The language of this book is the star for me, it is hugely evocative of the time. I found the plot to be a little meandering though which was a disappointdisappointment.

My thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton Publishers for an advanced copy of this book to review fairly and without bias.
Where to start - not with the plot or any spoilers but with the style. It is not Dickens nor Wilkie Collins but it does have Sarah Walters at its heart. Some of the phrasing and language seemed odd "... in this garb ..." says a character - would someone of her class said that?
The plot is good a little slow and chilling but for me it is not a Christmas Eve thriller more of a Marbella beach read. In a way it is a pity I have already read it. I could happily taken it on holiday and possibly missed out on sleep to turn the page and the next. Had I been more convinced by the dialogue I would have given it five stars but it is definitely worth the four I have awarded it. I look forward to more from the same pen and will keep my spyglass firmly directed at any future novels Laura Carlin writes.

Set in the 1830s, Hester, following the death of her parents, is in London living with her father's former gardener. .Life is very different. Now, as an orphan, Hester is in squalor and poverty, surrounded by crime and criminals. Doing 'this and that' might best describe how people were (sic) surviving. Her forlorn hope was that a cousin might come and return her to Lincolnshire. Rundown by a carriage, Hester is carried away by its owner, a physician, Calder Brock to his house to treat her and then to the country for recuperation.
His sister, Rebekah, lives there with an Uncle, Septimus. Ungraciously, she agrees to provide Hester with some tuition. Over time, unspoken feelings between the two grow and they share a common interest in the number of poorer people mysteriously going missing. When Hester learns she is to be returned to London she leaves making her way back to the London slum. Life there has however changed and she is on her own. Following up information about missing persons both face dangers from the London low life. as they discover what is happening. But it does not just involve the underclass...... Where and how will it all end? A grim tale, well told. Is it close to the reality of the time. Probablyl
Recommended

I enjoyed the first part of the book when we discover Hester, who has fallen to living in the slums of London, after a happy childhood, when her parents die and no members of her family step up to take care of her. The book paints a vivid picture of life in those early London slums. An accident brings a possible upward change in her circumstances. However, the story lost my interest in the middle and seemed too convoluted and to have too many strands. I think the story suffers from being unsure what it is supposed to be,historical crime or romance. The strands don't seem to fit together.

Gothic thriller with some very well-drawn characters and beautifully depicted scenes switching between the horrors of slum life in Victorian London and the more refined way of life of the well-to-do. Hester’s life has been one long downward spiral from the genteel Lincolnshire vicarage to the London slums following the death of her parents. This changes dramatically when she is run over by a Doctor’s carriage and taken to his sister Rebekah in the country as part of an experiment to see if the poor can be educated. In true gothic tradition underneath the surface there is a terrible undercurrent surrounding the mysterious disappearance of people from both Rebekah’s house and the London slums. I alternated between loving and hating this book but in the end found the plot too convoluted and the connections between such disparate characters too unbelievable to reall enjoy it.

This had all the right ingredients for me with a dark Victorian setting, mysterious disappearances, hidden secrets and romance but somehow it didn't deliver. I set off into the book full of anticipation and enjoyed the setting of the scene but I think a bit of editing would have been good - I found my attention wandering in the first part of the book - although the pace increases in the last third. I enjoyed the historical details, the body-snatcher stuff and the descriptions of the life of London's poorest and I know it is a book that will be greatly enjoyed by many,

Laura Carlin’s debut novel is set in 1830’s Victorian Britain and is the tale of Hester White. Hester is orphaned when her father, a parson, dies in their Lincolnshire parish. She then lives with the gardener and his wife (Jacob and Meg) who relocate to London when their services are no longer required by the new priest. Hester’s life changes drastically as the small family fall on increasingly difficult times resulting in their living in the lowliest slum and often lacking in food.

