Darwin’s Diaries Book 1: The Eye of the Celts
Darwin’s Diaries Book 1: The Eye of the Celts, by Sylvain Runberg & Eduardo Ocana
IT IS 1860 and Great Britain’s prime minister has a problem on the home front: work on new train lanes being laid up north has ground to a halt, due to a series of labourers being found dead, and ripped apart. To that end he calls in Charles Darwin, whose writings and research have been causing offence and uproar, along with more rational debate, of late.
Darwin’s researches into natural history have been based on creatures that are known to exist in his present time; those beasts that will one day fall into the subject we have now come to term cryptozoology and their existence yet to proved or refuted undeniably (ranging from rare insects found regularly in a shrinking Amazon rain forest to a camera-shy Loch Ness monster that is more than likely to now be extinct if it ever existed).
He is asked to look into the likelihood of some wildman type creature roaming round England green (though there’s no mention of the folkloric Green Man in this particular story I note); and it’s interesting to note how werewolves are thrown into the mix along with bigfoot and yetis as a possible breed of creature as yet unknown to man.
Darwin, a presumably happy family man, leaves his home and heads to the scene of the crime, his involvement while not kept secret is not proclaimed to all and sundry lest there be objections. He is met by one Suzanne Dickson who is to assist him in his investigations; she is a pleasant but forthright and well-educated lady, keen on women’s rights, and Darwin keeps himself in check though you feel his own views on such a matter may not concur with hers. Regardless, she tends to prove invaluable, and in fact does not comment on Darwin’s own presumed failings as the story develops.
A mystery unravels slowly as Darwin plays the role of forensic scientist on the remains of those killed, while we - as readers – are privy to further similar murders. That they take place at night and we see the reaction of those who will suffer the consequences but not the actual monster doing the deeds has a tendency towards repetition that works better in horror films where the images accompanied by suitable music take seconds, but perusing the pages at our own leisure in silence, does make one want the story to move on quicker.
When indeed it does, it adds further confusion and a new dimension and we wonder if we’re edging towards some Jack the Ripper meets Jeckyl & Hyde scenario. It’s atmospherically compelling enough to make you want to check out the next book in the series, Death of a Beast, for it aggravatingly does not conclude its saga within one volume.
For more about Darwin’s Diaries in English visit Cinebook.
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