The Darwin Affair | Blog Tour
The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason
Algonquin Books – June 11, 2019
*Book Review copy provided by Algonquin Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
I finally got a chance to read Tim Mason’s The Darwin Affair this week! It was originally published in 2019 and is now being released as a paperback. This historical fiction mystery/thriller is the kind of book I love to get lost in for hours.
About the Book
London, June 1860: When an assassination attempt is made on Queen Victoria, and a petty thief is gruesomely murdered moments later—and only a block away—Chief Detective Inspector Charles Field quickly surmises that the crimes are connected. Was Victoria really the assassin’s target? Or were both crimes part of an even more sinister plot?
Field’s investigation soon exposes a shocking conspiracy: the publication of Charles Darwin’s controversial On the Origin of Species has set off a string of terrible crimes—murder, arson, kidnapping. Witnesses describe a shadowy figure with lifeless, coal-black eyes. As the investigation takes Field from the dangerous alleyways of London to the hallowed halls of Oxford, the list of possible conspirators grows, and the body count escalates. And as he edges closer to the dastardly madman called the Chorister, he uncovers dark secrets that were meant to remain forever hidden.
My Thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the historical detail here! As a self-proclaimed history nerd I loved all of the various details interwoven into the story from historical figures, to concepts, to the book feeling like a Dickens’ novel.
My one struggle with the novel was the various characters that are introduced in the first part of the book. It can make the characters hard to track and make it more difficult to get into the book. My recommendation with a book like this is to set aside a good amount of reading time to really jump into the book. I kind of started and stopped the book frequently, which I think contributed to me muddling through characters at different points.
That being said the book is a wonderful mystery/thriller with a truly devious villain. While Field is a earnest hero that you can’t help but root for. And as I said this truly felt like a period piece to me, which is a great compliment to any historical fiction work.
About the Author
Tim Mason is a playwright whose work has been produced in New York and throughout the world. Among the awards he has received are a Kennedy Center Award, the Hollywood Drama-Logue Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Rockefeller Foundation grant. In addition to his dramatic plays, he wrote the book for Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, which had two seasons on Broadway and tours nationally every year. He is the author of the young adult novel The Last Synapsid. The Darwin Affair is his first adult novel.
