By David Dent
Barnes is a writer whose passions are the classics and the ‘alternate universe’ approach to storytelling, both of which have put him in good stead for his unofficial sequel/tie in to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel.
Told in a series of accounts, echoing the epistolary format of many 19th century writers, the novel focuses on Jesse Malone, a rich man fallen into vagrancy, who narrates his association with the mystic Hubert Crowe and their subsequent investigation of an old house in Norfolk, previously the residence of one Nathaniel Greene, currently residing in an asylum on the charge of murder.
Sometime previously the wife of the rather disreputable Greene, who as a married couple have been unable to conceive, took into the home a lodger, who became the talk of the village. For the guest was none other than Victor Frankenstein, with whom Greene’s wife became besotted, particularly when the doctor suggested that he might be able to supply Mrs G with the thing that she could not otherwise have.
Barnes’s writing is extremely sensitive to the style of 19th century literature. However the story remains fairly slight and the main characters – the ones we’re here for anyway – only make occasional forays onto the pages. What we’re left with is a pastiche novel, written with skill, that may have been better served telling an original story without the literary constraints Barnes confers on himself.
Frankenstein’s Monster is a somewhat complex, character stuffed novel, sympathetic to the original and with some chilling passages, particularly describing the doctor’s creations. I could have done with it being a bit longer with Barnes teasing out the characters in a little more detail. Not a bad book in any way, just not one which, if you’ll pardon the pun, is equal to the sum of its parts.
Frankenstein’s Monster by J.S. Barnes is available now in various formats from Titan Books.
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