Review: The Doll Princess – Tom Benn. 3.5 stars

The blurb of The Doll Princess proclaims author Tom Benn as ‘an assured and exhilarating new voice in literary crime fiction’. However, classifying this novel as ‘literary’ works massively to its detriment and sets any prospective readers off on the wrong foot.

Take its protagonist, Henry Bane, whose hard-bitten narration calls to mind a Mancunion Sam Spade; all local slang and casual sexism. Henry Bane, or just ‘Bane’ as he prefers to go by, is not a literary figure – he’s a typical noir protagonist imprinted onto a Manchester setting, complete with a tough, mercenary exterior that hides a weakness for the damsel in distress. It’s this chivalry that serves as his prime motivation throughout the novel; the drive to avenge the murder of his childhood sweetheart.

The depiction of said damsels (and women in general) is certainly not literary. Women run the gamut from disposable sex objects, to monstrous femme fatales to abject victims, all adopting one of the noir genre’s less than flattering female archetypes. The Doll Princess is a masculine milieu and while female agency is certainly touched upon, it serves largely as a handy moral barometer to show the scheming femme fatale’s ambition and desire in contrast with the naivety and powerlessness of the sweet, dumb girls in need of saving.

That’s not to say that The Doll Princess is a bad novel, it’s not, it’s a great crime novel, but it’s not a literary crime novel and anyone expecting a literary approach to the genre is going to be disappointed. The Doll Princess is a traditional noir and thus it liberally utilises the tropes of the genre. This acts as a handy anchor for less experienced readers and intersperses the often unrelentingly grim and violent plot with a little more colour.

The plot itself is pretty dense and can get a little convoluted but the somewhat hit-and-miss prose generally manages to ‘hit’ when the story needs to move on; the pace is brisk and the action well written and visceral.

The novel really comes into its stride around halfway through when the somewhat awkward realism makes way for a cartoonish foray into violence and international intrigue and Henry Bane, like any good noir hard man, finds himself massively in over his head but soldiers on nonetheless.
The Doll Princess is a great read for fans of the genre; it’s pacey, violent and doesn’t take itself too seriously, so neither should you.