Set in 1888 New England, orphaned
Will Henry lives with his late father’s employer, Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, and
acts as his assistant. Warthrop is the Monstrumologist of the title, a
scientist who studies monsters. The story opens with the night time delivery of
a body stolen from the cemetery. That in itself is not startling to Will Henry,
but this time, it’s different. There are two bodies; the young woman the grave
robber was after, and a monster with no head and a shark-like mouth in his
chest. This is the anthropophagi, a species found in Africa
and no where else. What is it doing in a New England
cemetery?
The story
unfolds with constant action in dark, fetid places: the doctor’s basement
autopsy lab, open graves, tunnels underground. There is constant peril- the
anthropophagi are stronger and faster than humans, and are eternally hungry.
Needless to say, they are strictly carnivorous, preferring human meat to all
else. Warthrop, Will Henry and the slimy, showy John Kearn, another
monstrumologist, strive to find out how these beasts came to be in America and where their nest is before they can
devastate the people in the area. This was one of those couldn’t put it down
books for me. Not only is the mystery intriguing and the danger unrelenting,
but the characters are compelling and interesting. After I finished the book, I
was VERY happy to discover that it’s the first of a series- without the
clumsiness that first books often have. This novel would make a great movie;
Warthrop, of course, should be played by Christopher Lee. When I’d read John
Kearn’s dialogue, I was hearing it in Kelsey Grammer’s voice.
One note: this
book is marked Young Adult, and, indeed, I would have loved it as a tween. But
there is a LOT of blood and graphic violence; some
parents might think twice about letting
their kids read this if they are sensitive about these things.
The above is an associate link. If you click through it and buy the book, Amazon will give me a tiny amount of money.
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