THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES (2021) - Review

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke
My rating 4 of 5 stars
On sale: September 21, 2021

FIRST SENTENCE: "They bind our feet and ankles, tear off our clothes, and douse us with alcohol."

THE STORY: Liv Stay, a widow, has impulsively accepted a commission to paint a mural on the interior of an old lighthouse called The Longing on an isolated island off the coast of Scotland. Dragging her three daughters with her she arrives earlier than expected and begins noticing the quirks of the island and it's residents.

The story jumps from what's going on with Liv and her daughters in 1998 to Luna in 2021, the only one to escape the disappearance.

WHAT I THOUGHT: Clear your schedule once your start reading because the tale is addictive and the reader just has to know what happened. The information on witchcraft and the cruel deaths of those accused is engrossing as is the fact that witches were hunted in Scotland. Actually witches were pursued all throughout Europe.

BOTTOM LINE: A perfect read for the Halloween season. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
DISCLAIMER: Thank you to NetGalley /Berkley Publishing Group for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

THE VINES (2021)

The Vines by Shelley Nolden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The idea of a mystery set on abandoned North Brother Island in New York City's East River, immediately caught my imagination. At one time people were quarantined there for contagious diseases, but now nature has reclaimed the island and designated it as a bird sanctuary. It's the perfect setting for Shelley Nolden's elaborate debut, part historical, part medical, and part supernatural story about a family who discover a woman with extraordinary immunity living on the island and perform invasive experiments over decades to learn her secret.

FIRST LINE: "A thick keloid encircled the young woman's throat like a noose, ready to seize her last breath."

THE STORY: Finn has always been excluded from his family's involvement with Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island. Home from the Peace Corps, he decides to do a little urban exploration of the now abandoned hospital and discovers Cora, scarred and living alone amid the ruins. Their meeting is not a peaceful meeting and Finn begins to feel responsible for his family's past transgressions. Moving back and forth between 1902 and 2007 and years in between, the cruelty and horrors are slowly revealed.

WHAT I THOUGHT: Does the end justify the means? In "The Vines", every character lies and every character keeps secrets. The majority of characters are of questionable morality. Although the chapters were labelled to help the reader navigate, it took me a while to get comfortable with the Gettler genealogy. The author does a good job of describing the over-grown island and the tragic episode of the General Slocum, which burned off shore, brought that event alive.

Halfway through the story got bogged down. Sections focused on descriptions which didn't move the story forward. The ending didn't tie up loose ends no doubt because a sequel will be available soon.

In the meantime, Shelley Nolden's fantastic website has an extensive list of sources including photographs, websites, books, videos, and articles for those who are as fascinated as the author is with North Brother Island's history.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of "The Vines" was provided to me by Freiling Publishing/NetGalley for an honest review.

Publisher : Freiling Publishing (March 23, 2021)
Hardcover : 412 pages
ISBN-10 : 1950948404
ISBN-13 : 978-1950948406

THE AUTHOR: Shelley Nolden is an American author and entrepreneur, who was born in Wisconsin, where she now lives.  Her fascination with North Brother Island in New York, as well as her battle with Leukemia inspired her to write her debut novel, "The Vines".  

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THE HOUSE ON VESPER SANDS (2021)

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A clever ghost story set in Victorian London.

FIRST LINE: "In Half Moon Street, just as she came near to the house, Esther Tull felt the first gentleness of the snow."

THE STORY: On a snowy London evening during the dreary winter of 1893, mysterious and unpleasant events are taking place. A young woman makes a dreadful decision. A wealthy gentleman disappears. An impoverished divinity scholar seeks shelter in a church and discovers an incapacitated young woman. In the morning she is gone.

The scholar, Gideon, vows to find and rescue the girl. Happening upon Inspector Cutter, he passes himself off as police officer and he and the Inspector head off to investigate a string of missing young women.

Meanwhile Octavia Hillingdon, a reporter, is trying to convince her editor to let her stray from the women's page and follow up on the story of the missing young women.

WHAT I THOUGHT: The story unfolds slowly alternately introducing characters. Connections are not immediately obvious but make sense as the plot moves forward. A complicated tale but easy enough to follow.

Sherlockian in tone, the clever writing is amusing especially between 'Sergeant' Gideon and Inspector Cutter, but somewhere in the second half, the story seemed less of a piece and more of a mosaic of incidents. Still the mood created and the descriptive writing is definitely worth reading.

BOTTOM LINE: RECOMMENDED for those who love historical fiction, ghost stories, literate mysteries.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of The House on Vesper Sands was provided to me by Tin House Books/Net Galley for an honest review.

Hardcover: 408 pages
Publisher: Tin House Books (January 12, 2021)

ISBN-10: 1951142241

ISBN-13: 978-1951142247

THE AUTHOR: Paraic O'Donnell

 

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