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Drood

by Dan Simmons, Simon Prebble (Narrator)

3.45 of 5 stars 3.45 · rating details · 6,863 ratings · 1,355 reviews

On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens -- at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world -- hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.
Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were hi...more

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Published February 8th 2010 by Hachette Audio (first published February 9th 2009)

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Mar 13, 2010 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-mystery, sci-fi, historical-fiction

Hello, Dear Readers. Wilkie Collins here. In case you’re unfamiliar with me, I was a best selling English novelist during the mid-1800s, and a friend and frequent collaborator with Charles Dickens. I’m also the narrator of this new novel Drood despite the fact that this Dan Simmons fellow is trying to claim the credit when it clearly states that I left this manuscript to be published one-hundred and twenty-five years after my death.

Something I should confess immediately is that I use laudanum an...more Hello, Dear Readers. Wilkie Collins here. In case you’re unfamiliar with me, I was a best selling English novelist during the mid-1800s, and a friend and frequent collaborator with Charles Dickens. I’m also the narrator of this new novel Drood despite the fact that this Dan Simmons fellow is trying to claim the credit when it clearly states that I left this manuscript to be published one-hundred and twenty-five years after my death.

Something I should confess immediately is that I use laudanum and opium regularly as treatment for my physical ailments. In fact, I tend to swig the laudanum like spring water on a hot day, and while I was initially a bit frightened by the opium dens, I soon found them quite inviting. Oh, and my physician was also giving me regular doses of morphine. I admit to using the medicines freely so that the readers will know that I’m still a reliable narrator. I’m also haunted constantly by apparitions like a frightening doppelganger who tries to take over my writing and my life. However, I’m quite sure these are visions are real and have nothing to do with the laudanum. Or the opium. Or the morphine.

The other thing you should know is that my good friend and colleague Charles Dickens was immensely popular in his day. (This chap, Kemper, informs me that in current terms, Dickens was ‘like a f------g rock star’.) Not that I was jealous, mind you. Even though he was always more popular with critics and the public, made far more money than I did, and always got the lion’s share of credit of projects we collaborated on, I can assure you that I always stayed above petty concerns like envy. Even as he treated my brother, Charles’s son-in-law, quite terribly and had a habit of being a bit condescending when we discussed writing, I still bore Charles no ill will. (At least, not until near the end.)

Anyhow, it’s well known that when Charles Dickens died he left an unfinished novel called The Mystery of Edwin Drood. What isn’t known is the story behind that novel and Charles’s odd behavior during the last five years of his life.

In 1865, Charles was on a train that had a terrible accident. While he was unharmed, many other passengers were injured or killed. Charles confessed to me that while helping with the wounded, he met a very strange man who called himself Drood. Charles noticed later that most of the injured that Drood appeared to be helping were later found to be dead.

Charles wanted to track down this Drood character and enlisted me as a companion while following clues through the worst slums of London, including an entire underground society existing in the numerous crypts beneath the city.

This began a nightmare period for me that lasted until Charles’s death. A former police inspector began blackmailing me to report on Charles’s activities with Drood, and this inspector claimed that Drood was the leader of a vast criminal organization responsible for hundreds of deaths. Charles became obsessed with murder and mesmerism. Despite his failing health, he insisted on embarking on a series of readings in Europe and America that frequently shocked and terrified his audiences. Worst of all, Drood began to take an interest in me also.

So I highly recommend you read this tale of our tragic involvement with Drood and how it impacted our friendship, our writing and our sanity. Again, I’ll dispute Kemper’s theory that my medicine may have had some impact on my perception of these events, but I will admit that when you have two prominent fiction writers involved in a story, it’s wise to be wary of embellishments.

As a bonus, you’ll also get to read how Charles and I always conducted ourselves as English gentlemen. For example, when Charles’s wife and mother of his ten children had the audacity to complain about his mistress, Charles forced her to apologize to the woman and then exiled her from his house and family. Or how I lived with a woman I claimed as my housekeeper for years, but would never let my mother visit because I obviously couldn’t allow Mother to associate with such a harlot.

Ah, those were the days.

Sincerely,
Wilkie
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Feb 14, 2009 Barbara Roden rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Two years ago I read Dan Simmons's The Terror in pretty much one go, it was that good and gripping. It expertly combined several areas in which I'm interested and knowledgeable - Victorian Arctic exploration, the Franklin expedition, and supernatural fiction - and I was thrilled when I found out that his next book, Drood, promised more of the same: a doorstopper of a book modeled after the Victorian melodramas I enjoy, featuring two real-life authors whose life and works I know a lot about (Char...more Two years ago I read Dan Simmons's The Terror in pretty much one go, it was that good and gripping. It expertly combined several areas in which I'm interested and knowledgeable - Victorian Arctic exploration, the Franklin expedition, and supernatural fiction - and I was thrilled when I found out that his next book, Drood, promised more of the same: a doorstopper of a book modeled after the Victorian melodramas I enjoy, featuring two real-life authors whose life and works I know a lot about (Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins), and with references to Dickens's final, unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which has a small reference shelf devoted to it in my library.

