‘Evocative…brilliant plotting’ REBECCA GRIFFITHS
‘Vivid, pungent and perilous’ CHRIS BROOKMYRE
A chilling and atmospheric thriller perfect for fans of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, The Silent Companions and The Strangers Diaries.
1851, Angel Meadow Asylum. Dr Rutherford, principal physician to the insane, is found dead, his head bashed in, his ears cut off, his lips and eyes stitched closed. The police direct their attention towards Angel Meadow’s inmates, but to Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain the crime is an act of calculated retribution, rather than of madness.
To discover the truth Jem and Will must pursue the story through the darkest corners of the city – from the depths of a notorious rookery, to the sordid rooms of London’s brothels, the gallows, the graveyard, the convict fleet and then back to the asylum. In a world where guilt and innocence, crime and atonement, madness and reason, are bounded by hypocrisy, ambition and betrayal, Jem and Will soon find themselves caught up in a web of dark secrets and hidden identities.
Praise for E.S. Thomson:
‘It’s rare that a book is Gothic enough for me, but Beloved Poison is killing it. The blood, the bones…’ LAURA PURCELL
‘Complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable’ DAILY EXPRESS
‘Marvellous, vivid . . . breathtakingly dark’ JANET ELLIS
‘Jem Flockhart books are the best I’ve read in years’ KIRSTY LOGAN
‘A marvel . . . thoroughly engrossing’ MARY PAULSON ELLIS
‘A tale of Victorian London to freeze your blood on a cold winter’s night’ EVENING TELEGRAPH
‘Vivid, pungent and perilous’ CHRIS BROOKMYRE
A chilling and atmospheric thriller perfect for fans of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, The Silent Companions and The Strangers Diaries.
1851, Angel Meadow Asylum. Dr Rutherford, principal physician to the insane, is found dead, his head bashed in, his ears cut off, his lips and eyes stitched closed. The police direct their attention towards Angel Meadow’s inmates, but to Jem Flockhart and Will Quartermain the crime is an act of calculated retribution, rather than of madness.
To discover the truth Jem and Will must pursue the story through the darkest corners of the city – from the depths of a notorious rookery, to the sordid rooms of London’s brothels, the gallows, the graveyard, the convict fleet and then back to the asylum. In a world where guilt and innocence, crime and atonement, madness and reason, are bounded by hypocrisy, ambition and betrayal, Jem and Will soon find themselves caught up in a web of dark secrets and hidden identities.
Praise for E.S. Thomson:
‘It’s rare that a book is Gothic enough for me, but Beloved Poison is killing it. The blood, the bones…’ LAURA PURCELL
‘Complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable’ DAILY EXPRESS
‘Marvellous, vivid . . . breathtakingly dark’ JANET ELLIS
‘Jem Flockhart books are the best I’ve read in years’ KIRSTY LOGAN
‘A marvel . . . thoroughly engrossing’ MARY PAULSON ELLIS
‘A tale of Victorian London to freeze your blood on a cold winter’s night’ EVENING TELEGRAPH
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Reviews
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
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
A historical novel to be savoured
A dark, moody and sinister novel
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
Meticulously researched and masterfully plotted . . . [Thomson] vividly portrays the horror and menace of the city with harrowingly gruesome and disturbingly macabre prose which at the same time is engagingly morbid and addictively readable
Smart, spine-tingling and sprawling, this second outing shows Thomson has the staying power for a long and delightfully grotesque series
From the first page to the last, I enjoyed every brilliantly written, and often hideous, detail ... A splendid read
Meticulously researched and masterfully plotted, E S Thomson has written a complex, harrowing and highly enjoyable tale.
Here's a tale of Victorian London to freeze your blood on a cold winter's night
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
