This the final book in Morrell’s mystery series about Thomas De Quincey’s adventures in Victorian England. It’s the weakest of them all. The other books boasted some profoundly disturbing, incredibly visceral violence that was striking and memorable. This one doesn’t even do that; the first murder occurs off-screen and we see almost none of the aftermath. I don’t require a lot of gore in books I read, but it’s clearly Morrell’s strength. Plotting is a real weakness here and the story gets bogged down in a really tedious spy story that I found really obvious and uninteresting. There’s a thrill or two buried in here, but this series ends with a fizzle. 1 ½ stars.
tl;dr – final novel in mystery series is the weakest, a mostly dull affair that doesn’t play to Morrell’s strengths. 1 ½ stars.