Frankenstein’s Monster

The eponymous monster of gothic horror rises once again in this well-wrought sequel to Mary Shelley’s classic tale, the adult debut of children’s author O’Keefe (One Hungry Monster with Lynn Munsinger). Narrated by the articulate and sensitive monster, the novel picks up immediately after the end of Shelley’s original, with explorer Robert Walton deciding to avenge the death of his “friend” Victor by relentlessly pursuing Frankenstein’s creation to its death. In retaliation, the monster treks to England to destroy Walton’s family only to befriend and fall in love with Walton’s capricious niece, Lily Winterbourne. Run-ins with misunderstanding humans and the monomaniacal Walton as the couple attempt to flee to the desolate Orkney Islands give the monster ample opportunities to reflect on the inherent cruelty of humans, the nature of compassion, and mysteries of life and death. O’Keefe credibly extrapolates the moods and thoughts of the monster from how Shelley first imagined them in one of the better recent treatments of the Frankenstein theme. (Oct.)