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The Friendship of Mortals (The Herbert West Series, #1)

by Audrey Driscoll (Goodreads Author)

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read in October 2016

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John Paterson said: " Audrey Driscoll’s skillful and interesting writing in her novel The Friendship of Mortals quickly drew me in and kept me turning the pages.
A brilliant and charismatic doctor and his devoted assistant, and an ancient formula that can restore life to Audrey Driscoll’s skillful and interesting writing in her novel The Friendship of Mortals quickly drew me in and kept me turning the pages.
A brilliant and charismatic doctor and his devoted assistant, and an ancient formula that can restore life to the dead, strikes a chord reminiscent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Driscoll injects a unique and fresh take on this age-old fascination.
The year is 1910, and Charles Milburn, a mild-mannered librarian/cataloguer takes a job at Miskatonic University, a school with a jaded reputation, near Arkham, an ancient backwater town with a foreboding mystique. His family reputation tarnished by his father’s suicide, Milburn is seeking escape and purpose.
Herbert West is a brilliant but unconventional medical student constantly conflicting with the Miskatonic medical establishment. West’s charisma and charm have Milburn under his spell from their first meeting. An ancient alchemy text called the Necronomicon reveals the secret of revivification – bringing the dead back to life, and West loses no time commencing experiments.
Alma Halsey is a librarian at Miskatonic and the daughter of the dean of medicine. She’s a strong willed woman, determined to break out of the traditional role of women in the 1900’s. She and Milburn become friends and then lovers, but Alma’s strong dislike of West becomes a sore point.
With Milburn’s help, West ‘revivifies’ a series of corpses. Some live for only a short time, others survive without most of their faculties intact. West is strictly scientific, viewing his work in a detached, mechanical way. His only show of empathy comes at his estranged mother’s death – and attempted revivification.
Milburn repulsed and tormented by the outcomes of West’s experiments and his own role in them. Milburn ponders the spiritual dimension, questioning the propriety of interrupting the death process and whatever may lie beyond. Does West’s brilliance as a doctor give him licence to circumvent the usual bounds of morality? These issues dog Milburn, but he continues to help West.
West returns from the war and establishes his medical practice in Arkham. Having significantly advanced his surgical skills during the war, he is highly successful. West’s clinic includes a secret laboratory in the basement. He informs Milburn that his revivification experiments are complete – but he’s working on something that he won’t reveal.
West eventually conflicts with his medical colleagues in Arkham and is on the verge of ruin. He decides to stage his own death – He develops an elaborate plan, using his twin brother’s corpse to stand-in for his own, and convinces Milburn to revivify him after he’s been declared dead. Milburn tearfully watches West take his own life, and contemplates taking his own, but his devotion to West wins out. As West slowly revivifies from death, Milburn is distracted and leaves him. When he returns, West has disappeared.
Fifteen years pass. Milburn is still at Miskatonic. Alma, now a successful writer who never married, returns to Arkham and meets up with Milburn. The two reminisce about their relationship and what might have been. Near the end of their conversation, Alma hands Milburn a letter that she’s been asked to deliver. It’s a letter from West, living under a pseudonym. He asks for Milburn’s help once again.
The book ends, leaving the reader uncertain as to what Milburn will do about West. He has resolved to leave Arkham and the strange hold that place has on him. In addition, he resolves to finally tell Alma all of the truth about his involvement with West, but will he be drawn in again, or will he finally become his own man and break free? These and other unanswered questions are the subjects of ‘supplementals’ that Driscoll plans to release soon.
I highly recommend The Friendship of Mortals. ...more "

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— Oct 19, 2016 09:35PM

Oct 04, 2016 07:40AM · see review