Here's a tale of Victorian London to freeze your blood on a cold winter's night -- Alex Gordon * Evening Telegraph on Beloved Poison *
Beloved Poison is a marvellous, vivid book with a thoughtful, engaging protagonist at its centre - and a fascinating story to tell. It's immaculately researched and breathtakingly dark. Elaine Thomson's descriptive powers are so great that that I was surprised to see twenty-first century London rather than grimy, smelly St Saviour's around me when I - eventually - looked up from its pages -- Janet Ellis, author of
The Butcher's Hook Following on from the events of acclaimed debut Beloved Poison,
Dark Asylum vividly portrays the Gothic horror and questionable science of Victorian mental asylums in chilling detail. Meticulously researched and masterfully plotted, E.S. Thomson has written a complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable tale * Daily Express *
Dark Asylum positively oozes gothic menace, and the author's evocation of the city at that time is visceral and engagingly morbid . . . A first class piece of historical crime writing -- Doug Johnstone * Big Issue *
You can almost feel the evil miasma rising from the page * Kirkus Reviews on Beloved Poison *
This outstanding debut historical enthrals with its meticulously researched details * Library Journal on Beloved Poison *
From the first page to the last, I enjoyed every brilliantly written, and often hideous, detail ... A splendid read * Cambridge Magazine on Beloved Poison *
A historical novel to be savoured -- Lesley McDowell * The National on Beloved Poison *
Meticulously researched and masterfully plotted, E S Thomson has written a complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable tale. * Daily Express *
ES Thompson's Jem Flockhart books are the best I've read in years. Jem is just my kind of heroine: scarred, smart, complex, and unapologetically queer -- Kirsty Logan, author of
The Gracekeepers Jem Flockhart's London is vivid, pungent and perilous. The Blood takes you to places you will love to picture but be grateful you can't smell -- Chris Brookmyre
Jem Flockhart is a marvel. Cautious yet daring, a pursuer of the truth yet steeped in deceit herself, she is the best kind of detective - flawed, clever, conflicted, principled and determined to get to the bottom of whatever mystery comes her way. Her latest foray into the filth and grime of 1840s London is an atmospheric dissection of prejudice past and present set aboard a decaying hospital ship. With snakes, pox, strange tattoos and the scent of Henbane in our nostrils, this vivid journey into the dark side of the human soul is a thoroughly engrossing tale. -- Mary Paulson Ellis, author of
The Other Mrs Walker Deliciously dark and vividly atmospheric, menace oozes from every page. Terrific for lovers of historical noir * Saga *
Love evocative descriptions of Victorian London and brilliant plotting? Then grab a copy of this! * Rebecca Griffiths, author of
The Primrose Path *
It's rare that a book is Gothic enough for me, but
Beloved Poison is killing it. The blood, the bones, the crumbling hospital . . . -- Laura Purcell, author of
The Silent Companions Dark and vividly imagined, this Jem Flockhart mystery captures the squalor of Victorian London as it tells an engrossing story of medical misdeeds * Choice Magazine *
. . . a tale of darkest London in the 1850s. This fine novel, featuring a most unusual detective, blends Victorian melodrama and historical reality * Sunday Express *
I hugely enjoyed E.S Thomson's
The Blood . . . mesmerising . . . evokes the sights and the smells of the seedy dockland area brilliantly. Her protagonist Jem Flockhart is an inspired invention - a female apothecary disguised as a man, whose life and loves are as complex a secret as the cases she investigates -- Sally Magnusson
From its grime-crusted back alleys to its blood-spattered operating tables, The Blood emanates atmospheric appeal. Victorian England, in all its smog, lace and polluted waters, is compellingly conjured in every sentence, giving the setting not only a historical bent, but a macabre horror aesthetic as well. Meanwhile, Jem, who seems to pace the pages with flurried intellect as well as desperation, is a refreshing twist on the Sherlock Holmes archetype. Disguised as a man to get ahead in her career and seeking her long-lost love, Jem provides the otherwise plot-driven book's contemplative moments that strengthen larger themes of gender, power and ambition.
Featuring a feminist Sherlock Holmes in a Dickensian setting, The Blood delivers quick pacing and satisfyingly grotesque set pieces.
-- Alice Martin * Shelf Awareness *
