Book Review: The Fate Of Mercy Alban

I haven't picked up a thriller/horror novel this good in ages. The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb was a quick and enjoyable read that I would equate to a really good Gothic horror movie, e.g. The Woman in Black. It even has the same, creepy, the-horror-isn't-really-dead ending...

This isn't groundbreaking work or a literary masterpiece, this is good scary entertainment. This is the kind of book that gets your pulse racing as you frantically flip to the next chapter to find our what happens. This is definitely the kind of book I don't recommend reading when you're all alone in an empty house late at night.

The action is set in a town on Lake Superior at the ancestral home of Grace Alban. Grace and her teenage daughter, Amity, have returned for her mother's funeral. This marks the first time Grace has been back home in twenty years (she's been spending the interim on Whidbey Island!!!*) and the book begins by covering her struggles at dealing with her families tragic history and her mother's sudden death. As she grieves, she begins to uncover inconsistencies in her family history and is on the path to uncovering them as she bonds with the new reverend in town. But when an unexpected guest shows up at the funeral reception, the story heads straight into creepy territory. 

I would have liked a bit more time spent addressing the back story  I mean, another hundred pages wouldn't have hurt anyone right? But if you are looking for something to get your adrenaline pumping or even something with a touch of mystery and dark magic, I think this book is definitely for you.

*If you find this as amazingly awesome as I do, then we may be soul mates.

Book Review: The Casual Vacancy

I loved this book because it is still J.K. Rowling in all of her easy-to-read, witty glory but it is so different from Harry Potter. A lot of people will probably hate this book for that very same reason. But I am absolutely thrilled that the author of one of the best fantasy series ever (my humble opinion and all that...) has proved her worth as an author yet again by putting together such a large book, in scope and in size, that captivates without a single touch of fantasy and some very heavy doses of bitter reality.

Yeah, I know, Harry Potter did touch on some very real subjects like death, abuse, and racism but the fantasy setting leavened the moral lessons for the young adult set. The Casual Vacancy pulls no such punches. The reality of life and all the disenchantment that can entail slaps you right across the face from the opening chapter. Like The Snow Child, I'm going to warn you that this book is not a happy-go-lucky, feel good book. It's bittersweet; although it didn't reduce me to uncontrollable sobs, it did make me rather pensive and misty-eyed. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: It ends just like it begins, with a funeral.

It would be nearly impossible for me to accurately summarize the plot, there are so many story lines interwoven with each other and so many great (and sometimes gut-wrenchingly broken) characters involved. The plot revolves around the untimely death of a local councilman and the subsequent election for his empty council seat, but there is so much more involved. This is really a novel about relationships: parents and children, kids and their friends, in-laws, husbands and wives, and sometimes people with their memories.

Yep, life can suck and be hard and be so accurately transcribed to paper.

I was most definitely pleased with Ms. Rowling's foray into adult fiction. I say "bravo"!