Well, what to say about this, disappointing. Described as “eerie and thrilling” I was really looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately it failed to creep or thrill.
The story focuses on ten-year-old Lauren who lives with her father in a small village set in the Highlands of Scotland surrounded by pine forests. Lauren and her father Niall are struggling through life after the strange disappearance of Lauren’s mother a decade ago. Neighbours whisper and gossip and appear to know more that they let on and when a local teenager goes missing the community comes out in force to find answers.
The plot touches on a variety of themes. I think the author was focusing on the father-daughter relationship, the difficulties a teenage daughter presents, exacerbated by the unexplained loss of her mother. Lauren also has to contend with bullying, people who call her mother a ''witch'', and live in what seems to be a cursed house. It has some good ingredients - plummeting temperatures, flickering candles, flowery perfume filling the air in an empty house, strange shadows and female figures are seen, women appear in the night streets, houses plagued by unnatural phenomena and a strange darkness hovering over the community ... but it just didn’t go anywhere, it dragged on and on, getting a little interesting towards the end ... then it ended.
∼ Happy Reading∼
Polly x
Oh well, not every book can be a thrilling page turner, eh?
ReplyDeleteI know.
DeleteIt is disappointing when you start a book with great expectations (good title for a Dickens novel?) only to have it be a letdown. The same happened with a recent audiobook.
ReplyDeleteIt is Beatrice, and it doesn't matter how many reviews we read because we all like different things!
Delete