I found myself really able to empathise with her, never finding her emotions and concerns irritating. I’d say that for the first half of the book I was left wondering whether we would ever return to the disappearances in London, whether there was any connections between anything at all, but once I reached the second half I couldn’t put it down, desperate to find out the truth – this was particularly the case in the final few chapters. Whilst there were the ‘oh my God, really?’ moments that a good mystery should have, often it took a little while to get there, sometimes dragging along. However, sometimes the pacing was a little off. Just when I thought I had it all sussed, everything worked out, the rug was pulled from under me, and I was left reeling. But nothing was as it seemed in this book. From the very first page, I found myself drawn in to Hester’s world, visualising the dank darkness of 19th Century London and the lush opulence of the Brock lifestyle. It’s a tale of twists and turns – I honestly didn’t see any of the twists coming, which we could blame on my unfamiliarity with mysteries, but I’m going to say it was the quality of the writing. Soon, with the help of Rebekah Brock, she is thrown into danger, investigating murders and disappearances, whilst also falling in love.

After an accident, Hester is plucked from her life and placed into the world of the aristocratic Brock’s. It’s 1831 and we’re in the dingy backstreets of London, following Hester White, a young orphaned woman who has unfortunately fallen into the slums of the city from her original, better off position. Now? Now I don’t know what to think, because this book caught me by surprise. Well, that’s what I thought before I read this book. Historical fiction, with running themes of crime and mystery? Not for me. It’s not at all the sort of book I usually read. I honestly didn’t expect to like this – probably not the best opening to a review. Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC, which was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

The wicked cometh laura carlin