#Spooktober-‘Dreadful Company’ by Vivian Shaw

About the book…

Contemporary fantasy in the world of Strange Practice, starring Dr. Greta Helsing, whose family has been keeping the supernatural community not-alive and well for generations.

When Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, is unexpectedly called to Paris to present at a medical conference, she expects nothing more exciting than professional discourse on zombie reconstructive surgery and skin disease in bogeymen — and hopefully at least one uneventful night at the Opera.

Unfortunately for Greta, Paris happens to be infested with a coven of vampires — and not the civilized kind. If she hopes to survive, Greta must navigate the darkest corners of the City of Lights, the maze of ancient catacombs and mine-tunnels underneath the streets, where there is more to find than simply dead men’s bones

The second in the Greta Helsing series, ‘Dreadful Company’ was published by Orbit in 2018.It is available in audiobook,ebook and paperback formats, and is entirely fabulous, picking you up and dropping you into the world of monster medicine which was introduced in ‘Strange Practice;.

This time around, Ruthven -yes, the Ruthven of Polidori notoriety-and Great are in Paris for a medical conference, which sounds as about as generic as it can get for a doctor who is an expert in supernatural medicine and a vampire.

A trip to the infamous Opera in the hope of catching the elusive phantom results in Greta being kidnapped, and taken to the infamous catacombs by a coven of nouveau vamps, led by the louche Corvin . He has been indiscriminately targeting a disaffected populace and turning them-issues of training and consent are not part of this process, promises of an ungodly amount of corduroy and velvet in a mish/mash lifestyle based partly on ‘Twilight’ and partly on the ‘Interview With The Vampire’ as well as name changes, are the order of the day. Until they meet a nasty and brutish end….

How they have managed to keep their movements from the werewolf St Germain, head of the city, is really something, but in the wake of Greta’s disappearance, he, Ruthven and Varney-yes, he of Varney The Vampire fame-all bets are off for the survival of this clique.

One of the acolytes-Lilith, not her birth name-has been practicing things she should not have, and as a result, there are discombobulated ghosts rising from all over Paris, which have attracted the attentions of the wonderfully named Crepusculus Dammerung and Brightside, remedial psychopomps. They quickly realise that body parts have been used in rituals by someone with little understanding of actual magic, and this has the potential of actually fracturing reality.

The urgency with which this needs to be dealt with is immediate and obvious, and the supernatural beings who have this intense and meaningful relationship with Greta, a woman who treats without discrimination anyone who comes to her treatment rooms, are not prepared to leave any stone unturned in their attempts to find her and stop this coven from expanding .

A sharply observed and wryly funny novel, I loved all the little details which over the course of the story made me fall in love with gothic literature all over again. From MR James to Mary Shelley, characters and ghosts appear and interact with modern monsters, some that resemble miniature Cousin It and others that live in wells, whilst well known names are dropped with care and affection-a particular favourite of mine is the ghost soiree in Pere Lachaise cemetery. The love and affection for these characters by their creators shines through each chapter and is underpinned by meticulous research. And at its heart, the issue of who and what comprises a ‘monster’ is examined with care and subtlety.

There are some fantastic, standout scenes, one of which lingers strongly with me as a captured Greta treats a recently turned vampire girl whose disaffected state swept her into Corvin’s orbit. The glittering prize she has been given has come without an instruction manual, or even an interested creator. And so she asks Greta if it is possible to de-vampirize her .

”Oh, thought Greta, and a spike of absolute furious loathing for this group of terrible people and their irresponsible behaviour arrowed through her. She thought again of Ruthven talking about this , any number of times-talking about the vacuous stupidity of vampires who turned people for the hell of it, without preparing them beforehand., without informed consent. It’s the worst thing, he had told her over and over again, the worst thing that could be done to somebody -and Greta could remember too, how much Varney hated thinking about the people he himself had turned back in the bad years.”

Monstrous behaviour is monstrous, no matter what genus carries it out.

It is a wonderful and redemptive story chock full with characters and situations which make you want to dive into Greta’s world, and also get yourself to the nearest library to check out the creatures who populate her world.

About the author…

Vivian Shaw was born in Kenya and spent her early childhood at home in England before relocating to the US at the age of seven. She has a BA in art history and an MFA in creative writing, and has worked in academic publishing and development while researching everything from the history of spaceflight to supernatural physiology. In her spare time, she writes fan fiction under the name of Coldhope.