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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Erm, this was a pleasant surprise.
In short, this is a lesbian detective story set in early 1830s London. People are randomly disappearing from the grimy streets of London and no one can provide a rational explanation for it. Hester White, a poor working-class girl, who somehow finds her way into the middle-class Brock household, and Rebekah Brock decide to set things right.
I actually really enjoyed this - more than I expected to. It was so much fun. Carlin has such a lovely writing style. I can't believe it's her debut book - so many plot twists. You think you've solved something and then Carlin pulls the carpet out from right under your feet. It was so interesting, so engaging, and just downright lovely.
I wish I read this earlier, specifically in the autumn/early winter, as the dark evenings would have provided the best kind of atmosphere for this type of book. Nevertheless, I'd definitely recommend it! So gooooooood - can't wait to see what Carlin puts out next!
*Also, sorry, I just wanted to quickly update this and say why I didn't rate it five stars. At times, I found the story to drag just a *little* bit. Also, I found the very last chapter and epilogue to be a little unnecessary. I feel like authors are obliged to write happy endings for their stories, which I don't think should be the case. This story would have been more powerful and shocking if Carlin has ended it on a sad note.
In short, this is a lesbian detective story set in early 1830s London. People are randomly disappearing from the grimy streets of London and no one can provide a rational explanation for it. Hester White, a poor working-class girl, who somehow finds her way into the middle-class Brock household, and Rebekah Brock decide to set things right.
I actually really enjoyed this - more than I expected to. It was so much fun. Carlin has such a lovely writing style. I can't believe it's her debut book - so many plot twists. You think you've solved something and then Carlin pulls the carpet out from right under your feet. It was so interesting, so engaging, and just downright lovely.
I wish I read this earlier, specifically in the autumn/early winter, as the dark evenings would have provided the best kind of atmosphere for this type of book. Nevertheless, I'd definitely recommend it! So gooooooood - can't wait to see what Carlin puts out next!
*Also, sorry, I just wanted to quickly update this and say why I didn't rate it five stars. At times, I found the story to drag just a *little* bit. Also, I found the very last chapter and epilogue to be a little unnecessary. I feel like authors are obliged to write happy endings for their stories, which I don't think should be the case. This story would have been more powerful and shocking if Carlin has ended it on a sad note.
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Quite predictable and did not particularly enjoy the ending, however found the descriptions really good in helping me imagine a scene.
Hester was left an orphan after the death of her parents and taken in by two of their servants, through ill-luck the family has fallen into abject poverty in the east of London. Hester wants to escape her drab life and the violence of the surroundings but is concerned about the growing number of people 'disappearing' from the streets of London. After an accident she is taken up by a young doctor as a project, his sister Rebekah will tutor Hester. Hester and Rebekah become close but after a misunderstanding Hester finds herself on the London streets again. With Rebekah at her side Hester determines to find out what has happened to the 'disappeared' and the answer is a lot closer to home than either thought.
There are many aspects of this book that are really excellent, not least the imagining of early 19th century London and the life of the poor. As a pastiche of 'gothic' stories it works well at many levels. I also didn't mind the sapphic love story between Hester and Rebekah even if some of the descriptions were a little florid at times. However put all of this together and it didn't really work for me as a whole, there was just too much and the ending was both convenient and irritating.
There are many aspects of this book that are really excellent, not least the imagining of early 19th century London and the life of the poor. As a pastiche of 'gothic' stories it works well at many levels. I also didn't mind the sapphic love story between Hester and Rebekah even if some of the descriptions were a little florid at times. However put all of this together and it didn't really work for me as a whole, there was just too much and the ending was both convenient and irritating.
This felt like two stories crammed into one (relatively short) book. There was a romance and a horror/thriller. The romance side, I liked. I could understand why the two characters were drawn to each other, and it was enjoyable seeing their passion and affection develop.
What I found odd was seeing it develop alongside a really gruesome and horrific murder mystery. The mystery element also worked well in isolation, with a slow build up, hints as to the truth, and a dramatic conclusion. The epitome of this was towards the end, where the protagonists find a piece of someone's decaying body, and then go home and (after a clean up) end up in a sex scene. I don't know what the traumatic experience of discovering pieces of human bodies would do to a person (maybe some people would react by seeking sex or any other kind of distraction/comfort), but it makes for very odd reading.
Further more, some bits of the plot feel as though they rely a bit too heavily on coincidence. One of the protagonists is hit by the carriage of the others brother. That protagonist also happens to know people who are involved in the mystery, which is some how tied up with the others family. It doesn't stretch credulity too far, but it does seem a bit convenient that these two people, each in a position to provide information to the other, get thrown together by a random carriage accident.
