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It may seem like I've finally failed on my mission of 2010 to read a book a week, but I haven't. I finished this one in plenty of time, just didn't review it in plenty of time.

The Nature of Monsters is definitely not your typical historical fiction novel. Clark does not gloss anything over or romanticize any bit of the era she is writing about. Everything is raw, gritty, bawdy and described down to the most mundane, and often disgusting, detail. Completely different from any other historical fiction novel I've read. There is no romance, so if that's the only reason you read a historical fiction, put this book down right now.

Every character, setting and situation is flawed to perfection. It's an odd thing to say and probably even harder to imagine but it's very true and upon reading the book you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. None of the characters are sympathetic, even Mary, yet somehow I found myself drawn to them and hyponotized by their story.

I think the best way to describe this book is like a beautiful trainwreck. It is terrible, horrible and ugly, you know you should look away but you just can't. There's something drawing you in and keeping you there. I'm going to leave it at that. There's something I liked about this book, but I really can't put my finger on it because I don't think I should have liked this book. In the end it's something you'll just have to try out for yourself.