Beloved Poison is the first book in the Jem Flockhart series. As with the second book, Dark Asylum, the setting is Victorian London with its tenements full of poverty, crime and disease and a society that punishes those afflicted with a case of being from the lower classes of society. This first book takes place in a hospital where Jem is an apothecary. The hospital cares for the lower classes, no nobility or wealthy patients are found here. The poor people have little hope of surviving their illnesses or injuries and less hope once most of the doctors get their hands on them. If they do not survive, their bodies are whisked away for the medical students to dissect. Jem is the rare person at the hospital who practices cleanliness and seems to honestly care about the patient’s welfare.
As with Dark Asylum, Beloved Poison got some many things right. * The setting was written very well. All the smells of Victorian London. The darkness, the smog, the tenements. It really created a believable atmosphere. * The hospital was horrifying. I think I would have rather died at home than subject myself to what passed for medical treatment. * The characters were fantastic. I really did not have a good line on who was evil until the very end of the book. * Jem was wonderful. I loved what I learned about the character in the second book. Now here in the first book I have, for lack of a better phrase, Jem’s origin story. It reinformed to me why Jem is one of the most likeable, relatable and well written characters I have encounter. * Again another great mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. A logical solution also, not a deus ex machina ending. I was very surprised to find that there are not audio versions of of either of the Jem Flockhart books. The publisher is missing a huge market by not releasing the books on audio also. Both Beloved Poison and Dark Asylum were a joy to read. I am looking forward to reading more from E. S. Thomson and hopefully seeing her titles as audiobooks.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
August 2023
|