Mr. Timothy

Mr Timothy by Louis Bayard

Hardcover: 400 pages 

ISBN-10: 0060534214

From Publishers Weekly

Bayard's first two novels (Fool's Errand; Endangered Species) were contemporary romantic comedies, a far cry from his third, an audacious and triumphant entertainment that imagines the post-Christmas Carol life of Tiny Tim, transformed from an iconic representation of innocent suffering ("the iron brace was bought by a salvager long ago, and the crutch went for kindling") into a fully realized young adult struggling to find his place in a cruel world. Having lost his parents and become estranged from his remaining family as well from as reformed Ebenezer Scrooge, Mr. Timothy Cratchit has found a niche in a brothel as the tutor to its madam. Haunted by his failure to connect with his father, as well as by his father's ghost, Timothy has developed a thick skin to guard against the oppressive misery endemic to 1860s London. His defenses are penetrated when he encounters Philomela, a 10-year-old waif who has been mysteriously abused. With the assistance of a singing street urchin called Colin the Melodious and a maimed retired seafarer, he pursues the source of her torment and its connection with another child whose branded body was dumped in an obscure alley. The quest becomes more quixotic when evidence points to the aristocracy, abetted by a corrupt police force, but with Philomela taking an active role, the quartet narrow in on their target. With surprising but plausible twists, and a visceral, bawdy evocation of Victorian London, Bayard has crafted a page-turner of a thriller that is elevated beyond its genre by its endearingly flawed hero for whom nothing human is alien. 
I had high hopes for this (my last review of 2010).  But I was only partially right.
I was continually not "with it" for the first 2/3rds of the book but I kept hoping it would get better.  And the last 1/3 got quite good!
I'm not sure what was, or wasn't missing ,or written in the first part of the book but it didn't hold my interest and I found myself not reading as much as normal with each time I'd pick up the book.  I am happy to say that changed with the latter part.  I went through that part rather quickly!
I think there was much here to be used with old Scrooge and Timothy that wasn't brought to light, but then maybe  Mr Bayard was being overly cautious so he wouldn't be said to be stealing the works of Mr Dickens.
Over all this book was "good" but not great, though I do think I will give the author another shot to see if maybe I expected a little too much.
 
Here's hoping that 2011 brings us all many good reads during the year!! Happy New Year (on Saturday) and Happy reading!!!