The Frankenstein Murders
by Kathryn Bradshaw
Cormorant Books, 2008
320 p. $21.00
The story starts several years after the series of murders takes place. Unsatisfied by a report claiming that the murderer of his son Henry was never found, George Clerval contacts an established detective firm. The talented Edward Freame, who recently solved the mystery behind a most bizarre death—a case of spontaneous combustion—, is sent to pick up the scattered pieces of evidence in letters, journals, articles and interviews across Europe, from England to Ingolstadt and beyond, in order to reconstruct the identity of the culprit. While the first half of the novel is slow-paced, it demonstrates the author’s commitment to a realistic investigation. By having access to the documents consulted by Freame for the duration of the inquest, the reader not only witnesses the evolution and the results of the detective’s work, but also has the opportunity to interpret the letters and journals first-hand and to evaluate Freame’s judgement and reliability. The detective’s constant re-evaluation and recapitulation of the pieces of evidence at hand may seem repetitive at times, but the reader must keep in mind that the sombre murders represent a difficult and frustrating investigation. If the mostly analytical first half of the novel challenges the reader’s patience, the second half of the book is highly rewarding and features more tension, suspense, and action. The interviewed characters also get more mysterious and strange, as well as more interesting—the later interviews being the most revealing—as the story progresses towards its original and surprising conclusion.
The Frankenstein Murders will definitely entertain fans of Frankenstein as well as readers yearning for a realistic, slower-paced and analytical novel. Bradshaw writes beautifully—inspired by Shelley, but with a contemporary touch and a less dramatic tone. The mysterious, exquisitely described settings, the well-drawn characters and the philosophical reflections on science and human nature all add to the quality of the book. Bradshaw is clearly indebted to the Gothic tradition, and fans of this genre will notice literary allusions to other Gothic works such as Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The epistolary format of the book, as well as some of its themes and events, is also highly reminiscent of Stoker’s Dracula. In a brief interview with Cormorant Books, the author admits being additionally influenced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Emily and Charlotte Brontë.
Taking on the project of writing a sequel to Mary Shelley’s famous Gothic novel is an ambitious task and a task that could easily become a failed attempt. The investigation, for one, could have been rendered in an unrealistic, superficial, fast-paced style. It is also a demanding task to write an original investigation based on an existing, well-known novel, without any contradictions or incoherencies. Bradshaw, however, is very much aware of the many implications that such a sequel entails and does not fall into these traps. Of course, the reader is not to expect a second Frankenstein: the main focus in the sequel is not horror, philosophy or the sublime, but investigation and criminology, which provide a fresh and different perspective on Shelley’s classic. The complexity and uniqueness of the matter at hand—the fact that the murderer is the monstrous consequence of Victor Frankenstein’s experiments and obsession—and the fact that the murders occurred long before Freame’s research begins do not allow the faster pace or immediate tension that other contemporary detective novels present. With this in mind, The Frankenstein Murders is a very successful sequel to Shelley’s original novel.
Julie Leroux holds a B.A. degree in comparative literature from Université de Montréal and is currently pursuing an M.A. degree in English at McGill University. Her literary interests include Gothic writing, 19th century science-fiction, the works of H.G. Wells and H.P. Lovecraft, and the impact of Darwinism on British literature.
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