Dreadful Company

• Author: Vivian Shaw
• Genre: Urban fantasy
• Publication Date: July 31, 2018
• Publisher: Orbit
• Series: Dr. Greta Helsing #2

Thank you to Orbit and Angela Man for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

PARIS IS A MOVABLE FEAST—ESPECIALLY FOR THE UNDEAD.

When Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, is unexpectedly called to Paris to present at a medical conference, she expects nothing more exciting than professional discourse on reconstructive surgery on zombies and skin disease in bogeymen—and hopefully at least one uneventful night at the opera.

Unfortunately for Greta, Paris happens to be infested with a coven of vampires—and not the civilized kind. If she hopes to survive, Greta must navigate the darkest corners of the City of Light, the maze of ancient catacombs and mine tunnels underneath the streets, where there is more to find than simply dead men’s bones.

After reading one book and a novella in this world, I wanted to immerse myself a bit more in this series, which is great because I still had two unread books to get through. It was no effort at all to pick this one up and get lost in the world of Dr. Greta Helsing.

Sometimes, a second book in the series can be a little bit of a letdown, because it either doesn’t meet the expectations I had after the first book, or it becomes formulaic already, or just because of second book syndrome. With this book, Shaw completely sidestepped any potential issues, and revealed herself as a brilliant writer as well. 

This is such a fun series, and this book brings back a lot of the awesome characters that we got to know in book 1. To start with, Greta herself is a trip. She’s brilliant, caring, and sweet, and most importantly, she’s got a certain level of snark to her, with that type of practical approach to everything that comes her way, for the most part. She’s back at it with the vampires who have become part of her inner circle: Edmund Ruthven, her best friend, and Francis Varney, who she saved in the last book, and has developed a bit of a crush on her. Except the action isn’t in London this time—it’s in Paris, since Greta is presenting at a medical conference on the care of paranormal creatures. 

We get to know a new kind of creature in this story: the well monster. It’s a small creature that is basically covered in long, beautiful hair—except they’re only seen when they’re summoned for the most part. And Greta encounters one of these in her hotel room, followed by others seeing them. Naturally, Greta decides to investigate, and sends Ruthven home to England while she spends a bit more time in Paris. Unfortunately, she is kidnapped by a vicious group of vampires who wear far too much body glitter before she can look into the matter. Corvin, the leader of the vampires is one mean guy and has plans for Greta. But I knew that Greta wasn’t likely to go down without a fight, and boy, was I right! 

As this is occurring, it comes to her friends’ attention that Greta is missing, and they are back on the case, along with two psychopomps looking into phantoms appearing in the area. So there’s a few mysteries all rolled into this book: the wellmonster sightings, Greta’s kidnapping, and the phantom sightings. It takes a little more time to get rolling than the last book, where we start the action early. In this book, we get a feel for the setting and more from the characters themselves, as the connections between them get deeper and more complex, just as I’d expect in any series. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, it just took me a little longer to get to that point where I can’t put the book down.

Overall, this is a great follow-up to Strange Practice, and I loved seeing some of my favorites from that book show up here. It allowed me to get to know the characters better, and see their progression through the series, which made them feel more like real people, even the paranormal ones. And there was one situation that really showed who Greta is on the inside, and it was everything I’d expect of her, even as I was thinking, ‘What is she doing? RUN!’ This is a fun, fast read that’s perfect between those heavy and super complex stories, when you want something that doesn’t require too much, since this feels more like a cross between a cozy mystery and an urban fantasy. Is there some kind of subgenre that explains this? Either way, I’m even more excited to jump into the next book. This series would be great for readers of cozy fantasy, and cozy mystery readers as long as you don’t mind the paranormal content, as well as those looking to ease into fantasy, and readers who love snark and British humor.

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