Dark Sleeper by Jeffrey E. Barlough is the first book in the author's series, Western Lights. The series now runs, I believe, six or seven books. The books are each standalone stories, but I understand that a few of the characters do show up in more than one book. I was introduced to the series by obtaining a free, pre-release copy of the third book in the series, Strange Cargo. That book was so memorable that I decided to start reading the entire series. This book was published by Ace Trade in September of 2000. It is somewhat difficult to identify the genre of the series, as it has elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery. The writing style makes it present as if it were classical literature.

The series is set in the mid-Nineteenth Century along the West Coast of North America. However, you would not recognize it as such. Two things make the location completely different from what it actually was during that time. First, the last Ice Age never completely ended, and many of the extinct animals that lived at that time are quite alive in the series. This includes mastodons, saber-toothed tigers, giant ground sloths (megatheres), woolly mammoths, and teratorns (gigantic birds that look like a cross between an Andean Condor and an African vulture). The people have no contact with anyone outside of their land.

Secondly, and this is an even more important factor, a catastrophic event occurred in 1839. From its description, it appears that a gigantic comet or asteroid struck the earth, causing huge changes. The Ice Age deepened, a very large percentage of the human population was killed off, much of the world was flooded or laid waste, and the West Coast of North America, from about Vancouver to San Diego, was split off from the rest of the continent. The society that exists there is very Nineteenth Century in technology and culture, and it is very English (Victorian).

Dark Sleeper starts off with a very strange event. As a semi-inebriated young man staggers along the wharf in the city of Salthead, he is accosted by a strange man who demands that the inebriated man identify his goals in life and his level of satisfaction. The strange man then says he will give the inebriated man something remarkable to remember and talk about. The strange man removes his own head and hands it to the drunkard. That is just the first of many strange events that occur in the town of Salthead, so-called because it is situated along the shore of the Salt River, where it empties into the sea.

This strange event, and the subsequent weirdnesses, are brought to the attention of the renowned Dr. Titus Vespanius Tiggs, a professor of metaphysics. Accompanied by his loyal friend, Dr. Dampe and several other companions with an interest in solving the mystery of the bizarre events, set off to dig up clues and piece together the puzzle. Professor Tiggs and Dr. Dampe are quite reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Will the team be able to solve the mysteries of the ghost who keeps reappearing, the sightings of the flying man, and the sunken, abandoned ship that suddenly appears in the harbor? What will they find when they travel north into the wilderness? Will the cruel miser, Josiah Tusk, ever meet his match and get his comeuppance? Will the slimy, thieving Robert Nightingale ever get convicted of any of his crimes? Who is the little boy who keeps appearing in the room of Sally Sprinkle at the Blue Pelican Inn? Will John Hunter recover what was stolen from him? If he does, will it spell disaster for everyone else?

This novel is almost five hundred pages long, and it is not for the impatient reader. The pace is somewhat slow because of the tremendous amount of detail. This is especially true in the beginning, when the author has to introduce a large cast of characters and start the project of describing this fictional world to the reader. The writing is very reminiscent of Charles Dickens, as are the often quirky and never ordinary characters. Even the characters who are ordinary people aren't quite ordinary. The range of vocabulary is very impressive, without being condescending or pseudo-intellectual. I had to check and online dictionary several times. The words I did not recognize were indeed legitimate words. The phrasing is sophisticated and colorful. The characters and the events in the story are very memorable.

Copyright by Christian McCallister 2012.

Recommended: Yes