Review: In the Lonely Hours by Shannon Morgan

In the Lonely Hours

by Shannon Morgan

Release Date: July 23, 2024

2024 Kensington

Ebook ARC: 336 Pages

ISBN: 978-1496743909

ASIN: B0CLZ488YP

Audiobook: B0D88RPT2H

Genre: Fiction / Gothic / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.5 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

On a small island in a remote corner of northwest Scotland lies Maundrell castle, owned by its wealthy namesake family for centuries—until now. Edwina Nunn is shocked to learn a relative she never heard of has bequeathed the castle and its land to her. What awaits Edie and her teenage daughter, Neve, is even more startling, for the castle is home to a multitude of ghosts.

Yet there’s a strange beauty in the austere architecture and the eerie, bloody waters of Loch na Scáthanna, the Lake of Shadows. Beguiled by a frightened ghost who gazes longingly out of the castle’s windows, Edie and Neve are drawn to the legends shrouding the island and the mystery of the Maundrell Red—a priceless diamond that disappeared decades before.

 

My Thoughts

In the Lonely Hours had a setting that I really loved, including an isolated castle with a mysterious past set in a remote part of Scotland.  The Maundrell family had many secrets and Edie decided to check out her inheritance as she knew little about her past having been adopted as a child.  I found their story interesting as they checked out the castle to get it ready to put on the market, but for the life of me, how they thought they could do this in one week without knowing anything about it, stumps me. And while I love these types of settings, I am now necessarily a fan of the lack of research trope for propelling a story forward. And if you can't find anything on the internet, why not stay in the village or local areas and do it from there. 

Edie's daughter, Neve, was a character I preferred over Edie, but the story was told from Edie's perspective. Sometimes I felt like Edie was the daughter as she made some really poor choices. First of all, when Edie inherits the castle, she learns that every member of her family had died there on Samhain and she and her daughter are now the sole survivors. So, what in the name of good parenting would she be doing dragging her daughter to the edge of nowhere, to an area in which she has little familiarity the week before Samhain? And she unquestionably lets strangers stay in her house just because they were squatting there when she arrived. What? Hell, no. 

Mungo ended up being my favourite character and he became even more endearing when I learned the author based the character off her own son who is autistic. And while there were many different themes running through this book such as mother-daughter relationships, found family, trust, and homosexuality, the one that stood out to me centered on Mungo and the way autistic people were horribly treated with electro-convulsive therapy. And how it was used for many types of psychological ailments. 

I was actually invested in the story for the first half of the book, but all of the ghosts eventually got tiresome. There was a reason for it, but by the time I learned more about the whys and whatnots, I lost interest and was looking forward to the ending.  I just thought the plot had too much going on, and I focused mostly on the Mungo-one because it interested me the most. The pacing of the story did slow down somewhat as well, but I think the author was trying to ensure both timelines matched up so we didn't learn too much too early, and this is why I am not necessarily a fan of dual timelines.  There ended up being a lot of repetition that was unnecessary. It's too bad as the tension was actually quite high in the first half of the book. And I will mention that I enjoyed the timeline in the past much more than the one in the present.

Verdict

In the Lonely Hours was still a decent book, with a solid mystery. I did love the atmosphere of the old castle as it certainly was remote and dreary enough to meet my expectations, but I still would not call this a horror novel, more of a paranormal mystery.  I wasn't a fan of the main character however, and I did find the pacing of the plot to be uneven and somewhat predictable, partly due to the dual timeline.  If you like atmosphere, then this book may just be the one for you.

 

Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

The Only One Left

by Riley Sager

Release Date: June 20, 2023

2023 Dutton

Kindle Edition; 385 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593183229

ASIN: B0BG1HTVPD

Audiobook: B0BJ17G933

Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Gothic

Source: Review copy from publisher

3 / 5 Stars

Summary

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it.  

 

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.

 

My Thoughts

The Only One Left definitely had everything I love in a gothic story: family mystery, death, secrets, crumbling house, difficult family relationships, MC hiding from family and friends, missing staff members and servants, and a creepy atmosphere. And with a house tilting quite precariously at the edge of a cliff, I definitely enjoyed the eerie setting as I waited for the house to fall off the cliff and crash into the sea. But what I always find with this author, instead of keeping to the KISS principle, keep it simple, the story line got blown up, became way too convoluted, and suddenly, the nice creepy tension that was building up, was gone.  Blown up! Out of the water! And I found myself drifting out to sea not caring what happened to the characters anymore.

Kit, accused of manslaughter, is desperate for a job, so she is in no position to refuse when Lenora needs a new caregiver and no one else wants the job. I found her to be likable and sympathetic, and enjoyed learning about her difficulties and the choices she made while caring for her mom when she was sick. I found her to be creative when dealing with Lenora and I understood her bafflement when strange things started happening as I would have felt the same way.  I am glad she didn't do some of the silly things that some characters do despite her digging into everyone's business and checking out the house.  

