The Office of Lost and Found | Vincent Holland-Keen

Ok, those of you who have been following us a while will know that once in a while I find someone whose writing gives me so much pleasure I hound them until they give in and send me stuff in segments just to keep me quiet. This means once in a while I read an unpublished manuscript just for the joy of it. A while ago Chris V and I both reviewed Steven Savile's London Macabre which is presently seeking a home. We both loved it in case you are wondering.

Next up for the unpublished review treatment is creator of Un:Covered and Un:Bound regular Vincent. His writing is the reason I had to have him on here and I am delighted to have his permission to post my thoughts on his most recently completed manuscript 'The Office of Lost and Found'.

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A toaster that burns its love for a widow into the bread, a cat with a strong sense of justice, a woman who rediscovered her free will when the tumble dryer broke (and subsequently shot her husband) and a child on whom the fate of the universe may hang.

Through all of this chaos Thomas Locke and his shadowy partner run the Office of Lost & Found. Locke finds things, Lafarge loses them and Veronica wants her husband lost. Permanently.

It’s hard to describe Lost & Found. It’s undoubtedly fantasy, centred around a number of mysteries. It’s at times a little chaotic and absurd but everything is so vivid, clear and beautifully tied together that it’s easy to be drawn through this half dream-state version of reality without stopping to question the existence of the Umivatoré, the malevolence of The Ties that Bind or indeed a small boy’s intense religious faith in road-works.

Lost and Found is darkly funny in places, in others just dark, cynical, but with an odd joyfulness to it. There are also some genuinely beautiful and emotive moments - Veronica trying to change her tune, Locke and Constance trying to have the life that should have been.

At the beginning it feels almost as though the book is a series of interlinking tales, but as it builds towards its final showdown the threads pull together and, well, if all doesn’t become clear exactly, it delivers a dramatic, emotional, punch in the gut of an ending.

It has something in common with early Robert Rankin but is less self consciously clever, relaxing instead into excellent storytelling, compelling characters and unrelenting movement. Fans of Robert Rankin and Christopher Moore, or Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently series, should find a lot here to love.