The book started off with such finesse- a great plot, unique and enjoyable writing style, wonderfully complex characters and the promise of topics so rarely written about. Why then did it go downhill??? I still can't understand what happened. I raved about the first one hundred or so pages and couldn't put it down. Somewhere along the way I reached the point where I couldn't even finish the book, save to skim the last chapters. I think the dark subject matter just became too much- cholera morbis, body snatching, class disparities and ignorance...not enough to keep this reader interested or to lead to a positive recommendation.