Terry Pratchett’s Snuff is the latest novel in the brilliant City Watch series featuring the impassible Commander Samuel Vimes as he’s sort of forced on holiday with his wife Lady Sybil Ramkin and their young son Sam. It’s also the 39th Discworld Novel written by Pratchett, showing the prolific impact he’s had on the fantasy fiction literary genre.
The plot sees Vimes getting ushered on holiday by his wife and the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Havelock Vetinari, so they head out to Lady Sybil’s childhood home of Ramkin Hall to get some fresh air, rest and relaxation. However, the Patrician’s motives aren’t entirely soft hearted as he’s discovered a drug and tobacco (one half of the Snuff title) smuggling operation that originates from the same area, which he’s hoping Vimes will pick up on while he’s away.
Things get dark quickly out in the country and a Goblin murder of snuff movie proportions (the second half of the double meaning title) quickly embroils the Commander in the crime that has taken over his wife’s neck of the woods. Although, as well as the butchery, there’s also a sizeable proportion of racism and bigotry towards the downtrodden goblin race, making Snuff as much a moral tale as it is a fantasy crime novel.
As you’d expect with Terry Pratchett’s work, the book is laced with funny jokes, but there’s also a lot of serious overtones as race inequality is dealt with in a very smart and intelligent way. There’s also a lot of action to the book, giving it a film like quality, as Sam battles killers, rides white water rapids and chases down slave ships in the high sees.
However, there’s ultimately a slight sense of incompletion to the book as the lead villain, the decision maker and mastermind behind the sinister operations up in the Ramkins and abroad in Howandaland, remains illusively out of site throughout the story. He doesn’t even make an appearance, which leaves the book a little lacking in closure, but it’s not impossible that this is an intentional device used by Pratchett to throw his own twisted mirror on reality, something he’s become famous for.
The only other potential negative is that if you were hoping for a book that covers all of the city watch characters, as has been the case previously, Snuff might disappoint slightly. Many of the other main characters like Captain Carrot and Captain Angua crop up only rarely when we have a short section that returns to Ankh-Morpork. Sergeant Fred Colon, Corporals Nobby Nobbs, Corporal Cheery Littlebottom and Wee Mad Arthur play a slightly bigger part, but they’re still a rare treat instead of taking up central roles.
As a fantasy fiction novel, Snuff is a lot of fun, but it’s also inventive, fast paced and action packed. It highlights the importance of racial equality without being a clichéd lecture or a boring tale, while weaving together some great new characters to become a part of both the Discworld and City Watch universe.
Terry Pratchett, Snuff review: 4/5