Drood was, therefore, a book I approached with high hopes, and I was slightly sad to find myself disappointed in the end result. The book contains a number of excellent set-pieces - the Staplehurst railway disaster, the forays into London's Undertown - as well as some wonderful description and characterisation, most notably in the form of the narrator, Wilkie Collins; and the relationship between Dickens and Collins was well depicted, their undoubted friendship always under attack from Dickens's dominating nature and Collins's frustration at always being in his friend's shadow. The references to, and echoes of, Dickens's unfinished novel were also well done; if you want to get the most out of Drood, you'd do well to read Edwin Drood first.

However, Simmons seems to have fallen victim to that common affliction, the desire of contemporary novelists setting their work in an earlier time to want to drop in every factoid of information, every nugget of gossip they gleaned while researching. Time and again the novel comes to a halt while characters have awkward conversations which amount to info-dumps, or we learn more about London's sewers, Victorian publishing, and exactly who was at Dickens's house at any given time than we really need to know. The revelation at the end of the book, when it came, was a disappointment - I couldn't help thinking 'Is that it??' - and the book then continues for another forty pages which are largely unnecessary. As Louis Bayard points out in his review of Drood in the Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/..., somewhere inside this 700+ page book, there's a lean thriller half the size struggling to get out.

As an aside - and this may contain a minor spoiler, so be warned - I was surprised that Simmons, who referenced almost every work Dickens wrote following the Staplehurst railway disaster, made no mention in the book of Dickens's seminal ghost story 'The Signalman'. With its railway setting, supernatural elements, and references to the idea of a double, it would seem to have been a natural tale to make reference to. (less)

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Feb 25, 2009 Ben De Bono rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, horror

If ever there was a book that's impossible to review (at least without major spoilers) it's this one. So instead of reviewing it, let me say a few things to anyone who might be thinking of reading it.

First off, don't approach this like a horror novel. It's not in the sense that Carrion Comfort, Summer of Night or even The Terror were horror novels. There are elements of horror in it but if you are expecting an intense fright fest you'll probably be disappointed. This is a novel about obsession,...more

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Apr 02, 2009 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009

In the same way that Stephen King began to branch out of the horror genre, so it appears is Dan Simmons branching out of the sci-fi and fantasy nook. Two years ago, he blended a historic novel with elements of horror and sci-fi for "The Terror." Now he blends together historical elements with the dark trappings of a turn of the century horror novel in "Drood."

Five years before his death, author Charles Dickens was involved in a train wreck. "Drood" begins the story with that wreck and introduces...more In the same way that Stephen King began to branch out of the horror genre, so it appears is Dan Simmons branching out of the sci-fi and fantasy nook. Two years ago, he blended a historic novel with elements of horror and sci-fi for "The Terror." Now he blends together historical elements with the dark trappings of a turn of the century horror novel in "Drood."

Five years before his death, author Charles Dickens was involved in a train wreck. "Drood" begins the story with that wreck and introduces a mysterious character known only as Drood. Drood appears to Dickens during the wreck and the best-selling author becomes obsessessed with finding the mysterious character. Into this journey, the author brings his good friend and novelist, Wilkie Collins.

Collins serves as our narrator for this journey and early on, Simmons sews in elements that make Collins an unreliable narrator. Collins admits to having gout and using large quantities of laudnum early on in the story. And while Collins does encounter the mysterious Drood at certain points in the novel, readers will come away questioning if Drood is real or a figment of both writers' imaginations, given that Collins and Dickens rarely encounter Drood with other people around to verify Drood's existence.

In fact, the perception of who Drood is and his nefarious dealings in the underworld subtly alter as the story progresses.

In a lot of ways, this is a ghost story, though whether or not the ghost exists is up to the reader to decide.

While not quite as compelling as "The Terror" (which had the great sense of isolation to drive the narrative), "Drood" is still a solid and enjoyable book. And yes, it's also solid in terms of it sheer weight. The book is a long one and you'll definitely be in for the long-haul on this one. But it's worth the time, though there were several points that Simmons could have easily edited down or not included as much "look at my research" historical detail and it wouldn't have harmed the novel a bit. (less)

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Nov 09, 2009 Lori (Hellian) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I finished this several weeks ago, and it's stuck with me so much that I feel compelled to review even if it will be a brief one. Simmons takes is back to the Victorian age, and he does so with such great detail that I felt that I traveled back in time a bit. The first half is a bit slow, and yet I eagerly returned to it in what free time I had. Simmons is developing the characters until they are full dimensional. The narrator, Wilkie Collins, froths and rages about the injustices cast on him by...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Ed rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Drood is the epic story of the friendship and rivalry of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins as told from the point of view of Collins. More than that it is either the story of an encounter with the Most successful and least known serial murderer in London's history or of Collins' opium fueled decent into madness.

