Strange Practice
Series: Dr. Greta Helsing, Book 1
By: Vivian Shaw / Narrated By: Susanna Hampton
Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
A tad disappointing but with enough heart to have me looking forward to Book 2…
‘Twould appear that one either loooooves Strange Practice, or one is vaaaaastly disappointed by >meh< writing and the lack of action. Can one hold two entirely different concepts in each hand at the same time? Well, my therapist is always trying to get me to master such a skill, and here? I can honestly say that yes, I’m holding my disappointment in m’ left hand to go with the sense that I was hugely entertained in m’ right. See, Sara? I’m making progress!
Greta Helsing, exhausted and in dire need of coffee, is called to the house of a vampire friend who has taken in a man who’s at death’s very door. The victim? One Sir Francis Varney, THE Sir Francis Varney, vampire of legends. And by the way? It’s intimated that there’s a difference between Vampire and Vampyre, but seeing as this is an audiobook, I’m not gonna even pretend I could keep up or ascertain which term applied to which character. As such, just lemme get away with calling both male characters at the beginning blood-drinking vampires, and forgive me, yes?
Anyhoo! Varney is as sick as any creature she’s ever seen, and she should know as she’s joined the family business of medical service to the undead and the mythical. Varney comes to with tales of what appeared to be hooded monks attacking him, and this all, esPECially as it’s looking like this is twinning with a serial killer stalking London’s streets, has Greta and friends out and hunting for information and clues and trying to keep London’s underworld of banshees, ghouls, vampires, mummies, et al, safe from harm.
Okay, the disappointing parts first. Hmm, wellll, at leeeeast this wasn’t the case of heroine all sassy until what-all hits the fan, at which point she’s saved by men. No, I liked Greta, especially during the first attempt on her life where she’s the wherewithal to spritz the beJESus outta the monk creature’s ominous glowing blue eyes. It gets in her eyes too, but she does what she must, and huzzah for such a heroine! -But-?
It’s just odd that a feisty female author, Vivian Shaw, chose to make this a book about a single woman surrounded by a group of men. The only other women are two associates who fill in for her at their medical practice which is going by the wayside as she’s caught up in all the current hoopla and distress. Oh, wait: One other strong female: A ghoul who assists Greta whilst they’re on the run from an arson attack. So, uhm, huzzzzzaaaah for a coooouple more kinda sorta strong females? hip hip… hurrah…?
Further, as a lover of all things British (Oh yessss, looking at you Regency Romances!), I’ve rather felt that I’ve come to know a tiny bit of England and English. And there are a few jarring Americanisms that somehow slipped the editing process which did take me outta the story. So, either I’m SUCH an Anglophile that I noticed? Or the writing was a trifle subpar that it actually stood out…?
WhatEVER, now onto the value of this as a delightful bit o’ entertainment. Yeh yeh yeh, surrounded by dudes, but they were all crafted well, and the relationships grew in itsy bitsy incremental bits so that by the time we got to the end? It was a tearful climax to go with the stand up and cheer moments. Most sweet of all was Greta’s relationship with Fass (Fastitocalon…), a demon stuck in this world who triiiiiies not to hear other people’s thoughts and who triiiiiiies not to cough up storms at inopportune moments. When Greta’s father died, Fass was there, waiting in her mind, always there to comfort her and be by her side. So when we come to the slash and burn parts at the end, we’re really feeling for this pair of friends and compatriots. And not only with Fass, but with Varney and the two others, one Vampire, one human, who I canNOT EVEN try to spell their names. Just know that they were lovingly crafted, and they all melded together to form one mighty band of butt-kicking bad-assery. Plus, Shaw wrote it all cleverly enough that each character’s special skills were utilized, whether that meant Varney “glamorizing” an unwitting individual or what have you. Even the lowly human Museum guy had his skills, and whoulda thunk that being a human going against a sect of mad monks would have any plusses going against so many many minuses?!
Which brings me to the one itty bitty flaw in the narration: That Museum guy… Susanna Hampton is brilliant with the narration, but the Museum dude was s’posed to have a bit of an American accent, and gosh, she didn’t even try. I mean, phew and all that, as there’s nothing I find more irksome than an American accent attempt that just doesn’t land well on the ears. But? As it kept coming up in the text as American this and American that, having the smoothly flowing Brit tones just rather stuck in my craw a bit. Other than that, whether she was doing a mopey vampire, or a tortured zealot of a monk as he gasped out oaths, or she was the exhausted yet earnest Greta? Or if she was doing a ghoul on the run, or a supportive witch? Check check checks all around. Grand job, and one I’m looking forward to checking out in the next book.
I doooo have a feeling there’ll be a romance brewing in the upcoming books in this series, and I doooo hope that it doesn’t take over all. I LIKED that it was oooonly at the end that I began to notice: Whazzaaa?! He likes her? And whattsis? She likes him? I appreciated that it had nary a thing to do with the plot or the action, and I hope things don’t go south too quickly. I enjoy romances, of course I do; but? I do NOT enjoy them when I’m listening to the Undead being Stalked by Crazed Monks…
Let’s see what Book 2 shall bring, shall we?
Yesssss!!!
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