The Death of Jane Lawrence was hard to swallow. (Don't read while eating.)

 

Don't you just hate it when you marry someone and find out a week later that he killed his last wife? It seems like Jane, for being a logical mathematical person, should have asked a few more questions before marriage. Why, for instance, her new husband had to return to his country estate every single night even though he had a perfectly good bedroom kitchen parlor study library in his office building. Umm, a few questions might have helped Jane keep her body parts and sanity. Keep in mind that this is an alternative view of history. Women had to fight to be allowed into medical school and were denied licenses even after graduation. The doctor having as many female physician friends as male medical friends would not have been a reality. But, speaking of reality, scientists practicing the dark arts probably wouldn't have been a reality either. I know this is horror and there has to be a suspension of disbelief on the reader's part, but I had trouble believing that in a week's time Jane, a rational accountant, would be completely turned into someone who would swallow chicken fetuses. To me, the story needed a slower buildup to the creepiness. That's part of suspense--the slow buildup. The gore is graphic so if you have an aversion to blood that smells rank and/or eating disgusting things, you might want to skip a few pages here and there. An all right book though I found some things hard to swallow (pun intended--there were a lot of gross things swallowed.) Fantastic cover art.