Edinburgh 1827. In the starkly-lit operating theatres of the city, grisly experiments are being carried out on corpses in the name of medical science. But elsewhere, there are those experimenting with more sinister forces. Amongst the crowded, sprawling tenements of the labyrinthine Old Town, a body is found, its neck torn to pieces. Charged with investigating the murder is Adam Quire, Officer of the Edinburgh Police. The trail will lead him into the deepest reaches of the city's criminal underclass, and to the highest echelons of the filthy rich. Soon Quire will discover that a darkness is crawling through this city of enlightenment and no one is safe from its corruption. A mash up of historical urban Gothic horror, with historical facts, fiction and fantasy all coming together to produce as one review put it Sharpe meets Dawn of the Dead. The appearance of historical characters like Burke and Hare is a great addition and are brilliantly imagined
The lead character, Adam Quire, is a tenacious, rebellious sergeant in the Edinburgh Police, a real life flawed anti hero with enough background history to fill a book with his own story.
But it is the pacing of the novel that stands out, too slow maybe for many readers, but I thought it worked well. The author gives a master class on how to build tension perfectly, showing the reader just enough to make you feel unsettled and want to carry on reading.
Very well written with rich historic detail and evocative scenes describing the dirt and despair of Edinburgh in 1828.
Contrary to the fact I am not a huge fan of the reanimated just a personal thing) I thoroughly enjoyed Edinburgh Dead.
