Zombies? Check.
Robot Dinosaurs? Check.
Victorian London? Check.
Excellent hook of a first line?
Four days after his own funeral, Albert Wilkes came home for tea.
Check.
The Death Collector is a rip-snorter of an adventure novel. Despite being populated by the genre's classic cliche characters (including but not limited to: The Young Hero, The Young Hero's Mentor, The Vicar's Plucky Daughter, The Urchin with a Heart of Gold, The Megalomaniacal Evil Genius, The Boss Henchmen, Henchmen 1-6...), it's a great read.
I admit that the author had me before I even started the book -- his bio mentions that he is "a creative consultant to the BBC Worldwide's range of Doctor Who novels". Yes. I'm a sucker. I probably would have made the DW connection regardless -- Sir William Protheroe, the Young Hero's Mentor, bore a striking resemblance to the First Doctor. The Department of Unclassified Artefacts at the British Museum was a cross between a Victorian version of UNIT and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. (I'll be surprised if this doesn't eventually get made into a movie. One, it could be a hugely entertaining summer blockbuster, and Two, it might possibly erase some of the damage that LXG did to the Victorian Action Movie genre.)
So. Young fans of the LXG movie will enjoy, possibly fans of Alex Rider and Artemis Fowl (if they are willing to make the leap to historical fiction), and any other readers who want super-fun non-literary flat-out fast-paced adventure.
Comments