The secondary characters were interesting, but I would have liked to see some of them more developed as I found their stories and their reasons for staying intriguing. There were some good explanations, but I wasn't quite satisfied.  Despite all of this, I couldn't quite connect with any of the characters, including Kit, as there were some things that just didn't make sense or were glossed over as being convenient, something that bothered me.

At first, I really enjoyed the plot and thought that maybe, this time, I would get through one these books, and be satisfied. But no, the plot grew convoluted, but not in a good way, and I found myself rolling my eyes and losing interest fast. When you have a good plot, and then add too many variables, and then expect a reader to just accept it, the whole thing loses tension and I grew mostly frustrated with the turn the story took and just wanted to finish the book.  The gothic feeling of the house was the one redeeming quality left in a disappointing conclusion. 

Verdict

The Only One Left had a good premise and an eerie atmosphere, but with a plot that relied on way too many coincidences for my liking as well as a too-twisty narrative destroyed the tension that was being nicely built up in the first half. I had a hard time connecting to the characters as I didn't feel like they were developed enough due to too much emphasis on trying to out-twist the reader, which also left me feeling unsympathetic.  There were a lot of good elements to this book, and overall, I did like the story, but I do think the ending could have been reached without all of those twists, ramping up that delicious tension that makes you want to flip the pages even faster. 

 

Review: The Curse of Morton Abbey by Clarissa Harwood

The Curse of Morton Abbey

by Clarissa Harwood

Release Date: October 26, 2021

2021 Thornfield Press

Kindle Edition; 382 Pages

ISBN: 978-1777736927

ASIN: B097Q9TF46

Genre: Fiction/Mystery/Gothic

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars 

Summary

Solicitor Vaughan Springthorpe knows perfectly well that Sir Peter Spencer’s offer of employment seems too good to be true: he hires her sight unseen, offering a suspiciously large salary to prepare the sale of Morton Abbey, his crumbling Yorkshire estate.

Once at Morton, Vaughan discovers that someone is determined to drive her away. An intruder tries to enter her bedroom at night, gunshots are fired outside her window, and an eerie crying echoes from the uninhabited second floor. itself.  But with her questions diverted, her progress thwarted, and her sleep disrupted by the crying, will Vaughan escape Morton Abbey with her sanity intact or be cursed by the secrets within?

 

My Thoughts

The Curse of Morton Abbey was a captivating and quick gothic mystery novel that I really needed to read at this point.  Although it had its usual predictable elements you would expect in a gothic novel, the main character was very different, and I liked some of the choices she made.  Definitely not one of your silly maids who does silly things over which you just roll your eyes and shake your head.

 

Vaughan is a very unconventional heroine, the youngest of five sisters, having to fight for everything she has earned in her life due to the fact she was born with a crippled foot and being put down her entire life for this very reason.  I liked how independent, practical, and daring she was, but she definitely wasn't silly, making good decisions and being very aware of her own personal safety as well as the safety of others.  During this time period, it is very difficult for a woman to make her own way, but Vaughan was determined to become a woman solicitor; her reasons were not always altruistic though, as she did want to avoid living with her overbearing mother and sisters.  However, it did make you empathize with her plight and root for her all the way.

 

Out of all the characters though, Nick was probably my favourite as he definitely had the most depth as well the greatest character development.  Every time we met him, more layers were added to his personality, something I really enjoyed, and I never knew what to expect from him.  Yes, he was mercurial, but I spent a lot of time speculating as to his reasons why he was so changeable and was really drawn to his character.  To be honest, I really felt like the author spent so much time developing Vaughan and Nick that the rest of the characters kind of paled in comparison and their characters did not develop in the same way, something that would have added some depth, and some mystery, to this book.

The plot itself definitely has the gothic elements: the atmosphere is creepy; the house is haunted, with all the elements you would expect in a creepy, old house; there is a mystery to solve; there is the mysterious benefactor; there are characters with secrets; and of course, there are the things that go bump in the night.  Personally, I didn't really feel the book was spooky, but I always love the big, old house trope and get hooked on things like that.  The writing is solid, and there were enough twists and turns to keep me interested, even if some of them were predictable.  I did think some things went a bit too far towards the end, and some things were not satisfactorily explained, even to the point of being improbable and forced.  While there were some things about the ending I liked, there were definitely some things that were not explained, at least not adequately. And the curse? Not sure why that was the title of the book.

Verdict

The Curse of Morton Abbey was a fun book to read, and while somewhat predictable, kept me entertained nonetheless.  The two main characters were very well developed, but I wish the author had developed the rest of the characters as well as it would have increased the tension as well as filled in some of the missing information that left the ending feeling a bit inadequate.  Highly recommend if you enjoy Gothic mysteries with a strong female lead and well-developed main characters.