THE SOCIETY OF UNKNOWABLE OBJECTS by Gareth Brown (Bantam Books August 2025) Hardcover, 352 pages. ISBN # 9781787637269
Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .
The world of unknowable objects - magical items that most people have no idea possess powers - has been quiet for decades . . .
But three current members of a secret society have remained watchful, meeting every six months in the basement of a bookshop in London. They are pledged to protect their archive of magical items hidden away, safe from the outside world - and keep the world safe from them. But when Frank Simpson, the longest-standing member of the Society of Unknowable Objects, hears of a new artefact coming to light in Hong Kong, he sends the Society's newest member, author Magda Sparks, to investigate.
Within hours of arriving in Hong Kong, Magda is facing death and danger, confronted by a professional killer who seems to know all about unknowable objects, specifically one that was stolen from him a decade before. Magda is forced to flee, using an artefact that not even the rest of the Society knows about.
Returning to London, Magda learns hers is not the only secret being kept from the other two members. And that the most pernicious secret is about the nature of the Society’s mission. Her discoveries will lead her on a perilous journey, across the Atlantic to the deep south of the United States - not in pursuit of an unknowable object, but an unknowable person: the killer she first faced in Hong Kong. In doing so, Magda begins to understand that there are even more in the world who are chasing these magical items, and that her own family’s legacy is tied up in keeping all these secrets under wraps.
Magic has always been too powerful to reveal to the world. But Magda will learn there might be something even more powerful: the truth.
My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
A fascinating, engaging fantasy full of captivating characters leads us on an adventure to recover magical objects and put them in safekeeping before they can be used for ill purposes. What's not to like?
Very inventive, with some good plot twists. A real page turner.
Based on the high praise for THE BOOK OF DOORS I placed Gareth Brown on my list of authors-to-watch. When I saw this new entry on the library shelves and learned that it was a stand-alone novel and not a sequel, the decision was easy. Scratch one item off my list.
I will definitely look for THE BOOK OF DOORS. Brown is a very promising writer, and I'm glad to see the ending of THE SOCIETY OF UNKOWNABLE OBJECTS is open-ended enough to leave room for a sequel.
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