Review by Booklist Review
Webb follows The Fate of Mercy Alban (2013) with another spooky supernatural tale. Julia Bishop is at her wit's end after the fraudulent business dealings and subsequent suicide of her husband, Jeremy, leave her penniless and reviled by their former friends. When Adrian Sinclair shows up on her doorstep and offers her a job as a caretaker for his elderly mother, horror novelist Amaris, the opportunity for escape from her life is just too good to pass up. Julia journeys to Havenwood, the Sinclairs' Minnesota estate, with high hopes for a fresh start, but she soon finds life at Havenwood unsettling and at times downright frightening. The airy mansion appears to be haunted by sinister spirits, and a menacing intruder begins spying through the windows. And Julia is deeply unsettled by her own resemblance to pictures of a beautiful medium who visited Havenwood over a century ago. A late-in-the-game revelation feels somewhat improbable, but Webb expertly builds suspense and offers a thought-provoking tease in the final pages.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Narrator Sands brings the right tone and pacing to Webb's supernatural thriller set in an old mansion on Lake Superior. Julia Bishop is looking to escape her past. Her husband, the equivalent of the "Midwestern Bernie Madoff," robbed investors of their life savings and committed suicide upon being exposed, leaving Julia to face the very public scorn and hate alone. So when a stranger offers her the chance to take a job at an isolated country estate as the caretaker of his mother, horror writer Amaris Sinclair (aka the "female Edgar Allan Poe")-who happens to be Julie's favorite author- it seems too good to be true. However, from the day Julie arrives at the estate, she is faced with strange happenings and a feeling that there is something wrong about the house, something off, something evil. Sands's performance fully embraces the rich gothic storytelling of Webb's prose. She excels at projecting Bishop's growing sense of unease and foreboding. The small cast of characters allows her to give each of them their own rich individuality. Most impressive is her take on elderly Amaris Sinclair. Sands gives her a sincere, caring voice, but with an underlying hint of sadness that fits well with the story. The result is not quite a horror story but just spooky enough that listeners may not want to listen with the lights off. A Hyperion paperback. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Now that her husband, Jeremy, has bilked thousands of people out of their life savings and committed suicide, Julia Bishop finds herself without friends or prospects, unless you count angry reporters and prison sentences. When a mysterious but clearly wealthy stranger named Adrian Sinclair offers Julia a job as companion to his mother, she has to consider it. When he mentions that his mother is Amaris Sinclair, she cannot refuse. After all, the famous writer of horror stories inspired Julia's own novel. And she supposedly died 10 years ago. Adrian offers Julia a chance to vanish, just as his mother did, to the Havenwood estate. Just days after accepting Adrian's offer, she learns her own home has been burned to the ground, presumably with her in it, and Julia begins to question her decision. Everyone is exceedingly nice to her, as if she were a close friend of the family, and she has full run of the place--Amaris even encourages her to snoop. Drew McCullough is certainly enticing, too. He's the descendent of Andrew McCullough, who originally built Havenwood as an exact replica of his ancestral home in Scotland. Rumors swirl about his relationship with a spiritual medium, Seraphina, who performed her final sance at the estate and was never heard from again. Pushing her misgivings aside, Julia hopes Havenwood will inspire her to write again. The mansion is clearly home to a few ghosts, such as the little girl singing in the library. It isn't long, though, before the ghosts become threatening, and Julia's sense of dj vu escalates. A brisk thriller tinged with gothic elements, Webb's (The Fate of Mercy Alban, 2013, etc.) latest builds excitement but neglects tension. Careening through sances and ghostly encounters leaves the reader breathless but wishing for a slower, spine-tingling swell of suspense.]]]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
