1. MAYHEM, BY SARAH PINBOROUGH (Book 1 of Dr. Thomas Bond)
Starting off the year with a book I loved because of the cover. I like historical fiction, and the overall theme of the book also interested me, but this cover is just fantastic. And it does a very good job of representing what the book has to offer...
This is a very nice read, quite well written and vastly entertaining. There is enough suspense to keep the reader interested, and the supernatural elements do not seem absurd (which can be quite hard to do in this kind of novel). The characters are all believable and well constructed.
I’m not very knowledgeable about London at that time, or of Jack the Ripper, more specifically, but as far as I can tell this is historically accurate enough. The atmosphere and portrayal of the time and place deserve special compliments, they’re masterfully done.
If there is one thing I would complain about, it’s that, for a book with a doctor as the protagonist, there is remarkably little medicine. Yes, I know that this isn’t a book about medicine or diseases, and there is really no call for sciency talk, but it is one of my main interests, and I can’t help but be a bit miffed whenever I expect it and am denied.
Up next: Lady of the Butterflies, by Fiona Mountain