Domini Mortum by Paul Holbrook

This is definitely not a book for the squeamish or the faint of heart, full of gruesome murders with a potential supernatural felon the gore is relentless and described in loving and vivid detail.  If you found The Limehouse Golem or The Alienist too much then this is most definitely NOT the tale for you.  If however, they spoke to your inner twistedness then you are going to love it.  As you can probably tell, I am firmly in the latter camp.

The tale does swap about quite a bit from the past to the present with no real indication of which particular time you are in so you do need to pay attention otherwise it could easily become an exercise in confusion.  Personally I felt this worked well within the confines of the tale as to reveal too much about our narrator, Samuel Weaver, too soon would lessen the impact of his actions.  This is definitely opne book that would not be improved by telling in chronological order.  The narrator's voice is very strong within the book and it is fortunate that the author is up to the task of creating a despicable character that somehow you find yourself caring about - no matter what he has, or will do.

The only downside for me was the mixing in of Norwegian folklore, it felt bolted on and not really of intrinsic benefit to the story.  In my opinion it would have worked just as well without it - after all, this is a tale about the search for absolute power so the little tributary that runs off in to these tales is not really necessary.

The setting is also well realised.  Be it the foggy slums of London, the eerie village or the upper echelon clubs and "other" establishments, each has a ring of authenticity that brings to life the time period in a wonderfully evocative way.  Surprisingly there is a fair bit of attention to the costume of our characters and this helps to not only gel them in place but gives us, the reader, a real sense of their relative stations in life without it having to be explicitly explained to us.

In short a gore-filled romp full of dark humour and twisted characters where nobody is who they seem.

THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.