A review by magnuscumlaude
The Meaning of Night: A Confession by Michael Cox

4.0

I had the urge to read something Jack-the-ripper-adjacent and this massive revenge saga set in Victorian England definitely scratched that itch. Written in the form of a very long-winded and detailed confession, this novels follows a man whose fate seems interwoven and mirrored with another, and their respective master plans to ruin each other. I don't think there was a way that this story could have ended happily without feeling disingenuous. Apparently it took Michael Cox over two decades to write this novel, and I can see why. The level of detail here was astonishing, and I never knew if the many footnotes were leaning more towards the real or the fictional parts of the story.

The years-long revenge plot, filled with aliases and dreams of fortune was definitely Count-of-Monte-Cristo-coded, and if you know me, you'll know that that is one of my all-time favourite novels. If I ever get the hankering to read another noir-ish Victorian England novel, maybe I'll pick up the sequel to this.