Petkus on Amazon.com and UK, Goodreads and Shelfari
Well-told, absorbing story
The author has a sample of this book on his website. I didn't even read the whole thing. I read the prologue and rushed off to buy it. I was intrigued and needed to find out more. Jim Latimer gets a job at Niedermayer & Hart and immediately you get the sense that there is something off about the place. There are two separate stories woven together, one historical and one contemporary, and eventually it becomes clear what the connection is. The author does an amazing job of giving you the feel of the evil that is lurking without giving too much away too soon. This is a gripping story that has horror, mystery and suspense. If you love a well-told, absorbing story, give this one a try.
Note: Those are not typos, it is written in British English. I learned some new words and I now feel smarter.
***** May 20, 2012 Posted by 'book reader' (Wisconsin) on Amazon.com and on Goodreads
Gripping Supernatural thriller
This is a very well-written book which delves into the Supernatural and Medieval History, skilfully interlinked with current events. Friendship and courage are strongly woven throughout the story as Jim contends with emotional and physical demons.This is not the usual type of book that I read, but I was hooked from the first few pages as I got drawn into the story and pervading sense of Evil.
The Downside was that I suffered from sleep deprivation as I couldn't put the book down.
***** 9 May 2012 Posted by 'Squirrel War' on Amazon UK
Out-of-the-box, most unusual and gripping!
Someone whose recommendations I usually can trust mentioned Niedermayer & Hart to me. Not really a fan of horror stories I was sceptical to begin with but after having listenend to the prologue being read on the author's website I was hooked, bought the book and could not put it down until I had finished it. No regrets! The story sets in the South of England, Wales and London and the writer weaves a gripping plot with complex characters and their lifes centered around a porcelaine dealer in its elegant headquarters in Brighton Hove. Spanning several centuries - a truly unusual thriller, well-researched and an absolute page turner. Highly recommended!
***** 3 May 2012 Posted by Pippa on Amazon UK
A dark, powerful and engrossing tale, fast paced and well crafted
What is the source of the unsettling miasma emanating from the basement of the elegant headquarters of the seemingly respectable porcelain dealers in Hove? Recovering alcoholic Jim Latimer and his friends are faced with the evil unleashed in mediaeval Acre, explained as Hugh's tale unfolds.
This is an absorbing and unpredictable read which is hard to put down. I was completely engrossed, highly recommended.
***** 11 April 2012 Posted by Gillian on Amazon UK
A dark and thrilling quest across the centuries
Every so often you come across a book that doesn't fit the usual categories. This is a very unusual thriller in which the reader is taken on a dark journey across several centuries. Crusader Knights and their Saracen enemies combine in a deathly struggle to save the holy grail from the forces of evil....from Acre in the Holy Lands to modern Britain. The reluctant hero of the book is Jim is a reformed alcoholic who is separated from his wife and daughter. He joins forces with a clairvoyant mystic and a psychologist to trap the evil entity that has taken up residence in Hove. I won't give away anymore but it is a gripping read which is hard to put down. Recommended.
***** Mar 2012 Posted by J Baines on Amazon UK
