The Wicked Cometh
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By Laura Carlin
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1 review
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Hester White is determined to escape the slums by any means possible, and the fiercely intelligent, mysterious and aristocratic Rebekah Brock seems to be offering the escape Hester is looking for. But down the murky alleyways of Victorian London, there is darkness and unspeakable wickedness at work…One to read under your duvet on stormy winter nights.
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Hester White is an orphan living in the slums of 1830s London where crime abounds, there is very little sanitation and the dark alleyways conceal untold horrors. However, Hester is a very strong-minded young woman who acquired an education in the better days when her parents were alive and is determined to break away from her current surroundings and make a better life for herself. One day, by a quirk of fate, she is hit by a carriage carrying a member of the aristocratic Brock family and she is offered some medical help and taken to their home. Here she meets Rebekah Brock, who is instructed to tutor her and the two form a friendship of sorts, despite the class barriers. When people from the poorer areas of town start to disappear, including some of the servants from Rebekah’s own household, they start to investigate but soon become embroiled in a world which neither of them could even have conceived existed.
I really enjoyed this historical drama and suspect that quite a lot of research was conducted prior to its completion as it had an air of authenticity which may not always have been comfortable but was certainly effective. The author had a talent for evoking the sights, smells and sounds that epitomized the squalor of East London in the 1830s. In addition there was mystery, intrigue, tension, atmosphere and a major twist in the tale which I didn’t see coming at all. How plausible the plot was I am not entirely sure, but I was so gripped by the storytelling that I didn’t really care. I guess it would come into the category of a Gothic novel and it certainly lives up to the expectations of that genre.
There is no doubt that the book is gruesome in places, but somewhat surprisingly I coped with this better than I normally do so can’t really list it as a negative point. However, there were certainly places where it wasn’t a comfortable read.
I thought this was an excellent book and would not hesitate to recommend it, although people with a sensitive disposition may find parts of it a little disturbing. I believe this is Laura’s first novel but I will certainly be looking out for her next one. Well done Laura.