This book is written from the 1st person POV of Wilkie Collins, a friend of "The Inimitable" Charles Dickens and a fellow novelist. I don't know all that much about Collins, but Dickens...more

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Dec 27, 2008 Miriam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A galloping, epic saga of the mysterious friendship between Wilike Collins and Charles Dickens. Part literary history and party fantastic imagination, it was a joy to read. I savored it for a while--it's not one to read in a night or a week. But enjoyed every moment I spent with it. Stick with this one and you will be glad you did.

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Mar 15, 2009 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Emily by: Sam @ MG

Shelves: mysterious-galaxy-recommended, mysteryhistoricalfiction19th-centur, historical-fiction-victorian

Overall, Drood is well paced, well researched, and a very enjoyable book. The opening lines instantly became some of my favorites. Buying the novel purely on the recommendation of on of my favorite bookstores, I hadn't read the jacket cover, so I didn't realize that Wilkie Collins is the narrator. I admit, I gave a rather embarrassing squeal of delight when I saw his name.

But even if the names Collins, Dickens, or Simmons are completely unknown to you, the book still holds up on its own. The ope...more Overall, Drood is well paced, well researched, and a very enjoyable book. The opening lines instantly became some of my favorites. Buying the novel purely on the recommendation of on of my favorite bookstores, I hadn't read the jacket cover, so I didn't realize that Wilkie Collins is the narrator. I admit, I gave a rather embarrassing squeal of delight when I saw his name.

But even if the names Collins, Dickens, or Simmons are completely unknown to you, the book still holds up on its own. The opening lines still draw you in, and the story as a whole still holds your attention. But, if you are familiar with the authors, the time period, etc, the experience becomes much richer.

There are some really clever conceits within the novel that play off of its nineteenth-century literary setting. With historical novels or novels about novelists, there is a danger of being annoyingly obvious in displaying the author's research or thoughts on writing. Simmons avoids this trap. The research does what it should: it creates the world the characters inhabit. It is obvious, though, that it is very well researched. There are references to Dickens (and many British other authors) battling with the incredibly loose piracy laws in the US, as well as the less savory biographical details of the characters. Before reading it, I'd worried that it might present the Dickens of Dickens own PR, but it didn't. It gives readers Dickens in all his complicated glory. The same goes for all of the historical figures that play roles in the story.

One of the reasons it was so hard to put this novel down was that its set up a bit like a serialized novel. Each chapter gives a bit of a conclusion while still building suspense for the next installment.

What I enjoyed most was that the story gives you small details to catch that add to the larger mystery. But the mystery - while it does have a conclusion - does not really offer a pat resolution. New revelations lead to new questions. This is largely because this book (like the ones being written in the novel) is drawing on several genres, but not confining itself to just one: it is a mystery, historical fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, psychological drama and more. And perhaps the frequent references to Thackeray (who never actually appears), it is a story without a hero . . . and that is why I like it so much.(less)

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Apr 01, 2009 Jeanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the first book I've read by Dan Simmons but it certainly won't be the last. I was drawn to this particular book because of my love for the works of Charles Dickens, but I knew I had to read it after attending a book signing where Mr. Simmons talked about the book and its "unreliable" narrator, Wilkie Collins. I was not disappointed!

The richness and depth of Mr. Simmons research and prose is exquisite. It is the sort of book one must immerse one's self into. I nearly felt the stays of my...more

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Jan 11, 2009 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although I have a lot of criticism about Dan Simmons’ new book, “Drood,” I have to say, first and foremost, that I enjoyed this book and I commend the author for his boldness and for his artistry. “Drood” is a well-researched book that boldly re-imagines and fictionalizes the final years in the lives of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, who are being preyed upon by an otherworldly creature that goes by the name of Drood. Simmons mixes history, biography, and fantasy to tell a fascinating and g...more Although I have a lot of criticism about Dan Simmons’ new book, “Drood,” I have to say, first and foremost, that I enjoyed this book and I commend the author for his boldness and for his artistry. “Drood” is a well-researched book that boldly re-imagines and fictionalizes the final years in the lives of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, who are being preyed upon by an otherworldly creature that goes by the name of Drood. Simmons mixes history, biography, and fantasy to tell a fascinating and gripping tale of gothic horror.

Simmons’ Wilkie Collins is a complex character who struggles with an addiction to laudanum and an even greater addiction to his sometimes friend, sometimes collaborator Charles Dickens. Written as an autobiographical postscript, Simmons does a splendid job capturing Collins’ voice, style, and propensity toward sensationalism; the author also does a magnificent job illustrating Collins’ contentious, contradictory, and confounding feelings towards his more famous competitor/collaborator, Dickens. Simmons is a talented author whose strength lay in his ability to create spine-tingling suspense alongside well-rounded and complex characters. As I stated at the beginning of this review, though, despite the myriad strengths of this book, there are also some significant problems.

Now, I have to say that I read an uncorrected proof of the book, so many of the issues I have with the novel may have been ironed out in the proofreading process. The primary problem I had with the book is that it desperately needs editing. The novel is about 100 pages longer than it needs to be with many redundant passages and a couple of continuity issues. The “meat” of the story doesn’t begin until page 446 and, in my opinion, that is a lot of exposition and set-up to ask of a reader. Mind you, a lot of exciting and wonderful things happen in those first 450 pages; however, those “wonderful things” are in fits and starts with the real action of the narrative taking place only in the last half of the novel.

