The Quick

Book 87 of my 2015 Reading Challenge

read from December 6 - 9

The Quick by Lauren Owen

Summary (via Goodreads)

London, 1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society, and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Unnerved, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine city that greets her, she uncovers a secret world at the margins populated by unforgettable characters: a female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and the chilling “Doctor Knife.” But the answer to her brother’s disappearance ultimately lies within the doors of one of the country’s preeminent and mysterious institutions: The Aegolius Club, whose members include the most ambitious, and most dangerous, men in England.

My Opinion

It read very quickly for a 500+ page book and I was very interested in what would happen, apart from two points in the book.  One was when the first major changes happen and multiple new characters were introduced; it was so chaotic it made my head spin.  The second was near the end; once the major excitement was over the book dragged a bit to get to the resolution.

I would definitely read this author again.

A Few Quotes from the Book

"Charlotte had no acquaintance in London, so there was no one to help her discover what had happened to James - other than the police, perhaps, but it hardly seemed a fitting job for them. After all, he could easily be ill or out of London; he had written, not long ago, of wanting a holiday."

"This was the thing about London, the fact he had always suspected. One left so little impression on the walls and pavements. In London, one's past was not safe; the roads were overwritten by a thousand histories, trodden by millions of feet."