As a side note, the book was a very different kind of story than the sentence on the back of my edition lead me to believe. 'We have no need to protect ourselves from the bad sort because we are the bad sort...' made me assume that the main character would be much more morally grey (and a dark shade at that). I was envisioning a kind of anti-hero, or villain-turned-hero type of story, or at the very least something where the hero is forced to commit some immoral actions to achieve some greater good. Instead, both the protagonists are pretty good people, barring a few minor flaws and some terrible relatives/carers. The 'we' of the story aren't a bad sort. While I thought that was a great line (and makes sense when you see it in context in the story itself), it felt misleading to have on the cover.
My complaints might sound more negative than I really feel; I did like the main characters, and that was enough to keep me invested in their story.
What I found odd was seeing it develop alongside a really gruesome and horrific murder mystery. The mystery element also worked well in isolation, with a slow build up, hints as to the truth, and a dramatic conclusion. The epitome of this was towards the end, where the protagonists find a piece of someone's decaying body, and then go home and (after a clean up) end up in a sex scene. I don't know what the traumatic experience of discovering pieces of human bodies would do to a person (maybe some people would react by seeking sex or any other kind of distraction/comfort), but it makes for very odd reading.
Further more, some bits of the plot feel as though they rely a bit too heavily on coincidence. One of the protagonists is hit by the carriage of the others brother. That protagonist also happens to know people who are involved in the mystery, which is some how tied up with the others family. It doesn't stretch credulity too far, but it does seem a bit convenient that these two people, each in a position to provide information to the other, get thrown together by a random carriage accident.
As a side note, the book was a very different kind of story than the sentence on the back of my edition lead me to believe. 'We have no need to protect ourselves from the bad sort because we are the bad sort...' made me assume that the main character would be much more morally grey (and a dark shade at that). I was envisioning a kind of anti-hero, or villain-turned-hero type of story, or at the very least something where the hero is forced to commit some immoral actions to achieve some greater good. Instead, both the protagonists are pretty good people, barring a few minor flaws and some terrible relatives/carers. The 'we' of the story aren't a bad sort. While I thought that was a great line (and makes sense when you see it in context in the story itself), it felt misleading to have on the cover.
My complaints might sound more negative than I really feel; I did like the main characters, and that was enough to keep me invested in their story.
I’d give this book a 4/5 stars for the first 70%, and perhaps a 2.5/5 for the remaining third act conclusion and denouement. The latter 30% has a lot of plot of the central mystery being told to us by someone recounting their connection or involvement with the perpetrators of the series of disappearances, where they go “so this guy from my past grew to be this guy now, and he is doing this because of such-and-such.” There was this particular instance of a birth and a murder involved with it (amongst other devious deeds) that’s told from *two* perspectives that takes up ~half a chapter each. Carlin also sort of revives one of the main character, Rebekah by pulling the ol’ switcheroo that’s resolved in half a chapter. These aforesaid aspects bring the latter 30% of the book down to 2.5 stars.
Considering the book as a whole Carlin has a writing style that I absolutely love — a sense of melodrama that’s reminiscent the style of Sarah Waters and by extension, the style of contemporary Victorian writers. Although the plot is somewhat convoluted *(some may argue too convoluted)* in certain cases Carlin has a gorgeous and vivid style of writing when it comes to descriptions, especially when it comes to describing the slums of London.
However, there are aspects of the character Hester that I didn’t particularly, ie. the way she was generally dragged along by Rebekah on her quest to seek justice and truth regarding the growing disappearances, and rather lacks an agency on her own. Her attraction to Rebekah is also not fully explained and developed besides Rebekah being handsome and sweet to her, and they only confess their love to each other at essentially the beginning of the third act, whereby they are immediately separated due to believing each other to be dead, then separated by a continent, and finally reuniting on the final page with an epilogue diary entry to explain that they’re well.
Considering the book as a whole Carlin has a writing style that I absolutely love — a sense of melodrama that’s reminiscent the style of Sarah Waters and by extension, the style of contemporary Victorian writers. Although the plot is somewhat convoluted *(some may argue too convoluted)* in certain cases Carlin has a gorgeous and vivid style of writing when it comes to descriptions, especially when it comes to describing the slums of London.
However, there are aspects of the character Hester that I didn’t particularly, ie. the way she was generally dragged along by Rebekah on her quest to seek justice and truth regarding the growing disappearances, and rather lacks an agency on her own. Her attraction to Rebekah is also not fully explained and developed besides Rebekah being handsome and sweet to her, and they only confess their love to each other at essentially the beginning of the third act, whereby they are immediately separated due to believing each other to be dead, then separated by a continent, and finally reuniting on the final page with an epilogue diary entry to explain that they’re well.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No