REVIEW: STRANGE PRACTICE by Vivian Shaw

Title: Strange Practice
Author: Vivian Shaw
Series: Dr. Greta Helsing
Genres: Vampires, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Release: July 25th 2017
Source: ebook
Pages: 320

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BLURB:
Meet Greta Helsing, fast-talking doctor to the undead. Keeping the supernatural community not-alive and well in London has been her family's specialty for generations.

Greta Helsing inherited the family's highly specialized, and highly peculiar, medical practice. In her consulting rooms, Dr. Helsing treats the undead for a host of ills - vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies. Although barely making ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's been groomed for since childhood.

Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice, and her life.

 

EXPECTATIONS: I'm not exactly sure what I expected. A doctor who cures monsters, yes. But I guess I imagined it as Dr Greta Helsing walking into homes of werewolves and vampires, checking their breathing, pulse, giving them meds. But it was nothing like it. This was one hell of a marvelous, well written ride instead.

THE WORLD: London is as is. Gloomy, grey, rainy. There's hospitals here too, like everywhere else. But some, like this particular one owned by Dr Greta Helsing, is exclusively for monsters. Her clients aren't human, her assistants aren't human, and, really, most her friends aren't human either. Yet other than that, her days went as they went for everyone else. Prescribing meds to depressed ghouls and such. The fact that there was a murderous rampaging religious zealot sect killing people was concerning, but not something she took personally. Up until Lord Ruthven, her vampire friend, and one of the oldest she has, called her in distress, asking her to come quick, for his own vampire friend is almost mortally wounded. And that turned out to be just the start of both their problems.

For under London there's deep dark shelter tunnels, with blue light pulsing and whispering to those who would listen. It intends to clean London of monsters, and all those related to them. 

CHARACTERS: Dr Greta Helsing is one very fine woman I love very much now. She's smart, strong, clever, and doesn't back down. Her relentless self has saved many supernatural lives, including her friends once they finally figured out where the danger is coming from, and what, roughly, can be done to stop it. Lord Ruthven, Fass, Varney, and that other human man whose name I sadly can't recall, were also very unique and wonderful people, each one bringing in something different into this gang of loyal, resourceful friends. My fancy lies with Ruthven, for he was just hilariously put together, and went ahead and passed out once the whole put-togetherness got shattered.

ROMANCE:  Romance is merely yet budding in this book, so I suspect there'd be more of it in the next. For Varney, Ruthven's friend that got stabbed by the murderers, turns out to be a very fine man, who does his best to improve himself, and adjust to this new, modern world. Greta cannot deny that he has charm, but she herself feels lacking in presence of someone so classically Draculine as he is.

GOOD: There was everything here. Breath taking suspense, horror, chase, murder, detective, deep dark tunnels, Gaimanish demons, Draculish vampires, and just amazing piece of monstrology. The ghouls were the best written ghouls I've ever read about. The vampires were real fine fellas. Humans were as smart as one can be in situations like that. And everyone had each other's backs. This is some good friendship writing. If Stoker's Dracula was re-written, I say Shaw would be the best at it.

BAD: Nothing. Not for me.

OVERALL: I loved this book a lot, for real. Long time since a book stole my sleep, because I wanted to read more, and make sure no one dies in the next page. Long time I cared so much for the characters, and admired each one of them to be worried for everyone.

What do you think about STRANGE PRACTICE?