My other problem with the book is that while I’d love to recommend it to people, I feel that it will only appeal to people who have some level of experience with the novels of Charles Dickens. Many plot points revolve around Dickensian novels and the main trajectory, the underlying question throughout the book is how the mysterious creature Drood will be transformed into Dickens’ unfinished novel “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” If one does not know about Dickens’ last, unfinished novel, much of the fun and suspense of Simmons’ Drood is somewhat lost.

All in all, this is a fantastic novel that needs some editorial guidance; it is a novel that I really enjoyed, but one that I fear will have limited appeal and, therefore, limited readership.
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Oct 09, 2011 wally rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: simmons

i'm aware of a mixed bag on this one...but that can be said for ALL stories and so it goes.

finished.

...reading through, there are times when I want the storyline to continue, instead of ignoring what i'd just read in the previous chapter...a hundred, two-hundred men down below and no report? that is hardly fair and balanced. or the scene on the stairway...or The Other Wilkie for that matter....almost sounds like the wall street nitwits...ows....tow boom chakka-lakka-lakka! boom!

sure, there is a...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Danielle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, horror, disappointing

I will preface this review with the admission that I am not a large Dickens or Wilkie Collins fan. I have read A Tale of Two Cities and know of many other Dickens works (including, of course, A Christmas Carol), but do not have much exposure beyond that. I suggest that readers first be familiar with Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend and The Pickwick Papers by Dickens and The Woman In White and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins in order to follow the story in a more in-depth way, as these works are co...more I will preface this review with the admission that I am not a large Dickens or Wilkie Collins fan. I have read A Tale of Two Cities and know of many other Dickens works (including, of course, A Christmas Carol), but do not have much exposure beyond that. I suggest that readers first be familiar with Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend and The Pickwick Papers by Dickens and The Woman In White and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins in order to follow the story in a more in-depth way, as these works are consistently referred to. It is possible to understand the story without having read them, but it is my impression that having not read them creates a lost layer of appreciation. Even reading one or two of them will be beneficial; I recommend Bleak House as the one you should not do without.

On to the story itself.

The book is meticulously researched. Classics enthusiasts will definitely enjoy this aspect of the work, as it includes snippets of letters, dates and descriptions of major events, family and social gossip and period piece details throughout. I found the aspects of Dickens's romantic life especially intriguing, since the champion of the perfect English family failed at achieving his own lofty ideals by quite a wide margin.

For those readers that don't revel in such researched detail, this facet of the writing may feel like an 'info dump.' There were definitely sections that I found tiresome and repetitive. I understand that Simmons was attempting to create an air of obsessive thought and emphasis in Wilkie, but I found this to be overdone.

The writing took on a graduated quality throughout the book, in the respect that Wilkie Collins's narrative voice became not only increasingly unreliable - which aids the element of horror for the tale - but also vile. He is not a likable character, which is not necessarily a bad quality in a book. In respect to Drood, Wilkie's deteriorating propriety, empathy and humanity (never his strongest attributes, even at the start of the book) create a building perfect storm in which his festering resentment of Dickens comes to a head.

As the reader, I was able to relate with his jealousy, but always at a distance - the man had such a loose grasp on reality that one would be hard pressed to say that he had ever been acquainted with it and his habits and actions at times were so gross that commiserating with him over his petty anguishes felt icky. By a certain point in the book, I had switched from wanting to identify with Wilkie to reading solely to see what gruesome end he would come to.

His unreliability as a narrator is intentional, since it helps to add a doppelganger effect to the world of the story - which scene, if any, are 'true' to this world, and which have been tainted by Wilkie's mind? Simmons knew what he was doing and why he was doing it in regards to this approach. I have read some stories that also attempt this effect but do so in a clumsy and overly disorienting way. Simmons's writing tactic in this regard has much to owe John Fowles's The Magus, in that the reader can never be sure of any given reality, detail or portent, and that there is a central character who manipulates our narrator's strings by suggesting alternate possibilities. (Conchis in The Magus; Dickens in Drood. In addition, both Conchis and Dickens employ hypnotism at some point to further fracture reliability and add to the sense that reality is in constant flux.)

One of the greatest benefits of reading is that we get to experience different viewpoints that we would not normally indulge. That said, I have found that many readers have strong and differing opinions on whether or not they enjoy unlikable characters. I have read that some liken avoiding this type of character to choosing not to spend time with someone that they don't like. If you have these leanings, I would suggest to avoid Drood. I almost put the book down about 80% through when he nonchalantly kills a trusting, tail-wagging puppy. Pathos building aside, the description was unwarranted. I hate animal cruelty and this act turned my previous dislike of Wilkie into loathing.

He was also successful in a melding of fact and imagination. His concept of 'what if?' in respect to what if there really had been a man named Drood encountered at the Staplehurst train accident was a bizarre but plausible (in the world of fiction) take.

