Review: What Stays Buried by Suzanne Young

What Stays Buried

by Suzanne Young

Release Date: March 7, 2023

2023 HarperCollins

Kindle Edition; 272 Pages

ISBN: 978-0063257122

ASIN: B0B397R89P

Audiobook: B0B357PJ8Y

Genre: Fiction / Horror / Ghosts / Juvenile

Source: Review copy from publisher

4 / 5 Stars

Summary

Twelve-year-old Calista Wynn will lose her ability to speak with the dead on her thirteenth birthday.

And with only a few weeks left, children have started going missing.

When Calista meets The Tall Lady—an angry spirit with a grudge against Calista, her family, and the entire town—she knows she’s found the ghost responsible for the disappearances.

It’s up to Calista, the only one who can see The Tall Lady, to stop her. If she doesn’t, Calista won’t just lose her powers… she’ll lose everyone she has left.

 

My Thoughts

What Stays Buried was a fun, emotional paranormal book that I would have definitely loved as a kid.  Calista Wynn, soon to turn thirteen, will lose her ability to speak with ghosts, something that will have a huge impact on her for reasons that are explained in the book and for which I don't want to give away. It added an emotional impact for which I wasn't prepared, as I was expecting simply a ghost story, a paranormal adventure, but this little emotional side story added a lot of depth to the story that I loved. 

 

Calista was a fun character to get to know and I loved her spunk and her protective nature as her little sister started to gain her own powers.  With a curse on the family stretching back decades, Calista knew she was going to lose her powers when she turned thirteen, something that was terrifying, especially as a new case lands in her lap just weeks before her birthday. I love how Calista is unsure of herself, but enters each situation at full speed, knowing she has to protect her family and her friends, no matter what. When children begin disappearing, and she starts seeing those children as ghosts, she fears the worst. Knowing she can't work alone, she teams up with an unexpected ally, and I loved how the friendship develops throughout the story.  The characters were fun, with a depth to them I wasn't expecting and I enjoyed getting to know them all.

 

The plot was interesting and flowed very well.  I thought it was intricate considering this is a juvenile fiction novel, and it was definitely on the scarier side. My favourite genre is horror, so I am a bit biased when it comes to that genre as I never think it is scary enough, but I do think the young reader will find it scary, with ghosts appearing, demon possession, children being kidnapped, a curse, and murderous ghosts.  Some of the settings were downright creepy, including the marsh.  Some people do get injured, but because it's not the humans doing the injuring, I do think young readers will be more understanding of the events and why things are happening. The story flowed very well, and it was never boring; in fact, I read the book in one sitting as I couldn't put it down. 

 

Verdict

What Stays Buried was a lot scarier than I thought it would be, but that was what I loved about this book.  However, I wasn't a fan of the ending as I am one for emotional endings even if I did enjoy the emotional way the whole ghosts thing resolved itself. I thought that was enough, but it continued right to the end, something I thought was out of step for the rest of the book which was actually spookier than I thought it would be, to my pleasant surprise.  I know some reviewers took issue with the unsupervised summoning of dead spirits, something to do with occult practices, but I don't care about any of that.  Gosh, how many people tried to summer Bloody Mary in the mirror when they were ten-years-old and had to hide under their blankets for a week? That is the fun of reading this stuff, so enjoy!!

 

Review: A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong

A Rip Through Time (A Rip Through Time, Book #1)

by Kelley Armstrong

Release Date: May 31, 2022

2022 Minotaur Books

Kindle Edition; 342 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250820006

ASIN: B09CNFSLFG

Audiobook: B09GGZ3HLN

Genre: Fiction / Historical Fantasy / Mystery

3.75 / 5 Stars

Summary

May 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses consciousness.

May 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell had been enjoying a half-day off, only to be discovered that night in a lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead . . . exactly one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was strangled in the same spot.

When Mallory wakes up in Catriona's body in 1869, she must put aside her shock and adjust quickly to the reality: life as a housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. She soon discovers that her boss, Dr. Gray, also moonlights as a medical examiner and has just taken on an intriguing case, the strangulation of a young man, similar to the attack on herself. Her only hope is that catching the murderer can lead her back to her modern life . . . before it's too late.

