Dark Remains - Sean McMahon

   2013; 229 pages.  Book 1 (out of 2) in the Maggie Power series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Historical Fiction - England; Natural-or-Supernatural?, YA; Mystery; Intrigue.  Laurels: 2011 Amazon “Breakthrough Novel” (semi-finalist).  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

    Wouldn’t it be great to live in London during the Victorian Era (1837-1901)?  Lots of books I’ve read are set in it.  We could go sleuthing with Sherlock Holmes or William Monk, ride around in horse-drawn carriages, and maybe even have tea with the Queen.

    This assumes we are of the upper class, of course.  The class system was firmly entrenched in England during that time.  If we were only of the working class, I imagine it wouldn’t be near as much fun.

    Things would be even worse if we were part of the lowest class.  Servants, chimney sweeps, and what have you.  If we were born into that such a family, we'd be really stuck there.  No one of the upper class would even think about marrying us.  Yet things could be even worse than that.

    Imagine if our father had been arrested and thrown into prison for anti-government activities.  Here “prison” means a place called Van Diemen’s Land, an old name for Tasmania, off the coast of New Zealand.  It could get even worse.  What if our mother, deathly ill and without any hope of seeing her husband again, takes her life, leaving two street-urchin children, ages 10 and 13, to fend for themselves in the slums of London.  That’s when you’ve hit rock bottom.

    Welcome to the world of Maggie and Tom Power.

What’s To Like...

    Dark Remains is set in the greater London area in May-August of 1842.  This is Victorian England, but Sean McMahon shows us the seedy side of that society.  13-year-old Maggie, for all extents and purposes an orphan, since her mother is dead and her father is half-a-world away on a prison island, tries desperately to keep her younger brother and herself from starving.  It is a day-to-day challenge.

    As a historical fiction novel, I thought the book was great.  A populist socio-political movement called the “Chartists” was on the rise throughout England, and was much feared by the upper class.  Those arrested could be subject to “transportation” to faraway Van Diemen’s Land, and their families forced to labor in “workhouses”.  Those who escaped this fate were often forced to resort to   “mudlarking” to survive.  All of this is historically accurate; Wikipedia has pages for each of them.

    The storyline starts out as an attempt by Maggie and Tom to reach a safe haven called “Sanctuary”, located somewhere to the north of London and staffed by Chartist sympathizers.  But that would take money that they don’t have, and there are more pressing matters to deal with, including not getting caught by the baddies.  Temporary local safe havens are needed, and that means shelving the Sanctuary odyssey for a while.

    The book is written in English, not American (except for the quotation marks, oddly enough), so in addition to the usual spellings of meagre, publicise, manoeuvred, and ageing, there are some colloquialisms to get acquainted with, such as doxies, peelers, cove, His nibs, take a butchers, churchyard cough, and mudlarking.  I enjoyed the vocabulary lesson.

    The character development was done well, all the major ones were unique and interesting.  There were a few times certain events seemed to be just a bit too conveniently coincidental, but with one exception (the old man at the police station), these turned out to be things that I, and Maggie, should have spent more time pondering.  There were a couple plot twists along the way to keep me on my toes, and a “natural or supernatural?” aspect, which I always enjoy.

    The ending is satisfying – it isn’t particularly exciting or twisty, but hey, that can be said about most of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, and we don’t gripe about those.  Most of the plot threads are tied up and everyone gets their just desserts.  The “natural/supernatural” angle was left open, but I count that as a plus, not a minus.  Dark Remains is a standalone novel, as well as part of a (currently) two-book series.

Kewlest New Word…

Mudlark (n. & v.) : To scavenge in river mud for objects of value, or the person who does so.

Others : Husting (n.); “Take a butcher” (v., phrase); “His nibs” (n., phrase); Scarper (v.)

Excerpts...

    The first part of the plot revolved around spotting a man of means, a suitably drunken gentleman, who could be led by the nose to a quiet location in the nearby rookery – using the combined charms of both Maggie and Kitten as bait.  (…)

    “So what d’you think?  Interested?” asked Charlie.

    “It could be very dangerous for me – and the others,” she stammered.

    There was a slight snigger from one of the gang.

    “Also, it’s criminal.  It’s a crime you’re committing; it’s not right.”

    At this, a chorus of laughter.  (loc. 352)

    So it was to be that during the mornings and early afternoon, when the boys embarked upon endless adventures within the endless grounds of the Countess’ estate, Maggie was to be lodged inside the Countess’ study.  There she was schooled in English and French, History and Classical Literature and, of course, a spot of needlework.  No need for Mathematics or Natural Philosophy – the Countess argued – they were subjects fit only for young men and not required by a lady who may – one day, she dearly hoped – enter into society.  (loc. 1570)

Kindle Details...

    Dark Remains presently sells for $0.99 at Amazon.  Book 2 in the series, All That Glitters, goes for the same price.  These seem to be the only two e-books that Sean McMahon offers..

“He has great promise.  Can hold his tongue and has plenty of guile.  Dishonesty is his greatest feature.”  (loc. 2213)

    One reviewer gave Dark Remains low marks because it was “too dark” for him despite it being classified as a “Teen and Young Adult” book.   Because of this, I kept wondering if it would either degenerate into a sexual exploitation story, or close with a “drink the Kool-Aid” scene.

    It doesn’t.  Life on the streets could certainly be brutal for a pair of young kids in 1840s London, and hey, even the title has the word “Dark” in it.  Yet the resolution of the story is positive, there’s no sex or drugs involved, and I recall only one instance of mild cussing, that being the word “damned”.  Amazon's "YA-Teen" designation is valid, and adults will enjoy it as well.

    The main problem with it is that the book desperately needs another round of editing and proofreading.  The comma usage during dialogues is terrible, and there are enough of the usual spellchecker boo-boos to become a distraction.  Worse, there's the (mis)spelling of one of the character’s name – is it Rickets or Ricketts?.

    7½ Stars.  Overall, I enjoyed Dark Remains, both as a piece of historical fiction and as a tale of mystery and intrigue.  The Kindle version of the sequel, All That Glitters, is available at Amazon, and has zero ratings/reviews at Amazon-US, Amazon-UK, and Goodreads.  I think I'll pick it up and give it a read.