As a last note, I realize that active resentment, disdain and abuse towards women was commonplace in 1850-1870s London, but this did not make reading these attitudes any easier. Mistreatment of women is a constant theme throughout the novel, most likely to add to Wilkie's distasteful character. I found that these attitudes were more prominent than I've read in other works set in this period or even originating from this period. Any arguments that the Wilkie character had for the unfairness of Victorian English society against men and their freedom were undermined by the drastically horrible situations that the women in the story found themselves in. In comparison, Wilkie led a spoiled, indulgent, master-of-his-own-whims life and hardly had cause to complain.

Overall, it was strong in the researched detail, fleshing out and mannerisms of Dickens, Wilkie and other secondary characters (they did feel alive to me), meshing of fact and fiction and atmospheric detail - no one does a gross-out quite like Simmons. It was weak in that it pushed the reader's boundaries too far too often and the writing tended to lumber and repeat and stagnate in parts.
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Mar 01, 2009 Libby rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-misses

I would have imagined that a seasoned novelist of big books steeped in historical context might have avoided the beginner's error of forgoing actual narrative for HUNDREDS OF PAGES OF EXPOSITION, but I would have been wrong.

Apparently, Mr. Simmons could not forgo even one of the trifling matters of Dickensiana he picked up in the course of his research, and furthermore, he clearly couldn't be bothered to find ways to include these details dramatically.

This is a big, baggy mess of a thing, slack...more

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James "HUNDREDS OF PAGES OF EXPOSITION" Exactly! I felt like I was reading Hawthorne's great great grandson.
Apr 11, 2009 07:35am

Gordon After fighting my way through that book I don't have the strength left to write my own review. But, thankfully, you've written almost exactly what I w...more
Jul 21, 2009 06:14am

Midas68 I agree with the reviewer and Gordon.
I actually stopped reading with just a few pages left.
When this sometimes Great Writer decided to write the last...more
Jun 10, 2012 10:02pm

Sep 07, 2008 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009_release_read, review_fbc, mainstream, top_25_2009_novels

Having been very fortunate to have an arc pass through my hands many months before publication, I want to say that Drood is a literary masterpiece that may enshrine Mr. Simmons as one of the top US writers of the present.

The last 5 years of Charles Dickens' life as told in a secret journal by younger disciple, friend and secret rival Wilkie Collins after the tragic train accident that turned Dickens life upside down.

Obsession, artistic creation, addiction and the dark recesses of the human mi...more

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Feb 19, 2009 Kenny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dan Simmons' latest work of historical fiction, "Drood", is nothing short of a sheer masterpiece. To put it simply, it is everything that a gothic/horror novel should strive to be.

The novel is structured as a manuscript of the late novelist Wilkie Collins. Collins' narrative documents his friendship(and secret rivalry) with Charles Dickens in the final years of the latter authors' life. It revolves around the real-life event of Dickens surviving a horrific train wreck five years prior to his dea...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Donna Gillespie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just finished Drood, and it’s so good I had to say something about it. If you haven’t discovered Dan Simmons, he’s one of the most versatile writers of our day. Of the Simmons books I’ve read, this one reminds me most of The Terror. Both book’s plots cram you into a suffocating crevice of history that naturally lends itself to horror. Both stories teem with all levels of society, and make loose-and-creative use of historical personages to drive the narrative. If a novel could be compared to an...more I just finished Drood, and it’s so good I had to say something about it. If you haven’t discovered Dan Simmons, he’s one of the most versatile writers of our day. Of the Simmons books I’ve read, this one reminds me most of The Terror. Both book’s plots cram you into a suffocating crevice of history that naturally lends itself to horror. Both stories teem with all levels of society, and make loose-and-creative use of historical personages to drive the narrative. If a novel could be compared to an island, these two Simmons novels are continents. The Terror thrusts the reader into the midst of a doomed British Artic expedition. Drood takes us farther than we can go in complete comfort into early Victorian England — the grim lives of servants, unmarried sisters, mistresses who had few rights, societies of rat-children in the sewers beneath London and all the opium kingdoms underground. In Drood, all London is menaced by a mysterious sewer-loving undead creature who goes by this name, and with Simmons’ nuanced handling it’s all highly credible. In real life, “Drood” is Dickens’ character in his final novel, left half finished at his death, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Here, Drood is much more.

Simmons uses pioneer mystery author Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens’ collaborator and close friend, as the point-of-view character for the story, and it’s a brave and challenging choice, as Simmons’ Wilkie Collins has such a pinched, distorted perspective of his world. That we can interpret this rich, fast-paced story at all through the cracked lens of Collins’ cluelessness, self-absorption and jealousy of Dickens — and still feel the terrible suspense — shows Simmons to be a master of characterization. Dickens is marvelous here — and thank god he is here, because he provides relief from the stifling hours you must spend inside Wilkie Collins’ head. Collins’ adventures are reliably heart-pounding, but it’s Simmons’ Charles Dickens who makes this book work for me — he’s the light of this world, dazzling man of wonders, and you want to keep watching him forever. His generosity, and general saneness, (at least compared to narrator Collins) keeps the book’s mood balanced. It was interesting, as a reader, to find myself reading between the lines whenever Collins grumbles about the shortcomings of his friends, because you learn quickly you can’t trust a word of what he says — or thinks — about other people, which added many darkly amusing notes.

