A gloriously engaging and terrifying new historical thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Terror.

On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens–at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world–hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever. Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens's life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens's friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), DROOD explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author's last years and may provide the key to Dickens's final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood.


From the Compact Disc edition.

Narrator John Lee puts everything he's got into his performance of DROOD, a gothic fantasy that takes place during the final few years of Charles Dickens's life. Reading with crisp precision, Lee morphs into narrator Wilkie Collins, Dickens's jealous collaborator and competitor. Sounding, by turns, breathy or raspy or agitated, and always condescending, Lee captures Collins's flawed character with panache. Told from Collins's self-absorbed and opiated viewpoint, DROOD depicts London's other-worldly underground with creepy verisimilitude. Despite its sinister atmosphere, and some really grisly bits, this book is a love song to Dickens, with references galore to many of his better- and lesser-known works. This clever blend of fact and fiction should delight fans of Victorian England and her archetypical literature. R.M. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

 

Drood by Dan Simmons
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