I have several hours to kill in the Salt Lake City airport. Melissa and I will get home well after midnight, which our bodies are going to tell us is actually 3AM, and I think this work week is going to be hellish. I finished this book on the plane, and if I don’t review it now, I probably won’t do it justice later.

Short Review

Here is the short review in case you don’t want any spoilers. This is a fun, light read that does a good job of entertaining. The prose is really good. It’s a short book, and you can treat each chapter as its own short story. If you’re looking for something that’s not too heavy, with occasional moments of humor, I recommend this book.

Longer Review

I don’t think this review is going to be all that long, actually, and I’m not sure there’s that much to spoil.

During Baycon, I picked this up off the table and read the first few pages. It surprised me! My pickiness can be a real problem for me to engage and enjoy a story, but The Sum of its Parts didn’t cause me to stumble. When I say the prose is good, I mean it.

It starts basically where Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ends. We follow Frankenstein’s Monster throughout the book (with one exception, which I’ll get to) and the story begins at the arctic. The Monster adopts his creator’s last name and refers to himself as Frankenstein throughout. When Victor dies, Frankenstein finds himself unsatisfied, conquers his hate, and determines that he will make a life for himself that will amend for his sins and mistakes. He becomes a detective, and his motto is: “No case too monstrous.”

After the introduction, each chapter becomes a pleasant walk through Universal’s Classic Monsters: Dracula, The Mummy, Wolf-Man, The Invisible Man, and others. Igor, who really shines in this story with his quips, plays Watson to Frankenstein’s Sherlock.

Most of the book is written in first person, all from Frankenstein’s perspective. The last chapter/story, which shares its name with the book, is written in close third and changes viewpoints characters several times. It’s clear enough, but surprised me since it broke pattern.

The handling of Frankenstein (which I wish was named Adam, as he once referred to himself as “Frankenstein’s Adam” towards the end of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein) is one of the strengths of this book. This particular monster has the appearance of the 7 foot tall version from the classic movies, with the bolts in his neck and the flat head. But, he’s also intelligent and thoughtful, as depicted by Mary Shelley.

This isn’t a book that’s going to challenge you much or make you think too hard. Like the Universal Movies, it’s the book equivalent of popcorn fun, with excellent prose that pays a wonderful tribute to both the original book and the movies that came after.

Here is a link to the product page on the publisher’s website, which links to all sorts of purchase options. Often, there is a link to get books signed by the author, but I’m not seeing one at the moment. If that option comes up, it will be on the page I’m linking.

Here is a link where you can buy it from bookshop.org.

Again, you can buy from Amazon, and I’m not going to be upset if you do. I just don’t have to provide a link.

I’ll give you this massive google search link, though, which yields all sorts of options. Barnes & Noble is fourth on the list, if that’s your kink.