Strange Practice
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4.3 • 179 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
The first book in a delightfully witty fantasy series in which Dr. Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, must defend London from both supernatural ailments and a bloodthirsty cult.
Greta Helsing inherited her family's highly specialized and highly peculiar medical practice. In her consulting rooms, Dr. Helsing treats the undead for a host of ills: vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies. Although she barely makes ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's been groomed for since childhood.
Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice and her life.
Praise for the Dr. Greta Helsing Novels:
"An exceptional and delightful debut, in the tradition of Good Omens and A Night in the Lonesome October."―Elizabeth Bear, Hugo-award winning author
"Shaw balances an agile mystery with a pitch-perfect, droll narrative and cast of lovable misfit characters. These are not your mother's Dracula or demons."―Shelf Awareness
Dr. Greta Helsing Novels
Strange Practice
Dreadful Company
Grave Importance
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this comic supernatural mystery debut, Shaw assembles an appealing, amusing collection of London's modern undead and the humans who care for them. Dr. Greta Helsing continues the family business of discreetly providing antibiotics to ghouls, bone replacements to mummies, and pints of blood recovered from medical facilities to vampires. She joins several supernatural entities and an archivist at the British Museum in stopping a group of homicidal monks with burned skin, glowing blue eyes, and antique weapons who are targeting both the supernatural population and humans they deem wicked. Shaw excels at depictions of long-lived characters who combine old-school aesthetics with an appreciation of modern conveniences; readers will be amused by ancient entities coopting modern technology. Her idea that immortals make friends with families of humans through several generations makes sense. But characters recapitulating old angst feel shallow and inauthentic, exposition is directed at no one in particular, and a devil-ex-machina ending devalues the work of the team. Shaw has plenty of room to both to continue developing the relationships inside the ensemble cast and add more quirky players in the planned sequel. This review has been corrected to accurately reflect the author's last name.
Customer Reviews
A good time if you like light hearted occult.
This book reminded me of the the show Ugly Americans, where occult monsters are the norm. Check this out if you want a quick romp with some interesting characters.
Strange Practice
Very much enjoyed this supernatural lite story and its characters. It was a pleasant romp through London and its undergrounds. The only thing that was distracting was the multitude of words/sentences in italics. Besides that, would recommend the book.
Bring it to film already
So good it should be a TV series. In fact, I’ll be upset if it doesn’t.