drood is the name and nightmare that obsesses charles dickens for the last five years of his lifeon june 9 1865 dickens and his mistress are secretly returning to london when their express train hurtles over a gap in a trestle all of the firstclass carriages except the one carrying dickens are smashed to bits in the valley below when dickens descends into that valley to confront the dead and dying his life will be changed forever and at the core of that ensuing fiveyear nightmare isdrood the name that dickens whispers to his friend wilkie collins a laudanum addict and lesser novelist collins flouts victorian sensibilities by living with one mistress while having a child with another but he may be the only man on earth with whom dickens can share the secret ofdrood increasingly obsessed with crypts cemeteries and the precise length of time it would take for a corpse to dissolve in a lime pit dickens ceases writing for four years and wanders the worst slums and catacombs of london at night while staging public readings during the day gruesome readings that leave his audiences horrified finally he begins writing what would have been the worlds first great mystery masterpiece the mystery of edwin drood only to be interrupted forever bydroodbased on actual biographical events drood explores the stillunresolved mysteries of one of our greatest writers dark final days in a profoundly original tale that confirms lincoln childs assessment of new york times bestselling author dan simmons as a giant among novelists