Strange Practice Review

Dr. Greta Helsing (the family apparently dropped the ‘van’ when they immigrated to England in the 1930s) has a very specialized practice in Harley Street, London. It’s far more specialized than any other practices at that very prestigious address. Because Greta, like her father before her, has specialized in treating those who are usually described as ‘monsters:’ vampires, were-creatures, banshees, mummies, and so on.

The novel “Strange Practice” by Vivien Shaw starts with Greta on her way to a house call in her very old mini. It’s early in the morning, but for Greta, those are normal work hours, since not all of her patients keep to regular office hours. Edmund Ruthven (who is, technically, a mere earl and not a lord) has asked her to come and see him. And he’s neither the only literary figure we meet in the book, nor the only one we meet in the first chapter, because a certain Sir Francis Varney has come to him with severe injuries, putting two very different vampires in Greta’s vicinity right away. Ruthven still is annoyed at Polidori’s naming the novel ‘The Vampyre,’ because there’s two types of vampires and he’s not a vampyre, unlike Varney. Ruthven is a draculine (meaning the same type of vampire as Dracula), while Varney is a lunar sensitive, which makes his life even harder (because he really can only drink the blood of virgins, unlike other vampires). The first chapter also assures us readers that Greta is one hundred percent normal, a human with no supernatural abilities whatsoever. She just happens to know that the supernatural does exist and she has taken on the family business of caring for supernatural beings in need of a doctor.

The novel’s plot quickly picks up speed, there is a hidden danger, a group of men in monk’s clothing who kill those they think are wicked and need to be killed for it (human and monster alike). They attacked Varney with a blade dipped in a very potent poison and Greta first of all has a hard time getting it to heal - which should be an easy feat for a vampire under normal circumstance. The novel then allows for us to follow the story through several different viewpoints. All main characters (only two of whom are human) get their part of it to tell, but Greta is the main viewpoint character for the story.

The plot is well-told, the pacing makes the novel a joy to read, and it really pulled me through in almost one go (had I not started it very late in the evening, I might have been tempted to just read on and on and on). The only thing I would have done differently is to leave out the short viewpoint of the antagonist - it’s not really necessary, as the motivation is explained by another character later on, and the novel already has a lot of different viewpoints. But that is complaining on a very high level, so no reason to avoid the novel as a such.

The way Vivien Shaw handles the characters is, however, the best part of the book for me. The ‘monsters’ (two vampires, a demon, a ghoul chieftain and some of his tribe) come across as surprisingly human, while at the same time it’s never denied that they are not human and do not act or think completely human. Ruthven and Varney do feed - on bought blood, if possible, on humans, if not. They avoid killing, both because they are vampires with a soul (but way better done than most of those) and because it’s not necessary for them, since they can’t drink more than about a pint of blood in one go, anyway (an amount a human can spare without dying - it’s about the amount you lose when donating). The demon is quite world-weary, an exiled from Hell who sometimes takes much less care with his body than he should, but at the same time also a fatherly friend to Greta. The ghoul chieftain is Greta’s patient for anxiety and slight depression she treats with medicine (although he and his clan have a bigger role to play than just that) - a result of trying to keep his tribe alive in a world which offers less and less hiding places for the subterranean carrion-eaters. Yet, eating corpses (even those of their own kind, because it’s a ritual for them), is perfectly normal for him and Greta doesn’t expect anything else. Mummies, as we learn from a short scene at her clinic, have a tendency to lose bones to entropy and need new ones (which Greta carves for them before implanting - she wants a 3D printer, so she can do better ones).

The most important character, however, is Greta herself. She is a strong woman without being a badass fighter or suchlike. Greta doesn’t use weapons (above a pepper spray in the only scene with her which could qualify as a fight scene), she can’t kill someone with a spoon, and she is not ‘strong’ in a physical way, either. She is a doctor and that is where her strength as a character lies. She cares, not only for humans, which is easy. She cares for the ‘monsters’ she treats. For making their lives better, for offering them better treatments. She cares more for having more money to renovate and expand her clinic than for getting a new car (despite the age and overall condition of her mini), buying new clothes (despite mostly wearing hand-me-downs), or moving into a better flat. She cares for everyone whom she meets who needs help - even for the monk who almost killed her. One could say that Greta is a perfect example of creating a character who embodies the feminine principles. She is a caregiver and a healer, not a warrior or a killer. Her utter conviction that everyone deserves her help is what makes her so strong. She doesn’t walk away from a patient. She doesn’t turn her back on someone who is not, by any definition of the word, human. She walks into danger, not to challenge it, but to help and protect those who need it. She is an embodiment of the Hippocratic Oath.

If you want a story filled with horror creatures who are less monstrous than the humans hunting them, if you are looking for a female lead who is strong without being a fighter, if you want to spend some very amusing hours with a good book, I can only recommend “Strange Practice” to you.