Here is my greatest compliment to this book: As I tried to avoid “spoilers” in writing this, it occurred to me that you couldn’t ruin this book for anyone with a single spoiler. It’s that rich. Because the story’s tension proceeds on so many levels, the terror mounts on multiple fronts, and the characters are so complex, each with a suspenseful story of his/her own, somehow this massive book is rendered strangely spoiler-proof. The twists and turns and surprises here are epic, particularly as the book slams toward its end. This is a housebound-in-a-snowstorm book if there ever was one, but it’s more: it left me uplifted, excited about writing, and wanting to launch into a study of the era. (less)

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Mar 04, 2010 Myckyee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I finished this book I looked around on the web for reviews. I read those of the professional reviewers and the bloggers and some from non-bloggers as well and I can tell you there’s quite a range of opinions. Some thought it too long and could use a strong editorial hand. Others said that the author fell victim to the habit of giving too much detail about the particular time period (in Drood’s case, Victorian England) as though every detail the author discovered during his research needed...more When I finished this book I looked around on the web for reviews. I read those of the professional reviewers and the bloggers and some from non-bloggers as well and I can tell you there’s quite a range of opinions. Some thought it too long and could use a strong editorial hand. Others said that the author fell victim to the habit of giving too much detail about the particular time period (in Drood’s case, Victorian England) as though every detail the author discovered during his research needed to be put in the book. Still others felt there were too many incidental side stories that had nothing to do with plot and so slowed the book down considerably.

I did not feel this way. I enjoyed the descriptions of Dickens’ house parties, the relationship between Charles Dickens and various other characters, including those with his wife and son-in-law, Wilkie Collins’ brother, Charley. I got to know Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and a host of other people. And then there was the London undertown! (Did this place really exist?) Had the book been any shorter, I would not have had the same sense of atmosphere that pervaded the whole work, nor would I have enjoyed the contrast between the everyday life of the upper class and the horrors faced by the ‘Charles Dickens’ poverty-stricken lower class. It was immensely fascinating to read about the laudanum-addicted Wilkie’s movements between undertown and Charles Dickens country getaway.

This book showed me what a great story-teller Dan Simmons is. Rich in period detail with the right amount of creepiness, Drood was brilliant. Now, I’m well aware that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I couldn’t get enough of it and found it highly entertaining from the first page. It reminded me somewhat of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, another book that many people thought should have been shorter but I was happy it wasn’t.

My only complaint with this book is the weight! The hardcover must weigh a good 3 pounds so think twice before taking it on the bus! (less)

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Mar 30, 2010 emily rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, fiction-historical, fiction-grownup-books, fiction-thriller

this book is, above all else, weird. i love simmons' Hyperion to death, and i could still see his style throughout the book... however, however. i will out myself as a bad english major by saying i am not a fan of mr. dickens at all. i find him ponderous; ironically, the narrator of 'drood' says at one point that dickens' failing as a writer is that he has excellent characters but no skill with plot, and i can't help but agree.

i started 'drood' hoping that simmons' take on dickens would make me...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Maureen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, novels

as an author that writes well, i believe simmons fails in this novel because he was too in love with his research and couldn't resist cramming it in at all occasions. the characters are well-drawn but they are based on real-life people, like dickens and wilkie collins but i don't buy the characterizations. they seemed like people wearing famous literary masks. i was led to believe that this book would shed some light on the mystery of edwin drood, the unfinished dickens novel that it was inspire...more

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Apr 16, 2010 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was a great read. I could hardly put the book down and it is a big book — 784 pages! Don't let that stop you from reading Drood though.

Dan Simmons takes the novel from Charles Dickens' last, uncompleted novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. In the course of just barely escaping death in an train wreck, Dickens encounters a supernatural figure named Drood, who seems to have been traveling in a coffin.

The book is narrated by Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens' friend, collaborator, and sometim...more

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Feb 24, 2009 Isil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Madame Charlotte

Shelves: litterature, usa, xxie

Drood est un récit excellemment construit, complexe et envoûtant. C’est avant tout un roman sur la psychologie d’un homme, Wilkie Collins. C’est cet auteur du milieu du XIXe siècle, comme Charles Dickens, qui est le narrateur. C’est donc son regard qui est porté sur le récit et sur le personnage de Dickens, son ami. Car en effet, Collins et Dickens sont amis mais il s’agit d’une amitié particulière. Dickens est plus âgé et a pris Collins sous son aile. Dickens est très populaire et Collins pour...more

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Mar 21, 2009 Christa Avampato rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's hard to get historic fiction right, keep it believable, and be entertaining. Dan Simmons gets it right in his latest novel, Drood, while also bringing in an element of the fantastic. What I love about London is its magic - around every corner you think there might be some sort of wizardry happening. Call it the Harry Potter effect. Simmons uses that sense of magic to finish the tale of Charles Dickens and his last piece, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a book he never completed.

