Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Emily reviews The Night Porter by Mark Barry

Today we have a review from team member Emily, she blogs at http://lifebetweenbookends.tumblr.com/

Emily chose to read and review The Night Porter by Mark Barry

The Night Porter is comedic, dramatic and most of all incredibly entertaining. We are introduced to ‘The Night Porter’ who is a hardworking man so completely devoted to his job, he is only referred to by his title and above all he values his crucial dedication to the smooth running of The Saladin Inn.

When the Arkwright Literary Awards decide to pay for 4 of their shortlisted authors, Amy, Jo, Frank and Julian, to stay in The Saladin for two weeks, it is the Night Porters duty to ensure their every need is met. Though his charm and small talk welcomes the guests graciously, no amount of polite smiles could lower tensions between the authors themselves. We witness the Night Porter falter in his professionalism as he experiences attraction towards guests, an obvious disliking towards a colleague and inconspicuously tries to unearth the past cause of Amy and Julian’s blatant hatred towards each other.

As the awards loom and nerves rise, a sudden tragedy befalls one of the authors and the carefully organised awards night seems to be crumbling into pieces. We follow the Night Porter as he struggles to do what he usually does best- maintain order.

Mark Barry has managed to not only blend laughter and suspense so well into one story but also creates vivid characters and enthralling dilemmas. This book lacks nothing but it’s own literary award and overall was a delightful read.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com