Weekend Reads Presents! Thoreau on Wolf Hill *****

Once in a blue moon I find a book that demands to be read slowly and thoroughly savored. Thoreau on Wolf Hill did that for me. 

Disclaimer: The novel is an uncorrected proof that was given to me for an honest review.

That said, I loved this novel and here is my review:

It is the year 1847 and consumption rocks Plumford as Dr. Adam Walker struggles to contain the illness' rapid advance. Against this backdrop comes his closest friend, Henry David Thoreau, a voice of reason and sanity. Thoreau's ability to gather information from the smallest bit of evidence is astounding yet perfectly acceptable to those around him. And finally, Julia, returns home from England just as in love with her first cousin Adam as she was before she left. She'd fled to Europe hoping Adam would fall in love with someone else, someone he could marry and have children with. But Adam didn't marry and she had to flee Europe after her marriage revealed her husband as the worst sort of deviant.

Vampyre hunter, Solomen Wiley tries to convince Plumford there is an Indian vampyre among them. Called the Witiku, Wiley is sure the creature is murdering the villagers by ripping out their throats and relieving them of their blood. He tells the townspeople that only digging up the dead and ripping out the heart will save the newly dead from Witiku, an maliferous act of desecration Theoreau and Walker condem.

After a mutilated young actor is found dead in the woods of Plumford, Thoreau and Walker hit the streets of the Boston trying to find the killer. From opium dens to the backstage each of them refuse and refute the legend of the Witiku. Then strange dreams and undefined realities intervene, leaving you to wonder just how Thoreau on Wolf Hill will end.

Thoreau on Wolf Hill is one of those books I will read more than once. The language is true to the times yet I found it easy to read. There are multiple storylines going on and not one did I find wanting. Each was addressed and resolved in its own way. There are two POVs, Julia and Adam, yet you will feel like you know Henry David Thoreau as intimately as the others.

It really is a remarkable book, written by two very gifted writers.

I highly recommend it and can't wait for the next in the series.

If you've nothing to do this weekend and you love Thoreau and you adore mysteries. Buy it today!