Not knowing a go...more It's hard to get historic fiction right, keep it believable, and be entertaining. Dan Simmons gets it right in his latest novel, Drood, while also bringing in an element of the fantastic. What I love about London is its magic - around every corner you think there might be some sort of wizardry happening. Call it the Harry Potter effect. Simmons uses that sense of magic to finish the tale of Charles Dickens and his last piece, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a book he never completed.

Not knowing a good deal about Charles Dickens life, I wasn't able to discern which events in the book are factual and which are created by Simmons. For me, that is part of his genius. In much of the historical fiction I've read, you can clearly see the line between what we know happened from a historical perspective and what is invented by the author. Even when something in Dan Simmons takes us down into the underground world of London and I was certain that these events could not have happened given their magical component, I found myself being pulled even deeper into the story, able to completely put aside reality so I could follow Charles Dickens, and his friend, Wilkie Collins (the narrator of the book), on their dark adventure.

On occasion, I find English literature a bit difficult to trudge through. The language and turn of phrase can be difficult to follow. I didn't find that at all with Drood. Though it is certainly written in the English style, I found that it was very easy for me to visualize the action of the book.

To be sure, Drood is a commitment. At 771 pages it is not a quick read. I also found that the language was so beautiful that I wanted to enjoy it. It was one of those books that I enjoyed so much that I was a little reluctant to get to the end, perhaps because I know how the ending goes. I know Charles Dickens, and Wilkie Collins, are no longer with us. And after following them on their wild ride, albeit one that ends tragically, I was sad to see both of them reach their end.

Drood is masterfully written. Just by reading his work, I was made into a better writer. His construction and ability to use history without letting it overtake the narrative are impressive and to be applauded. (less)

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Jan 29, 2009 Nancy Oakes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, favorite

As he was returning from France, taking the train back home, Charles Dickens was involved in a railway accident in which his train derailed near Staplehurst. There were many deaths, many injuries, but Dickens and party came through pretty much unscathed. And thus this book begins, narrated by a friend and colleague of Dickens, Wilkie Collins, author of such famous works as The Woman in White and The Moonstone. The book begins in 1865 and ends in 1870.

I am not going to go over the plot, because e...more

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Apr 23, 2009 Jerry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a pretty brilliant book in two ways. First the combination of fact and fiction told from the point of view of a very real writer from the nineteenth century through his supposedly real experiences and life with Charles Dickens interspersed with his opium induced fantasies. You don't really know which is which until the end of the book. Telling the story of the last five years of Charles Dickens' life and the bizarre circumstances of the train accident that killed everyone but Dickens an...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Chris Cangiano rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, modern-fiction

Drood is Dan Simmons' follow up to his incredibly strong novel The Terror. Narrated by Wilkie Collins it tells of his and Dickens encounters with the ghastly, and perhaps supernatural Drood, a criminal mastermind with far reaching plans for world domination. It also provides an interesting window into the friendship/rivalry that existed between two of the most popular writers of their day (only one of whom was destined for immortal status). Mesmerism, opium use, the return of Egyptian deities, d...more

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Mar 04, 2009 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I should start off by saying that I loved The Terror. I had no issues with the length of the novel; the story was completely compelling. If Drood had any of the dramatic tension present in Simmons' previous book, I would have finished it with aplomb; sadly, for me it had NO dramatic tension. My friend Jeff noted in his review that a good chunk of this book could have been excised at the editorial level and I now have to agree. I made it through 350 pages and what little Simmons would toss me in...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Cooper Renner rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I expected that Simmons's book would be rather more in the vein of Dickens and Wilkie Collins (this novel's narrator) than it is, and so I was disappointed. Even so, this is a very well-done novel of its sort--which is to some extent horror--as well as a detailed portrait of Collins and a paean to Dickens. For most of the book's length, however, both of them are rather unpleasant characters--indeed Simmons's Collins is thorougly unlikable--and the book would have been more powerful, I believe, i...more

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Feb 24, 2009 jen8998 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I finished this book several days ago and am still not sure what I think of it. The novel is narrated by Wilkie Collins (author of the Woman in White and the Moonstone - both of which are better books than this one) and is the story of his friendship with Charles Dickens. Like Dan Simmons' previous novel, Drood becomes surreal towards the end, making much of the novel's action ambiguous. Is the elaborate horror story of Drood true or is it a opium induced hallucination (Collins partakes of this...more

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Mar 28, 2009 Tony rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