However, her situation improves when she is involved in an accident with a horse drawn cab which leaves her badly injured. Fortunately the passenger, Calder Brock is a physician and he takes her home to treat her wounds and convalesce. Here, she is introduced to his sister Rebekah who is charged with ‘educating’ Hester as an experiment. Cleverly Hester seizes upon this chance to improve her situation and she conceals her background and pretends to be a cockney with the hope that eventually she will be able to obtain a position as a maid.

From the outset Hester is fascinated by Rebekah and as the story develops they become involved in a mystery. The mystery of the many people, always poor and invisible, that have disappeared.

This is a beautifully written, atmospheric book which invokes the mystery of the dangerous slum areas of London wreathed in smog and grime whilst the rich and aristocratic pursue their own greedy ends, oblivious and uncaring about the misfortune of the poor and marginalised. If you like takes of ‘Jack the Ripper’ and ‘Fingersmith’ you will not be disappointed with The Wicked Cometh.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

In Victorian London Hester, an educated young woman fallen on hard times, is taken on as an educational project by Dr Calder Brock. Moved to the Brock family home she is given to the haughty Rebekah Brock to teach. Gradually truths are revealed, and dangers faced which changes their relationship forever. The author brings out the limited roles of women, and the limited choices of the poor, the downward spiral Hester is struggling to escape. They have captured clearly one aspect of the history of early victorian medicine. The descriptions of the characters, and of London, the varying areas of the city and of life in the slums rang true.
The book is well paced with many twists and turns as secrets come to light, we are led to believe one thing then realise the truth is other; The final terrible events, and then....
This is a mystery, adventure and love story; I devoured the book in three short evenings, very enjoyable.

An Enjoyable read. I loved the language and description. The setting of the novel came across brilliantly and you can picture the sights and sounds as you read on. Fully Immersive which is always a bonus

This Dickensian ode to Victorian London was well-written and descriptive. We follow the journey of a young woman from relative comfort in the countryside to abject city poverty and onwards to a change of fortunes brought about by a carriage accident. It's a little contrived in places, too many coincidences possibly but I love a bit of historical fiction and this debut from Laura Carlin was full of grim Victorian squalor and bleak intensity.

It's at least partially a whodunnit and while there are few surprises on that front, the complexity of the shenanigans afoot keep the reader interested throughout. I wondered if the romance wasn't a little tortured, but it added a poignancy to what might otherwise have felt a bit overwrought, so I give it a pass!

Great title, and seriously interesting characters, I love to read about women in the 19th century who pursue their own ideas.
However, the plot of this book regarding the disappearances was rather complicated and the story that came after that was even more far fetched.

But again: the characters Hester and Rebekah, and their musings and interaction was what kept me turning those pages.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of The Wicked Cometh set in pre-Victorian London.

Hester White, an orphan of gentle folk but fallen on hard times, is knocked down by a carriage. The gentleman doctor, Calder Brock, insists of treating her wounds and using her in an experiment to see if education is better than the workhouse. To this end he enlists the help of his sister Rebekah who is trying to investigate the disappearance of two of her maids in the midst of a rash of disappearances. Hester and Rebekah join forces.

The Wicked Cometh is an interesting read. It has a convoluted web of characters as Hester and Rebekah try to unravel the truth but it is also the tale of a romance between them and a picture of 1834 London. I must admit that I found it a difficult novel to read and it didn't really hold my attention. It is written in the style of the time so it is wordy rather than sharp and to the point. I also think the incipient romance between Hester and Rebekah is an unnecessary distraction to the investigation and not particularly interesting but I'm a crime fiction reader so perhaps this is unfair.

The plot is fairly slow to get going but heats up in the second half as the ladies make more discoveries and see a fair amount of action. It may be melodramatic in parts but again this is in keeping with the setting.

What I particularly liked about the novel is the descriptions of the poverty, filth and degradation of lower class London. It is extremely well done and Ms Carlin really brings it to life. I felt myself holding my nose at the stench and tiptoeing through the muck.

The Wicked Cometh is a good historical novel, just not to my taste.