 

My Thoughts

A Rip Through Time is the first book in this series and I quite enjoyed it.  Perhaps because there was little romance to speak of as Mallory is literally ripped through time after being attacked in Edinburgh and dumped in the past, thoroughly confused as to what happened and why she was there, so that was a bit plus in my eyes.  Furthermore, she is not in her own body, but in the body of a housemaid, Catriona, who has kind of a nefarious past. I thought the contradictions between Mallory's life and Catriona's were fun and enjoyed watching Mallory navigate an entirely different world trying to piece together what happened to her.

 

Mallory was an interesting character, somewhat uptight and a bit of a workaholic in her present-day life. When she is hurtled into the past, she is forced to depend on the people in her new household for help even if they don't quite understand what is happening to her, leaving them to assume it's the after-effects of the attack. Mallory discovers she works for a brother and sister who are a bit unusual for the time period, the brother being a funeral director who sort of works as an undercover coroner while his sister has a huge interest in the sciences and is, sort of, a chemist.  This fascinates Mallory and she is hard-pressed to keep her modern-day knowledge to herself as she insinuates herself into their affairs.  

 

The brother and sister do become suspicious, and I definitely loved this aspect of the book, as I think it is impossible for someone from the future to travel to the past and be inconspicuous, especially someone who is trained in criminology like Mallory. I enjoyed seeing Mallory navigate the events around the myrders, squirm around the destruction of crime scenes, and rack her brain trying to remember historical lessons of when fingerprinting and other such techniques were developed. Because she knew too much for a simple housemaid, even the criminal investigator was suspicious of her actions.  Mallory's navigation of how much she should tell, how much she should lie, how to navigate around Catriona'a life, was very entertaining.

For me, the weakest part of the novel was the actual reason for why Mallory was attacked in the first place. While I did enjoy the murder mystery and thought it was nicely plotted, I did feel like the whole time travel aspect, and the consequences, was simply ignored. Rules for time travel do have to be established, and I feel like the author glossed over all of these things in this book.  There is no concern about paradoxes, or about a Canadian fitting into nineteenth century Scotland. Yes, she may look like Catriona, but her phrasing is all her own and she would have stood out like a sore thumb.  

Verdict

A Rip Through Time is an intriguing time travel/historical mystery.  I thought the characters were well-developed and the plot was interesting. There is a lot of set-up in this book, and the author did gloss over the time-travel impact and consequences, something that did not really sit well with me, but I am looking forward to seeing what happens next for Mallory and wondering if she will ever return to modern-day Edinburgh.

 

 

 

Review: All Hallows by Christopher Golden

All Hallows

by Christopher Golden

Release Date: January 24, 2023

2023 St. Martin's Press

Kindle Edition; 325 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250280299

ASIN: B09Y4632Q1

Audiobook: B0BRYNJTMM

Genre: Fiction / Horror

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3/5 Stars

 

Summary

It’s Halloween night, 1984, in Coventry, Massachusetts, and two families are unraveling. Up and down the street, horrifying secrets are being revealed, and all the while, mixed in with the trick-or-treaters of all ages, four children who do not belong are walking door to door, merging with the kids of Parmenter Road. Children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified, and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man. There’s a small clearing in the woods now that was never there before, and a blackthorn tree that doesn’t belong at all. These odd children claim that The Cunning Man is coming for them...and they want the local kids to protect them. But with families falling apart and the neighborhood splintered by bitterness, who will save the children of Parmenter Road?

 

My Thoughts

All Hallows is one of those books that I was hoping would get better as I went along, but unfortunately this had a story line that meandered too much for my liking, destroying any tension that built up. Not only did it do this once, but several times throughout the story, leaving me a bit disappointed in the overall experience.  It's not that it was boring and I definitely didn't dislike it by any means, but scary? No. Full of tension? No. Full of tingles and shivers? No. 

First of all, the nostalgic feeling of the 80s was something I loved about this book. At first, I thought it was going to be one of the strengths of the book, that whole neighbourhood feeling when everyone got together to enjoy a night full of fun and escapades.  The Barbosa's always put on an epic Haunted Woods and this was to be their last one so they wanted it to be a good one, while the Koenig's were getting ready to host their after-Halloween party. Fun, right? It was until the author decided to bring all this neighbourhood drama into the story about a philandering alcoholic husband who created chaos with a number of friendships; I am not usually opposed to this drama, but the focus on it took away from the unfolding drama that was supposed to be the highlight of the story, the return of the Cunning Man. 

