The Monstrumologist (The Monstrumologist, #1) by Rick Yancey
3.0 Stars
1-1-2015

An interesting book which is a bit too much like a movie. The writing is not problematic, and does a reasonable job of capturing the sort of gothic-Victorian tone that Dracula and similar books use. There are plenty of nested digressions, diaries, flashbacks, and florid bits of language, as well as graveyards, asylums, and resurrectionists. The book is gory, but I wouldn't quite describe it as horror. At least on the printed page, horror involves the unknown, helplessness and hopelessness, while for the most part the characters know what they are facing and have enough people/guns to defeat it. It is more of a biologically-intense adventure novel. The two main characters are deftly portrayed, and I enjoyed their little "who's on first" bits of dialog. I would rate the story higher, except that I had some problems with its movie-like plotting. During most of the action parts of the book, you can predict the story by asking "what would happen next in a hollywood movie". There are twists and surprises, but they are the expected ones. In short, it never really made me laugh for happiness like an adventure by Fritz Leiber would. Still, it's a solidly entertaining book.