The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl

Where the first two books in this trilogy were based around Frankenstein andDracula, this last one is built around two lesser-known works of gothic literature: Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and Bram Stoker's The Jewel of the Seven Stars. Here, the lack of familiarity with the originals may leave something out. I've not read either, and could easily follow the story, but there was none of the fun of seeing how the characters in the original novels were being reinterpreted that the first two volumes had.

The first half of the book is rather leisurely, as the villains hatch their plans and our heroes have little initial success in tracking them down. Indeed, at one point, there are two consecutive chapters consisting almost entirely of exposition, albeit from two characters with opposing viewpoints of the events concerned. The second half, as the fate of the British Empire hangs in the balance, is rather more dramatic, with noticeably stronger supernatural elements than the previous two books included.

The title character, who had a minor role in the previous books, does have much more to do here, and it does make for a nice change of perspective. Nonetheless, by the end of the book, the cast is perhaps growing a little large and it made sense to end the story where it does. Overall, this isn't quite as much fun as the rest of the trilogy, but it's still entertaining enough to nudge into four-star territory and anyone who enjoyed the first two should find plenty to like here, too.