#mark a latham

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Here’s my frankly lame review comment about A Betrayal in Blood:

But before I get started I just want to say that I don’t know what’s going on with that cover and also the lack of typographic hierarchy is killing me and you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but I’m a graphic designer so I can’t help it (also the baby poop color in the author’s name, why would anyone pick that shade?! if it is supposed to match with the top background it doesn’t!) and yes I liked the book is just that cover... ANYWAY, about the actual book after the cut

So this book revolves around the Dracula story (which means if you’ve read Dracula before you catch up all the details and references but reading the wikipedia article about it is enough to understand what’s going on) and it is presented as real in this universe and of course Holmes doesn’t believe a thing about the supernatural as an explanation to all the murders and things that happened and that’s exactly what the book is about: Holmes trying to discover the truth and the logical explanation behind the Dracula conundrum.

It takes place shortly after Holmes’s return, so there’s a bit of angst, Watson mentions his wife a bit too much for liking at the beginning and then he doesn’t mention her never again... But Holmes and Watson relationship is depicted nicely, they are working into getting along together again, and they trust and care about each other and also this happens:

Now what I didn’t like that much is that at some points Watson is there just to ask questions to Holmes as if he is not able to make his own conclusions and it feels like it is to justify all the talking Holmes makes, BUT after this, Watson has some badass moments and he pulls rank at some point and that’s n i c e.

I would have liked it even more if it hadn’t been so rushed at the end, like the author had a page limit and didn’t take it in consideration until he was finishing it, so you you get a lot of action in the last two chapters and it ends abruptly when everything is solved, and I really was expecting a little scene at the end with both of them returning home or something after all the times Watson showed concern about Holmes’s health, ‘cause you know, a nice domestic scene is always a nice ending.

Oh! and believe it or not the female characters are presented as intelligent and strong! wow! and also Mrs Hudson has a scene where she is badass! amazing!

So, in conclusion it was very entertaining, the story was exciting and you really want to keep reading to know what happens next, I recommend it as a reading for a stay-in weekend, with blankets, cushions, coffee or tea and cookies, or lemon pie :)

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The Lazarus Gate by Mark A Latham

Mark Yon September 16, 2017

Sometimes a book strikes you just by its entertainment value, sheer energy and enthusiasm, with a plot that takes the usual tropes and just has fun with them. The Lazarus Gate is one of those books.

This begins in 1890. Captain John Hardwick, rather like Dr. John Watson before him, returns to England after a lengthy stay in Burma (these days Myanmar.) Hardwick has been captured by rebels, tortured and force-fed opium during his time in captivity, and so returns to his home-country a broken and embittered man. Given an honorary discharge from the Army, he looks forward to rebuilding his life in London through peace, quiet and a respite from army discipline.

Instead Hardwick meets a mystery man who tells him of his father’s work and his family’s allegiance to the Apollonian Club, a gentleman’s establishment with a secret occupation. Many of the members there are still working for the British Empire, and Queen Victoria, but in an altogether more dangerous capacity – to defend the Empire against supernatural threats.

The plot quickly moves along as Hardwick is asked to look into a spate of bombings that have been occurring all over London. They seem to have involved people appearing out of thin air and then disappearing. Whilst much of the blame has been given to the Fenians, John’s investigations discover that there is a secret war going on between present-day (1890’s) London and an alternative world. Led by the mysterious Lazarus, it seems that the people of this alternative world are determined to enter ours.

To find the villain Lazarus, John has to enter the London underworld in London’s Isle of Dogs and obtain information from “The Artist”, a Fu Manchu-type Oriental villain who controls the trade of information and opium amongst the gangsters of London. This brings back unhappy memories for John, particularly when he is captured and tortured.

But the plot to invade London is uncovered, involving a bold, blitzkrieg-ian strike. It is up to Hardwick and his colleagues to stop them.

For anyone who likes Victorian melodrama but with a science-fictional touch, this fast-paced story is very entertaining. There’s not a lot of logic here, but lots of sprinting around at night through dingy warehouses and cobbled streets, cosy fires, leather armchairs and alcohol. The characters are pretty much what you would expect, with Hardwick being our rather dashing, if battered, hero. Alongside him are faithful companions and others who are not what they may seem. The bad guys are hissably evil, although Mark does well to portray that their intentions are not ones of evil, but of desperation.

It is rather grimmer and more explicit than Sherlock Holmes – the torture scenes are quite graphic, for example – but overall this was a winnable exploit into Victorian London with a touch of the HG Wells. I read it very quickly – a sign of its accessibility, perhaps – and look forward to the next book in the series.