Drood by Dan Simmons. © 2009 Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-3160-0702-1. Hardback. Historical Fiction/Horror. 755 pages. $26.99 US. [ Purchase ]

Synopsis
On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens–at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world–hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.

Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?

Review
I scored this from LibraryThing Early Reviewers and the publisher was awesome enough to send me a finished book! Yes, it could double as a doorstop, but that’s never stopped me reading a book before.

Drood is a shadowy figure met by Charles Dickens after a train accident at Staplehurst in which many people died. Dickens tells our narrator, Wilkie Collins, that it almost seemed Drood was stealing the souls of the dying. Drood was kind enough to tell Dickens where he lives, setting Dickens and Collins on a trip to London’s undertown in search of the creature. And so begins Collins’s odyssey. His search for Drood as well as his attempts to supersede Dickens in the hearts of the reading public.

While reading, I was constantly seized by the urge to reread The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which I haven’t read in decades as well as the urge to learn more about Collins and read more of his work, especially The Moonstone. Which means, I think, the book succeeded in many ways. I had one issue with it, which I’m not spelling out because while not a specific spoiler, it could be considered one. If you ask, I’ll tell you (which means it could show in comments, so read those at your own risk).

All in all, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[cross-posted to GoodReads]

Jennifer

Jennifer works as a production editor for a major publishing company in NYC but will not review any books put out by the company (under any imprint) on this site since that can be considered a conflict of interest. Areas of interest include Robin Hood, pirates, zombies (and horror in general), Beowulf (and other early English literature, though Beowulf has a soft spot in her heart), medieval history, Celtic history and literature, history of diseases, and some odd subjects like bog bodies. She lives in New Jersey with a husband and a cat. You can find her on LibraryThing, Twitter, and Goodreads.

More Posts - Website