 

When the slasher stuff finally starts to happen, I was already starting to lose interest in the story, about two-thirds into the book.  Children dressed in these vintage clothing, a clown, a Raggedy Ann, and a scarecrow, would not really have drawn that much attention in 1984 even though I remember Madonna and Michael Jackson being hugely popular costumes as well as Star Wars.  There was always someone dressed as a clown.  But I did appreciate all of the 80's references to remind people of the time line.  

 

As a result of all this, the plot is the weakest point of the novel, with the Cunning Man and the creepy children sort of running in the background, and once in a while they show up to deal with some neighbourhood kid, but the whole story becomes disjointed because of all the other stuff going on. When the Cunning Man and the kids should have been absolutely terrifying, the author had already lost me with the other drama, enough hat I didn't really care about what was happening.  And on a side note, I did have an issue with one of the relationships, although not the relationship itself, but the openness of it. This was 1984, and I do have an issue when modern sensibilities and thinking are put on the past for as teen growing up the 80s, exploring all forms of sexuality was not really acceptable.  We are talking about the time of the AIDS epidemic when fear mongering was quite high, so teenagers were definitely not encouraged to openly explore their sexuality. And furthermore, a lot of people left their doors unlocked during this time period and would definitely not have been thinking someone is a pedophile the moment they saw someone, especially in a small neighbourhood like this, especially not kids.    That is current-day thinking. Small things, but they were jarring nonetheless. 

Verdict

All Hallows had a lot of potential, but the over-focus on the neighbourhood drama which included everything from infidelity to alcoholism to job loss to abuse, affected the overall story and rendered the Cunning Man and his children to the background.  Unfortunately, instead of the eerie and creepy, I got disjointed and...weird.  I did really appreciate the nostalgia and the creepy forest and would love to have had a haunted forest like that while I was growing up, but it was not enough to save this book for me. 

Review: The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall

by Katie Lumsden

Release Date: February 28, 2023

2023 Dutton

Kindle Edition; 352 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593186923

ASIN: B0B44T96XR

Audiobook: B0B94HZ1ZQ

Genre: Fiction / Historical / Gothic

Source: Review copy from publisher

3 / 5 Stars

Summary

It's 1852 and Margaret Lennox, a young widow, attempts to escape the shadows of her past by taking a position as governess to an only child, Louis, at an isolated country house in the west of England.

But Margaret soon starts to feel that something isn't quite right. There are strange figures in the dark, tensions between servants, and an abandoned east wing. Even stranger is the local gossip surrounding Mrs. Eversham, Louis's widowed mother, who is deeply distrusted in the village.

Lonely and unsure whom to trust, Margaret finds distraction in a forbidden relationship with the gardener, Paul. But as Margaret's history threatens to catch up with her, it isn't long before she learns the truth behind the secrets of Hartwood Hall.

 

My Thoughts

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall had a lot of components I enjoy in a historical Gothic novel: the creepy house, secrets galore, tensions between characters, strange figures in the house, an abandoned section of the house, and the list goes on. But while all the elements were there, the characters were pretty one-dimensional and the story itself was disjointed, to the point where I got wrenched out of it pretty much destroying any tension that had been built up to that point.  

 

I didn't mind Margaret's character and I liked how she tried to figure out what was happening. She wasn't satisfied with the answers she was receiving and couldn't understand why the villagers were treating everyone in the house with antagonism. Having grown to enjoy her time at the house, she was growing concerned that something was not right either with the house or the people in it.  Margaret turns to Paul, the gardener, for answers to her questions.  I enjoyed Paul's character as well as he was down-to-earth; he listened to what Margaret had to say about the happenings in the house, but he was not necessarily willing to take everything at face value, something I liked.  And although I liked the characters, especially little Louis, I didn't really see much development and they were pretty much one-dimensional throughout the book. They did however, hold up the book.

