Strange Practice A Dr Greta Helsing Novel

A solid 3.5 star book, which could easily have been a 4+ star book with some tweaks to the writing. And by some tweaks I mean an editor should have sat down and slashed all of the self-conscious and second-guessing asides, and 99% of the qualifiers as well. A little doubt among characters is fine, but the inability of the main characters to make a definite, unqualified sentence was off-putting and distracting. It was too "look at me looking at myself", which inevitably pulled me out of the story and, indeed, made me look at it. Examples: "She always felt vaguely as if she ought to be draped in lace and ruffles, or possibly diaphanous peignoirs, whatever they were, in order to live up to the surroundings;" (emphasis in original) - why insert the phrase "whatever they were", what does this aside add to the story? My suspicion is that the author believes a protagonist who knows about peignoirs will somehow alienate readers, and that the aside is meant to keep Greta "relatable". Bad writing. Use the word with confidence or just scrap it altogether. "She would not be the eleventh, if she had any say in the matter" (emphasis in original). This sentence is during a particularly dramatic scene, and comes at the pivotal moment in the action where Greta decides to fight for her life. Why, WHY is this moment diluted by the addition of "if she had any say in the matter"?! If someone has decided to fight off an attacker she is not going to be thinking about how much say she has in the matter, she is going to be thinking of how to survive. I think the author added this aside to show us how plucky our heroine is, but instead it creates a look-at-me-looking-at-myself moment that rings false and takes us right out of the action. And so on and so forth throughout the book. Again, a good editor would have slashed out all the hedging and left us with a lean story that really zings along, but since that didn't happen we have to ask if the fantastic plot and characters outweigh the weak writing. For me, they did. As I moved through the book I became completely engrossed in the story, hedging asides and all, and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. Overall, a good read.

This has been on my TBR for so long, and I was excited to pick it up, but while I did like it, it wasn't necessarily what I'd expected. I thought the premise was solid, and I liked the idea of this doctor for monsters, but my main issue was the execution. The pacing was just too slow for my taste. I felt it took a while for anything to happen. Also, the mystery aspect of these monks murdering people at the behest of some malevolent spirit in a lightbulb didn't do it for me. However, I did enjoy the characters themselves and the dry, sarcastic humor of Shaw's writing. I'm still interested enough to keep going with the series, but it just won't be a priority.

Esta lectura para mí ha sido un 2,5 sobre 5, es decir, un aprobado. Se lee fácil y la premisa es original. Sin embargo, hay elementos de la trama que, dentro de la ficción, para mí son muy inverosímiles. La protagonista no la he visto como protagonista porque todos lo son, hay muy poca diferencia entre los roles de los personajes (quizás pueda destacar a Fastilocaton, que me ha parecido más interesante). La resolución de lo que les lleva de cabeza todo el libro está bien, pero sin más. Y me he preguntado varias veces el porqué de algunas acciones o situaciones. Lo he terminado porque era parte de una lectura conjunta y, como ya he dicho, se lee rápido, pero no me volvía loca saber el final.

Greta Helsing is not your traditional general practitioner. She treats the supernatural. Groomed for this job since childhood, Greta is a natural. That is, until a group of monks start killing humans and vamps. They want to rid the world of evil. Not only is Greta treating one of the would be victims, her occupation in itself is deemed evil and makes her a target. This was a fun read. Greta is a very likable character. I really liked Ruthven too. I received a copy from Net Galley.