The Blood Doctor by Barbara Vine

The Blood Doctor by Barbara Vine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 369

Publisher - Penguin books

Source - Given by a friend

Blurb from Goodreads

When Martin Nanther, Hereditary Peer in the House of Lords, is choosing the subject of his next biography, he becomes intrigued by the life of his own great-grandfather, Henry Nanther. So grateful was Queen Victoria for Henry’s services as physician to the royal family that she granted him a peerage, making him a lord, the first doctor ever to be so honored. Henry had been especially attentive to hemophiliacs in the royal family, for he was obsessed with blood. As he recounted in his diary, “Red is my favorite color. To me a splash of blood is beautiful, and I profoundly lack understanding of those who flinch or even faint at the sight of it.”

As his research deepens, Martin begins to uncover hints that his great-grandfather’s fascination with blood may have had its darker side. The murder of Henry’s fiancée, the death of his young son, the remarkable number of relatives and friends who died mysteriously—could all these have been mere coincidence? Martin scours England and America for relatives whose attics or memories might hold clues, until finally the tragic truth stands revealed.

Drawing from the dark themes of obsession and murder that drive so many of Barbara Vine’s extraordinary novels, The Blood Doctor is also enriched by domestic intimacies familiar to readers of Ruth Rendell’s beloved Inspector Wexford novels and by details of Dame Rendell’s own experience as a Life Peer in the House of Lords. Once again we have a masterful work from a storyteller of the highest order.


My Review

Guys, I went back and fourth between a two and three stars, I have put three stars rounded up but I think really, for me, it is a 2.5. So Martin Nanther is writing a book about his ancestor his great great great grandfather (I think, maybe add another great) Henry Nanther. Basically he was a doctor, physician to the Royal family so they gave him a title, his focus was on blood disorders especially Haemophilia. The book flips between our author Martin and what is happening in his life, what he finds out about his Great Grandfather through notebooks, diaries, families who had correspondence either with him or him being mentioned. As Martin researches he isn't quite prepared for all he is about to find out.

So my issues is it was a whole lot of meh. Like that seems so unfair, I absolutely was interested in the medical side, what Henry thought he knew about Haemophilia and his own research and publishing's. However I don't feel there was so much, like a lot of it was about his personal life and not really all relevant to anything really and or it took an age to get to a point.

Martin is involved in politics as he is Henry's descendent as a Lord so we get some political stuff too but even that I was a bit meh. I mean I am not huge into politics however I have read a book before that was heavy on the side of political themes and I actually found it interesting and informative. I think the problem for me is the book is chopped up into Henry's past but again we hear from folk who are relatives of people related to him or knowing him and their chat. The political settings and stuff, Martin's research, what he finds, his own issues with his partner struggling to carry a baby to term, the losses, how he feels. He has an adult son with his ex so he is a bit torn about having another baby but knows how important it is to his wife.

So there is three kinda main focuses and one would take away from another to the point I was distracted, struggling to not just keep up but actually care. I think Henry's story would have been interesting if we followed it in "real time" but for me it was just a bit too much jumping around and nothing really had me invested. Well the blood condition(s) absolutely did which is probably why I stuck through with it and it has sparked my interest to read more about blood conditions but that really is it. So yeah 2.5 really, would I read this author again? Yeah absolutely, I just think for me there was too much going on and noting really with teeth so to speak, many people have loved it though so absolutely check it out for yourself. I am also a bit of a mood reader and been a bit crabby and irritable the last few days so that probably impacted too. Like I read this for over 6 hours in the car, normally I can read a full paperback in that time, I read just over 140 odd pages which is not a lot for me at all. So I think in this instance it absolutely is a case of it isn't you it is me!

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