You can see that a lot of research has gone into this book. I really enjoyed the description of the slums of London in the 1830's. It is very atmospheric. The story tailed off towards the end which I felt was a bit contrived. As I continued reading I found I did not really care for the story. Not for me.

THE WICKED COMETH

A most accomplished evocation of early nineteenth century England, written in prose that dazzles. Such erudition is the result of Laura Carlin’s impeccable research into life in the 1830s in London and the provinces.

Hester White, a parson’s daughter, has fallen on hard times following her parents’ untimely demise at their Lincolnshire parish. Circumstances dictate her remove to London to live with her father’s gardener Jacob and his wife, Meg, whose services are no longer required by the incoming priest. The slum life that Hester endures is accompanied by the alarming disappearance of vulnerable innocents from London’s streets.

When fate takes a hand Hester’s fortunes are changed for the better following an accident with a horse drawn cab. The occupant, Calder Brock, is a physician and Hester soon finds herself convalescing in an aristocratic world and seizes the chance to improve her wellbeing under the tutelage of the intelligent Rebekah Brock.

Past events soon thrust Hester and Rebekah into a sinister world. Do the disappearances of persons in London have repercussions closer to home? What will happen when they are faced with unfathomable evil? Evil described in such graphic detail. There is a whiff of Edgar Allan Poe here, amidst the pallor of murky London: <i>”London Particular; it tastes of coddles eggs and coal-smoke, smells of quenched fires and horse-dirt…”</i>

And passages that have even Wikipedia confused: <i>”…sells you the best and most fashionable frocks and sutes of Fustian, Ticken and Holland, stript Dimmity, flannel and canvas…”</i>

The Wicked Cometh is a remarkable book, particularly as it is Carlin’s debut novel. It is like reading something published in the nineteenth century and yet with great lucidity; part romance, part Gothic terror and a final redemption that is totally satisfying.

I loved this book and recommend it without reservation.

With thanks to Hodder & Stoughton, Laura Carlin and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love a good historical fiction, especially those set in Victorian England. What a dark, dreary world it was. The Wicked Cometh looks at the era through both a poor and a privileged lens. Hester is an orphan, brought low when her parents died and living with their old gardener, whose past criminality tries to drag Hester down even further. Rebecca comes from a wealthy family, and is instructed to become Hester's teacher, when Rebecca's brother brings her back to their family home.

Both are women, suffering from the pressures that were put upon women at the time. They may be separated by class, but their experience is similar enough for them to find common ground, as women tend to do. They join together to solve the mystery of various disappearances, and find a deep friendship is blossoming between them.

This is a great book, similar to others of the same ilk, but it stands apart as an enjoyable, exciting piece of fiction.

Didn't hold my interest,too convoluted ans wandered.

As a debut novel this book is epic.
The setting is England in the 1830s. Lovely green swathes of countryside complete with manor houses with maids, gardeners, boot boys and dressing for dinner. Also London...from town houses and carriages to slum dwelling of the lowest order.
As always it is where there is least that people care most. Sickness takes whole families but something else is disappearing many individuals. All poverty stricken with nothing to indicate where they have gone and only a few folk beyond their immediate family and friends who care.
Rebeka cares. Hester cares.
At one point I thought the book was going to head off in a direction that I do not care for. I almost stopped reading. Fortunately the situation was mainly alluded to and did not overwhelm the main storyline. Even so it lost a star.
The book is wonderfully descriptive. Midden Lane in London and blocked up backyard privvies make me glad that scratch and sniff is not available!!

Reviewed on my blog.
https://wordpress.com/post/whereathousandwordspaintapicture.wordpress.com/1526

I really enjoyed this book, a historical novel set in 1831 full of the language of the day and with a mystery thrown in for good measure.

This will appeal to readers of historical fiction,not least because of the contextual consistency. You can believe you have been transported to this cruel, brutal world. It is very well written and the strength of the story us maintained throughout. The ending is unexpected. The depicted relationship between the two main characters is unusual for the historical context and convincingly written.