In 1865, Charles Dickens was involved in a train wreck at Staplehurst that killed 10 people. This real-life incident serves as the springboard for Dan Simmons’ historical thriller DROOD — the title referring to a mysterious pale man at the scene of the accident. While Dickens spent the immediate aftermath helping the injured, he believes Drood spent it sending the injured to their graves.
Unsettled by the tragedy, Dickens enlists his friend and fellow author Wilkie Collins — who serves as the novel’s narrator — to locate this Drood fellow. To do so, they have to enter and search what’s dubbed “Undertown,” a maze of catacombs underneath London that lead to little more than noxious rivers, opium dens and feral children fighting over maggot-strewn corpses.
They’re not the only ones looking; an inspector presents himself to the literary duo and announces he’s played cat-and-mouse with the malicious man for years, dubbing Drood responsible for murdering 328 men on his watch. The egotistical Dickens becomes obsessed with locating Drood, and once he’s found, Drood uses Dickens to pen a nefarious work for him that he may never finish.
Or so Collins tell us. He becomes an unreliable narrator as his dependence for the drug laudanum deepens, resulting in hallucinations such as his own dopplegänger or a green-skinned woman with tusks for teeth haunting his home. Later injecting morphine nightly, he believes he has a scarab rooting around his brain and scraping the back of his eyeballs, all courtesy of Drood.
Why, and to what end? The answer may surprise you, “Dear Reader” (as Collins continually calls us) — and good thing, too, because at nearly 800 pages, DROOD needs a big payoff to be considered a success. It is. Simmons is primarily known for his works of science fiction, but I think he should give those up and dedicate himself to these blends of history and horror. His previous novel, THE TERROR (which Simmons uniquely ties in here), was equally enthralling.
And also too long. Length was really the only problem with THE TERROR, and is the same for DROOD, which stands at an equal 784 pages. I firmly believe one can achieve an epic scope without an epic length. Somewhere around the 400-ish page mark, Dickens disappears for a bit, and the novel suffers for it by circling into a loop. I understand Simmons has to do something to remain adhered to the historical timeline, but the repeated events cause an extended lag.
Luckily, it’s temporary. At its climax, a clever story reveals itself as more clever than you realized at the time — something that takes great skill to construct and then actually pull off. Simmons does so with aplomb. You don’t have to be a fan of either Dickens or Collins to enjoy DROOD, but you’ll gain ever more appreciation for this outstanding novel if you are. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE TERROR by Dan Simmons
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Already have this ordered from Amazon. I’ve read everything of his and he never sceases to amaze me. His 4 Hyperion novels are probably the best SF ever written.
God, I hated The Terror. Blah blah blah blah.
I’m not really feeling the need to read Simmons’ latest books. He peaked really early for me with CARRION COMFORT, SUMMER OF NIGHT (and related semi-sequels), and great, spooky short stories like “Dying in Bangkok.” I liked OLYMPOS, but it didn’t set my hair on fire or anything.
I loved the this book. It was a challenging read, and one of those you either hate it or love it. I thought t was excellent.
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