 

As for the plot, well, this is where I had some issues.  I liked the first third as there were mysteries to solve and I didn't really know what was going on, ut then it started to drag, and some things that I thought weren't really all that important tended to go on and on while other events that would have added to the story happened quickly and moved on. And the dialogue didn't always flow well with what was happening, something that was jarring and threw me right out of the story, interfering with the tension and suspense that had slowly, and I mean slowly, been building up.  And while I suspected what was happening quite early, the last third happened quite quickly, with the denouement happening too rapidly, but it effectively destroyed any suspense that had been building up yet again and I finished the book feeling disappointed, but happy the story finally ended.  Yes, that lovely Gothic style does reveal itself in parts, and it's too bad the author didn't focus on allowing that skill to shine through the entire book.

 

Verdict

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall definitely had some moments that were interesting, and you could see the Gothic style coming through in certain sections of the book. Unfortunately, the plot and the character development were a bit lacking and I was not a fan of how quickly the author sped through the mysterious elements and focused on elements that did not add that lovely suspense or tension to the story. I do feel there is work to be done on character development as some of Margaret's actions seemed to be contrary to the person to whom we were introduced for most of the book when we got to the end of the book; I didn't hate the conclusion, but felt it didn't match who she was throughout the book.  I will definitely read another novel by this author however, as I enjoyed her writing style and thought there was a lot of potential in this one. 

 

Review: Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

Tell Me I'm Worthless

by Alison Rumfitt

Release Date: January 17, 2023

2023 Tor Nightfire

Kindle Edition; 263 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250866233

ASIN: B09XL6Y3Y3

Audiobook: B0B1JKM1PL

Genre: Fiction / Horror / LGBT

Source: Review copy from publisher

2 / 5 Stars

Summary

Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, Alice’s life has spiraled. She lives a haunted existence, selling videos of herself for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep.

Memories of that night torment Alice, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, to go past the KEEP OUT sign and over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, Alice knows she must go.

Together, Alice and Ila must face the horrors that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, whom the House has chosen to make its own.

 

My Thoughts

Tell Me I'm Worthless had a very interesting beginning, one that I thought would set up this novel quite nicely, but unfortunately, it went seriously downhill from that point on.  I felt like I was reading an entirely different book; the only reason I kept going was because I wanted to actually find out if the haunted house played a bigger role in this book.

 

The actual horror stuff was few and far between, and although I get that the haunted house is a symbolism of fear and oppression and how easy it is for those things to control your world, that can also be a metaphor for what happened in this book.  I admire and respect the author for trying to use horror, in the shape of a haunted house and the events that occurred there, as a way to show oppression in a different light, but I feel like it got away from them and instead of a good story became more of a series of weird rants that made the story disjointed.   The messages/themes within the book become confusing because these rants are also confusing, dealing with things such as fascism and so on, trying to push their own political beliefs on the reader, something I wasn't having any part of. As someone who can think for herself, I would rather the ideas be there so I can think about them and form my own conclusions.  In some ways, it can feel demeaning, as if a reader can't think for themselves.  

 

The characters themselves were pretty one-dimensional and by the end of the book, I didn't feel like any of them had shown any growth.  Unfortunately, the political aspects of this book took away from the overall potential of character development.  If you took out a lot of those rants, this book would read really well as a short story; I thought the part with Hannah, in particular, in the haunted house was superbly done, despite the political tone to it, although I still feel like the author tends to give too much to the reader rather than let them figure things out on their own.     

Verdict

Tell Me I'm Worthless suffers from some editing issues as well as marketing issues. Touted as a haunted house novel, I went in expecting that and what I got was a political novel using haunted house metaphor to explore political beliefs. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue as I don't typically mind that, but it's the direct writing/ranting that turned me off this story as I don't feel it contributed much in terms of plot or character development, but served more to explore the author's personal political views/angst. Yes, the message is important, but so is the delivery, and the delivery turned me right off this book.

Review: The Suffering by MJ Mars

The Suffering

by MJ Mars

Release Date: February 24, 2023

2023 Wicked House Publishing

Kindle Edition; 382 Pages

ISBN: 978-1959798064

ASIN: B0BTMPKHHK

Genre: Fiction / Horror / Paranormal

Source: Review copy from publsiher

 

3.5 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Recreating the séance that led to the infamous Victorian Suffering massacre seems like a good idea at the time. But Kyle Birbeck soon discovers that the ghosts his distant ancestor banished into the walls of Brackenby House in 1876 have been lurking, waiting for a chance to come out.

