Living in exile in Venice, the disgraced Lord Byron revels in the freedoms of the city.
But when he is associated with the deaths of local women, found with wounds to their throats, and then a novel called The Vampyre is published under his name, rumours begin to spread that Byron may be the murderer…
As events escalate and tensions rise – and his own life is endangered, as well as those he holds most dear – Byron is forced to play detective, to discover who is really behind these heinous crimes. Meanwhile, the scandals of his own infamous past come back to haunt him…
Rich in gothic atmosphere and drawing on real events and characters from Byron’s life, Dangerous is a riveting, dazzling historical thriller, as decadent, dark and seductive as the poet himself…
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Hi and welcome to my review of Dangerous!
I loved Essie Fox’s The Fascination, so I was thrilled to get my mitts on Dangerous nice and early! I didn’t quite know what to expect going in but I think I had hoped for a slightly more bloody story, given the vampire thing.
I’ll admit I knew little about Lord Byron before reading Dangerous. His reputation did proceed him, I knew him to be a bit of a philanderer, and I knew about a connection to Mary Shelley, but that’s about it. It was fantastic to learn more about him through reading Dangerous. Not only about his life, his friends, his loves and his daughter, but also about his work, as each chapter is introduced by means of a few lines of one of his poems.
I never quite knew what was real and what was fiction, but the author makes that abundantly clear in her afterword, which is truly appreciated! I don’t mind wondering as I’m reading but I do like to get my facts straight at the end. Knowing what I do now, I feel that Essie Fox did an amazing job weaving fact and fiction together, and I believe readers who are more familiar with Lord Byron than I was will have an absolute ball with this story.
The setting, in a word, is fabulous. What could possibly be more atmospheric and gothic than Venice in the 1800s?! Especially in the capable hands of Essie Fox. Even though I read Dangerous on a gloriously sunny spring weekend, the dankness and darkness of some of the scenes seeped right into my bones. In a good way!
Dangerous is a clever blend of historical fact and murder mystery that I enjoyed very much and would be happy to recommend to readers of gothic literature and/or historical crime and/or Lord Byron.
Dangerous is out in hardcover (with spredges!) and digital formats on 25 April. Pre-order it directly from Orenda Books here.
Massive thanks to Orenda Books for the DRC. All opinions are my own.
Wonderful review! Is it very gothic, or more murder mystery?
Well it’s a gothic murder mystery but I’d say the emphasis is more on the murder mystery, I didn’t think it was terribly gothic.
That gives me hope! 😂
Fab review! I’m usually allergic to vampire elements in stories, but this one sounds too good to ignore.
For me, the vampire element was not present enough 😂