The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim: Monster Hunting Adventure Book - Gothic Horror Novel for Teens & Adults | Perfect for Halloween Reading & Dark Fantasy Lovers

I'd won the first book, THE DARK MISSIONS OF EDGAR BRIM from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. I enjoyed it, so I was glad to win book two, THE DARK MISSIONS OF EDGAR BRIM:MONSTER. Feel for me, gentle reader, for I had gotten through the first 24 chapters, our heroes and heroines were on the trail of the homicidal monster, and then I was struck down with a nasty cold that put such pressure on my eyes that reading hurt. I had to wait six whole days to find out what happened.Book two begins where book one left off. Professor Hamish Lear has been murdered by the monster in his room at the Langham Hotel, If chapter two's mention of the good professor's finances leaves you wondering how Lear was able to afford to stay at the expensive hotel, he couldn't. "Shakespeare" paid for his room.The Crypto-Anthropology Society of the Queen's Empire, to which our teens are fleeing, its chairman, "William Shakespeare", and imaginary members Messrs. Sprinkle, Winkle, and Tightman were introduced in chapter 12 of book one. We learned that Shakespeare's real name is Nathaniel Nitwick in chapter 13. The revenant they destroyed in that book spoke of another who would come after them if they killed him in chapter 37. Mr. Nitwick hasn't been in his right mind for some time now. His real name, or even the fact that he's using a false name, are not mentioned in this book.The revenant had killed Edgar Brim's father, Allen, as well as Jonathan and Lucy Lear's father, Abraham, son of Professor Lear. Edgar's best friend and former schoolmate, Tiger Tilly (see chapter 10 of book one for Tiger's real name), didn't lose either parent to the monster, but is willing to fight against Edgar's enemies.Poor Edgar is trying to keep his monster-fighting activities from his adoptive parents, Annabel and Alfred Thorne. Alfred is an inventor and believes science should be Edgar's profession, too. He has no patience with Edgar's desire to go into literature. We already knew that Alfred didn't practice what he preached because his laboratory contained copies of the sensational novels that he didn't want Edgar to read.British Edgar has graduated from the equivalent of our high school. Before he's to be sent off to medical school, he's to get experience at the London Hospital, Whitechapel. His father's younger brother, Vincent Brim, is a surgeon there. Edgar and his uncle don't like each other, but the lad becomes assistant to the chief experimental surgeon, handsome Percy Godwin.I was far more willing to suspend my disbelief about the monster's existence and the activities in a mad scientist laboratory than I was about these three things:1. Mr. Peacock has Vincent Brim and Percy Godwin called 'doctor". British male surgeons are traditionally addressed as "Mister" instead of "Doctor," something I remembered from reading "British Medical Journal" and "The Lancet" when I was a medical librarian. I suppose the publisher thought that would be confusing for non-British readers.2. Dr. Godwin's practice of buying fresh corpses was also surprising since the practice of body snatching was supposed to have died out after the passing of the Anatomy Act of 1832. That was in response to the infamous Burke and Hare body snatchers/resurrection men murders of 1828. However, just because the practice was believed to have died out decades earlier doesn't mean it couldn't have been still done in isolated cases.3. Given that people loose their bowels and bladder when they die, I suspect that the hotel manager and staff accepted the story about Lear dying in the bathtub instead of bed -- despite what would have been on the sheets -- because they didn't want the scandal of a murder touching their hotel.There are definitely murders going on. There is indeed a monster. There are two, if you count the hag who keeps attacking Edgar when he's terrified. Godwin's body snatcher is a human monster.Where can Edgar, Tiger, Jon, and Lucy turn for help? Edgar manages to steal some more exploding bullets from Alfred Thorne's lab to supply the inventor's special rifle that he swiped in the first book, but he's not sure his adoptive father will believe him about what's going on. (It's a good thing that Edgar and we get to read something Alfred wrote because it does make the man a more sympathetic character.) Edgar wants to confide in Dr. Godwin, but he's just as uncertain that his boss will believe him.Edgar is terrified for the Thornes and his friends. What if the monster comes after them? Who needs a home invasion in the middle of the night?There are plenty of near escapes in finding the monster and trying to kill it. The chase will take the teens from England to some remote Scottish islands. Jon and Tiger are very good shots, but that monster has incredibly swift reflexes. What will they do if they run out of those special bullets?Sadly, the author's notes at the end indicate these dark missions are only going to be a trilogy. I look forward to and dread the final book because of what happened in the climax of this one.