One by one the 5 terrifying ghosts latch onto each of the students who reside at Brackenby, preying on their deepest fears. They soon come to realise it isn’t Brackenby House that’s haunted. They are. And the ghosts will stop at nothing to continue The Suffering…

 

My Thoughts

The Suffering has everything that I love in a horror/paranormal novel; a spooky house with a chilling history, a seance that didn't quite work the way it was intended, ghosts, secrets, and so on. I enjoyed the overall story as it was interesting and the descriptions did manage to keep up a certain level of tension.  I did like the ghosts as well the action surrounding them, but felt it got bogged down by the author using lack of communication and secrets to move a plot point along which just made me shake my head.

Kyle and his friends live in a Victorian house that has been in his family for a very long time. Despite the sordid background and the tragedy that occurred there, the five students are overjoyed to be living in something that is cheaper than the usual student accommodations, and decide to have a seance on Halloween. Okay, this I totally buy as college students do silly things all the time and even I played around with this kind of stuff when I was younger. Unfortunately, they do release something horrifying and five ghosts attach themselves to the five of them feeding off of their self-doubts.  I did find this interesting in the beginning and liked what was happening, even if I didn't find it very terrifying. This could be my fault though as I went in thinking it would be scarier than it was, but it wasn't.  

 

Things kind of went sideways for me about one-third into the book as I got tired of the lack of communication between the characters and the big secrets.  Kyle wasn't very forthcoming with information and I just couldn't figure out why he wouldn't tell the others where he had been and why.  And why would he not have brought back protection charms for the rest of them?  And when things did start happening, why would you not call the police to check things out to make sure there were not pranks happening? And when things ramp up, do the kids try to split and run? No, not really. I would have been out of there in a flash.  

 

While the author can write, and there were definitely some interesting moments, I don't feel like I really got to know the characters very well. To me, they were pretty bland and I wish the story had focused on one of them rather than all of them as it would have added depth to the story.  I did like hearing about the ghosts, but the characters and their foolish decisions kind of pushed that to the background regularly and I found myself jolted out of the story.  It made me focus on the plot holes and lack of character growth a bit more than I normally would have.  

 

Verdict

The Suffering had a lot of potential and I did enjoy the story, especially the parts where the ghosts were involved.  I did feel the characters were one-dimensional and bland, and their lack of communication and decision-making skills got on my nerves after a while.  There really wasn't anything particularly spooky about this book, but there were a lot of fun elements, so I would definitely pick up another novel by this author in the future.

 

Review: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes, Book #1)

by Travis Baldree

Release Date: November 8, 2022

2022 Tor

Kindle Edition; 296 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250886088

ASIN: B0B3755RV9

Audiobook: B0B3G97QY1

Genre: Fiction / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from publisher

4 / 5 Stars

Summary

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

 

My Thoughts

Legends & Lattes is one of those fantasy novels I really needed to read at this time. A lot of fantasy that I usually read tends to be dark, vicious, emotional, bordering on grimdark, the type of fantasy that takes a toll on you after a while, so reading this was a breath of fresh air and I enjoyed it tremendously, realizing how much I really missed the more lighthearted and fun fantasy. 

Viv is the main character and I thoroughly enjoyed her development as she retired from her work as a bounty hunter and decided to open up a coffee shop. Just the thought of a warrior wanting to do this type of job made me giggle throughout the book and as the gems kept pouring in, I enjoyed her transformation from battle-orc to coffee-orc.  Due to a lifetime of bloodshed though, trusting people didn't come easily, and watching Viv learn to navigate friendships was interesting and it made me think a lot about retirement, especially as that is in the near future for myself.  Viv is joined by a multitude of interesting secondary characters, Cal, Thandri, and Thimble, all of whom I developed a fondness for, and I was glad to see the lightness continue throughout the book, with the various characters having to overcome trust issues and learn what it really means to be a family. And oh my, the descriptions of the food Thimble cooked up! All I wanted was a latte and a cinnamon roll as I read, and not just a cinnamon roll, but a big, gooey one, like they talked about in the book. How can you not smile when you read those descriptions?

