Dickens always goes better with a spoonful of laudanum to rein in some of the longer, more meandering sentences. That Victorian style of writing is somewhat vexatious for modern comprehension, trained – as it is – by sentences, short and sharp.
I struggle with a lot of modern literature, mostly because it's a bit dull or wordy for the sake of it, and my brain always narrates them in this terribly, awfully middle-class voice.
If you've not read them, read the Charlie Parker series from John Connolly, which blend supernatural doings into unpleasant murdery business, with an elegiac and creepy story arc. The standard of writing is an order above the expected without being overblown.
I'm quite enjoying Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows at the moment, an unholy mashup of Conan Doyle and Lovecraft, and who hasn't wanted to see that happen.