A review by bookthia
The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

If there is a sweet spot for me, it’s a novel  with real life people as fictional characters. In this book, it was Charles Dickens.  The gist of this novel is that Dickens’ last novel (and unfinished) novel — The Mystery of Edward Drood — was in fact finished, and it is a race between the good guys and an assortment of bad guys to find it first.   This is a solid 3.5 stars for me.  I liked it.  In some places it was excellent.  The author’s research was fantastic and I especially liked the bits about the development of the publishing industry in the west, and the copyright issues between US and UK publishers. Yet it felt like certain chapters were added just to show off stuff the author learned in his research. These chapters held the story up.  The whole subplot about Dicken’s son in India was unnecessary and added nothing to the overall narrative. The protagonists had some good luck - including deductions that happened to always be right — working in their favour. But I was always rooting for them. All in all, an entertaining read.