Foggy London Nights: A Review of Summon Up The Blood by R.N. Morris

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

One thing I am always in the mood for is a good mystery novel. A cop procedural, a spy novel, a teenaged sleuth, a heist, a political thriller, something that somehow combines all five; I don’t care, I crave mystery. If you’ve scrolled through this site before then I’m sure my love of the genre is obvious. Hence why I have another mystery novel to review today.

Please give a warm welcome to Summon Up The Blood by R.N. Morris!

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review on this site then you will know I simply love the spoil the entirety of the books I read. This is your one and only warning. I also have a quick content and trigger warning for this novel. Summon Up The Blood is set in 1914 and the author does not shy away from representing the racism, xenophobia, and homophobia that was prevalent at the time; especially the homophobia. On that note, let’s get to the synopsis.

The year is 1914. The setting, London, England. Nearly thirty years prior, Jack the Ripper stalked the streets of Whitechapel and killed eleven women. Now a new serial killer has reared their head. This new killer is targeting gay, male sex workers and draining every drop of their blood.

The lack of blood is what truly concerns investigators. Could this absence be because the murders are ritualistic in nature? Or were the victims simply targeted because they were gay men? That’s what Detective Inspector Silas Quinn, one of Scotland Yard’s top men in the Special Crimes Department, must find out.

From the seedy underbelly of London to the backrooms of elite clubs and hidden LGBTQIA+ meeting places, Silas Quinn ventures all over the city searching for clues to who the killer is. Of course, a twisted individual is watching from the shadows. Every move Silas Quinn makes is noted. Will he be able to unmask the villain? Or will he suffer the same fate as the victims? Find out in Summon Up The Blood.

Truthfully, I’m still trying to decide if I like this read or not. There are aspects of Summon Up The Blood I greatly adored, yet there are parts that needed work. The detailed prose being one of the former, the rushed ending being the latter.

R.N. Morris’s prose is the strongest point of Summon Up The Blood. Every single sentence is filled with detail. Detail of the surrounding setting, characters, the narrative at large; everything fleshes out this version of 1914 England in vibrant technicolor.

Seriously, the vocabulary used is fantastic. Currently there is discourse surrounding vocabulary levels in books. There are some out there who want the vocabulary level in every book lowered so everyone can comprehend the text. That’s not how reading works. The more you read, the more words you learn, and the higher your vocabulary level becomes thus allowing you to read harder texts. The discourse saying book vocabulary levels need to be lowered all around is bullshit and Summon Up The Blood is a great example against said discourse.

Some of the language used comes from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the rest of the vocabulary leans towards uncommon. The dictionary was my best friend whilst reading. And guess what? I learned some new words while reading. The exact thing reading is supposed to do. Plus, the vocabulary perfectly set the mood of the novel. For the writing quality, I applaud R.N. Morris.

Let’s get back to the actual book now. This mystery does have a rushed ending. I never really felt like I knew who the killer could have possibly been over the course of the novel. Means and motive are really only revealed at the end when Silas Quinn explains them. The clues never felt like they were leading me towards a villain.

I also was not a fan of what Silas Quinn does to the villain at the end of the novel. There is some very obvious foreshadowing of what will occur throughout the entirety of the text, and it is very much in character for Silas, but the ending would have been a good opportunity for character growth. Of course, Summon Up The Blood is the first entry to the Silas Quinn series so perhaps that growth does happen in later entries, but I still would have liked to have seen it in this book. Or at least some internal conflict in Quinn would have been nice.

Like I said, Summon Up The Blood does have good qualities; namely the quality of the writing. Some of the story beats were not my favorite, but that comes down to personal preference more than anything else. Summon Up The Blood is a good enough book.

With that, I shall bid you all adieu, Book Nerds. Thank you very much for joining me today, I hope you enjoyed you time here. I will see you all again next week with a fun new post. If you can’t wait that long then I highly suggest giving Reading Has Ruined My Life a follow over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in some literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you want something not related to books then I suggest checking out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk about everything and anything. We have multiple long-running series with lots of episodes to catch up on if you need a lot of long form content. Those include Barbie, Scooby-Doo, and Disney reviews. There’s bound to be something that strikes your fancy. Nothing to See Hear can currently be found on Spotify and YouTube. New episodes of the show release every Wednesday evening.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!