That being said, it is really easy to overlook the themes in this book. The book comes across as light and fun, but there were some very deep themes underlying everything; friendship, loyalty, deception, trust, self-confidence, family, etc... The author definitely focused on family and community, but he also subtly included the idea of growing out of your comfort zone, to try something new. Even when Viv had to deal with the harsher realities of owning a business, she showed us that there was another way to do business than the traditional way if you are willing to try, but you have to realize there are risks and there are hardships as nothing comes easy.  And while I am a huge epic fantasy reader, and I like by battle scenes, it is easy to dismiss a lighter fantasy novel thinking it lacks tension, but there was conflict and the author never really lets up on the action; it's just a different type of suspense and action, something I enjoyed. 

Verdict

Legends & Lattes was a treat to read. I knew very little about it when I started the book, so I was pleasantly surprised as the story progressed, pretty much reading it in one session.  A feel good novel about a warrior who decides to take a chance on trying something new with her life, and I enjoyed every step of her development.  For readers looking for something a bit lighter than your usual fare, I highly recommend this one.

 

Review: Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates

Gallows Hill

by Darcy Coates

Release Date: September 6, 2022

2022 Poisoned Pen Press

Kindle Edition; 377 Pages

ISBN: 978-1728220246

ASIN: B09QLN6KKN

Audiobook: B0BHX841CX

Genre: Fiction / Gothic

Source: Review copy from publisher

2 / 5 Stars

Summary

The Hull family has owned the Gallows Hill Winery for generations, living and working on the beautiful grounds where they grow their famous grapes. Until the night Mr. and Mrs. Hull settle down for the evening...and are dead by morning.

When their daughter, Margot, inherits the family business, she wants nothing to do with it. The winery is valued for its unparalleled produce, but it's built on a field where hundreds of convicts were once hanged, and the locals whisper morbid rumors. They say the ground is cursed.

It's been more than a decade since Margot last saw her childhood home. But now that she's alone in the sprawling, dilapidated building, she begins to believe the curse is more than real―and that she may be the next victim of the house that never rests...

 

My Thoughts

Gallows Hill has all the elements that I love in a Gothic novel; a spooky old house, parents who were killed under mysterious circumstances, bells that rings in the night, hallways that meander forever, major historical secrets, a town that looks at the main character suspiciously, things that go bump in the night, and atmosphere galore.  So why did it take so long for me to get through this one? And I had to force myself to read through to the end, wishing I had DNF'd it like I wanted to. 

 

First of all, the main character, Margot, drove me crazy. I didn't dislike her per se, but she really did some silly things. How is it that you go into a new house like this and not check things out? At least the poor girl could have found a bathroom in the first 48 hours she was there, but instead, the author had her getting lost in the same hallways and being mesmerized by a videotape for hours on end. And although I liked the atmosphere of the house, I really felt like I didn't get to KNOW the house through Margot's eyes as there was so much repetitive stuff going on that I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have.  I liked the bumps in the night and the scary stuff that was happening, but to make a main character sound so ditzy in order to further a plot point bothers me. How many times will the author have Margot forget to charge her phone in order to advance the plot? Have her fall in this hole without her phone to use to contact someone, have her be attacked in this scenario without a charged phone to contact someone, have her get lost here without a charged phone to do anything about it, and so on. See my point? 

 

While the first three-quarters of the book was repetitious and a bit boring, the ending was actually the best part, but by no means was it great. The author did up the ante on tension and suspense, but by then, I had lost interest and I had to force myself to finish. Furthermore, I felt like the author thought the reader wasn't capable of grasping the fine points of the historical events, and needed to reiterate everything again, something I actually resented. Readers are quite capable of reading between the lines, thank you very much.  I can't say the same for the MC, so maybe the retelling was for her benefit?

 

Verdict

Gallows Hill had a lot of great ideas, but the execution left a lot to be desired.  I typically enjoy this author's books, so this was a big disappointment.  Unfortunately, while the author always has a great writing style, this one had very weak characters and character development, and a plot that was slow and pedantic despite the atmospheric horror elements that were included.  This one just didn't work for me and I struggled mightily to finish.