Simmons, Dan. DROOD. (2009). **. If you need practice for the reader’s olympics, this would be a good place to start. This massive doorstop of a novel runs close to 800 pages, but I admit I didn’t get that far. It is the story of Charles Dickens’ encounter with “Drood,” the subsequent hero of his last, but uncompleted novel. The use of the word hero is incorrect. Drood is a spectre, an incarnation of evil. The story, as told through the medium of Dickens’ friend Wilkie Collins, starts with Dicke...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Jon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, this baby partly explains why I haven't been keeping up with Nikki in number of titles, since it weighs in at just shy of 800 pages. I'm a great fan of Charles Dickens and have read several biographies, so I'm able to say that this novelization of his last five years is expert at accurately incorporating every detail of what is known about his life. It is also a quite plausible portrayal of Dickens himself. It purports to have been written by Wilkie Collins, Dickens' protege, partner, riva...more Well, this baby partly explains why I haven't been keeping up with Nikki in number of titles, since it weighs in at just shy of 800 pages. I'm a great fan of Charles Dickens and have read several biographies, so I'm able to say that this novelization of his last five years is expert at accurately incorporating every detail of what is known about his life. It is also a quite plausible portrayal of Dickens himself. It purports to have been written by Wilkie Collins, Dickens' protege, partner, rival, and envious admirer. But you quickly learn that Collins, addicted to laudanum, opium, and eventually morphine, is anything but a reliable narrator, and once you've arrived there, the piling up of suspect, lurid, and horrific detail for another 600 pages gets very tedious even for a Dickens lover. (Drood, you see, is a vampire-like serial killer who...oh, never mind.) The historical detail is there, but it is almost always blended with such fantastic imaginings that you have to distrust almost everything Collins tells you. You just want to get to the end and find out how it will all come out. The verisimilitude is very good, with only a few missteps into modern diction, but there was what for me is an unforgivable mistake about the phase of the moon (my wife makes fun of me for my obsession about this, but in earlier centuries when people had no electricity and actually looked at the night sky, they didn't get it wrong. In the 20th century when writers try to evoke the moon in a night scene, they almost always screw it up. Simmons screwed it up.) Dickens is presented by the jealous Collins as being very full of himself (which he was), and when Dickens, who is not known for his skillful plots, repeatedly lectures Collins on how to construct one properly, you share Collins' irritation at his presumption. But then near the end there is an unforgettable scene in which Collins is riffling through a copy of Bleak House, looking for (and finding) reasons to tear it apart and satisfy his own ego, when he stumbles across a passage whose narrative genius throws him into despair. He is forced to admit to himself that if he lived a thousand years he would never, ever be able to write like that. Simmons honestly reveals in the acknowledgments that he got the material on Bleak House from a lecture by Vladimir Nabokov; but Simmons should get the credit for putting it to such good narrative use. But the book was nearly 800 pages! Another Goodreads reviewer said there was an excellent 350 page novel in here struggling to get out, and I think that was about right. (less)

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About Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional "Elm Haven" in 1991's SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002's A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction,...more Dan Simmons was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 1948, and grew up in various cities and small towns in the Midwest, including Brimfield, Illinois, which was the source of his fictional "Elm Haven" in 1991's SUMMER OF NIGHT and 2002's A WINTER HAUNTING. Dan received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, winning a national Phi Beta Kappa Award during his senior year for excellence in fiction, journalism and art.

Dan received his Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971. He then worked in elementary education for 18 years -- 2 years in Missouri, 2 years in Buffalo, New York -- one year as a specially trained BOCES "resource teacher" and another as a sixth-grade teacher -- and 14 years in Colorado.

ABOUT DAN
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His last four years in teaching were spent creating, coordinating, and teaching in APEX, an extensive gifted/talented program serving 19 elementary schools and some 15,000 potential students. During his years of teaching, he won awards from the Colorado Education Association and was a finalist for the Colorado Teacher of the Year. He also worked as a national language-arts consultant, sharing his own "Writing Well" curriculum which he had created for his own classroom. Eleven and twelve-year-old students in Simmons' regular 6th-grade class averaged junior-year in high school writing ability according to annual standardized and holistic writing assessments. Whenever someone says "writing can't be taught," Dan begs to differ and has the track record to prove it. Since becoming a full-time writer, Dan likes to visit college writing classes, has taught in New Hampshire's Odyssey writing program for adults, and is considering hosting his own Windwalker Writers' Workshop.

Dan's first published story appeared on Feb. 15, 1982, the day his daughter, Jane Kathryn, was born. He's always attributed that coincidence to "helping in keeping things in perspective when it comes to the relative importance of writing and life."

Dan has been a full-time writer since 1987 and lives along the Front Range of Colorado -- in the same town where he taught for 14 years -- with his wife, Karen, his daughter, Jane, (when she's home from Hamilton College) and their Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Fergie. He does much of his writing at Windwalker -- their mountain property and cabin at 8,400 feet of altitude at the base of the Continental Divide, just south of Rocky Mountain National Park. An 8-ft.-tall sculpture of the Shrike -- a thorned and frightening character from the four Hyperion/Endymion novels -- was sculpted by an ex-student and friend, Clee Richeson, and the sculpture now stands guard near the isolated cabin.(less)

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Books by Dan Simmons

The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #2)

The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion Cantos, #4)

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“This is every writer's nightmare--the sudden breakdown of meaning in the language that sustains and supports us...” — 9 people liked it

“...speaking as a novelist myself, I know that members of our profession live in our imaginations as much or more as we inhabit what people call 'the real world'...” — 7 people liked it

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