Review AND Giveaway: Drood by Dan Simmons

On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens--at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world--hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever. Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?Just as he did in The Terror, Dan Simmons draws impeccably from history to create a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative. Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens's life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens's friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), DROOD explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author's last years and may provide the key to Dickens's final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, DROOD is Dan Simmons at his powerful best.

The narrator of this spooky tale is Wilkie Collins, Victorian novelist and great friend of Charles Dickens. He has quite a story to tell. In the aftermath of a terrible train accident that he was lucky to escape, Dickens claims to have met an eerie, ugly figure by the name of Drood:

"Perhaps the unimaginable began when he was clambering down the steep embankment. Suddenly appearing next to him was a tall, thin man wearing a heavy black cape far more appropriate for a night at the opera than an afternoon's voyage to London on the tidal train. Both men were carrying their top hats in one hand while grabbing at the embankment for balance with their free hands. This figure, as Dickens later described to me in a throaty whisper during the days after the accident when his voice 'was no longer my own,' was cadaverously thin, almost shockingly pale, and stared at the writer from dark-shadowed eyes set deep under a pale, high brow that melded into a pale, bald scalp. A few strands of greying hair leapt out from the sides of this skull-like visage. Dickens's impression of a skull was reinforced, he said later, by the man's foreshortened nose - 'mere black slits opening into the grub-white face than a proper proboscis' was how Dickens described it - and by small, sharp, irregular teeth, spaced too far apart, set into gums so pale that they were whiter than the teeth themselves."

This meeting marks a great change in Dickens' life. His health begins to decline and he embarks on a series of nighttime tours through the darkest areas of underground London, called Undertown, in search of the elusive Drood. His friends and family notice his peculiar behavior and his increasing interest in the macabre.

Wilkie, who is plagued by constant pain which he attributes to rheumatic gout, has his own issues. He is addicted to opium, in the form of laudanum, to dull the pain and allow him the freedom to live his life. Charles often insists on Wilkie's presence on his midnight jaunts, which allows Wilkie to discover hidden opium dens. As a result, his addiction becomes much more severe.

Charles Dickens' obsession with Drood is contagious, Wilkie is drawn in and is soon deeply involved in the sinister occurrences that surround Drood and his minions. He tells himself that he is doing it for Charles, out of concern for his friend's mental health, but when he starts to believe in Drood himself the story takes on an entirely different aspect.

Dan Simmons has given us a dark, deliciously creepy narrative that any Victorian ghost story aficionado will savor. Indeed, I think Victorians themselves would be right at home reading this novel. The eerie atmosphere and gothic suspense strongly reminded me of that classic American writer, Edgar Allan Poe.

Drood is published by Little Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-00702-3

Miriam at Hachette Book Group has provided me with three copies of this book to give away. If you would like to enter, leave a comment here with the title of your favorite ghost story. Two extra entries for anyone who blogs about the giveaway, tweets on twitter or becomes a follower of my blog. If you do, please leave me a separate comment to let me know. Enter until midnight eastern on March 13. Winners will be drawn at random and must have a US or Canada mailing address (no PO Boxes)

Here is a list of everyone participating in the Early Bird Blog Tour....stop by and read their thoughts on Drood!

http://hiddenplace.wordpress.com

http://book-thirty.blogspot.com/

http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com/

http://www.writeforareader.blogspot.com

http://thebookczar.blogspot.com

http://www.acircleofbooks.blogspot.com

http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/

http://www.bookthoughtsbylisa.blogspot.com

http://AllisonsAtticBlog.blogspot.com

http://linussblanket.com

http://www.chikune.com/blog

http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/

http://readingtoolate.net

http://www.myfriendamysblog.com

http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/

http://ABlogofBooks.blogspot.com

http://Cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com

http://shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

http://www.savvyverseandwit.blogspot.com

http://bestbookihavenotread.wordpress.com

http://www.bookishruth.com/

http://www.bookingmama.blogspot.com/

http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com

http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com

http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset