My Five Word TL:DR Review : Why, you twisty, turny thing

Seriously, in a nutshell, I loved this book.  I’ve only read two books by this author and the first one didn’t quite work it’s magic on me – which is perhaps a good old case of ‘it’s me, not you’ because one thing is for sure – I couldn’t get enough of this one.  It’s like Fall of the House of Usher meets The Haunting of Hill House and then was introduced to We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Picture of Dorian Gray.  So.  Much.  Gothic.  All the gothic in fact.  Unusual family dynamics.  A murder mystery and, quite possibly, not one, but two unreliable characters thrown into the mix.  Come on, what’s not to love?

Kit McDeere is a home carer, unfortunately, events from her recent past led to a police investigation that left her career and reputation in tatters.  She almost lost her job and so when she’s offered a last chance she has little alternative but to accept, even though this is not an assignment that she wants to take. Kit has been assigned to care for Lenora Hope, an elderly lady, now in her seventies and restricted mainly to her bed and wheelchair after a series of strokes left her mostly unable to move.  Lenora only retained the use of one arm and she uses this to communicate by tapping once for ‘no’ and twice for ‘yes’.  On the face of it, Lenora is relatively harmless, yet, she too has been the subject of debate for over 50 years.  The only survivor of her family massacre and the sole suspect, Lenora escaped criminal proceedings purely due to any lack of evidence.  She has remained ensconced in her family mansion since that time, her fortune and home gradually dwindling and decaying while the townspeople still believer her to be guilty.

So, firstly, the house.  I mean, it’s practically a character in itself.  Stubborn gates that sometimes refuse to open, creaky floors, doors that swing open by themselves, a general air of decay and neglect that permeates throughout but can’t totally disguise the wealth and ostentatious decor that was once on display.  The place sits precariously above the Atlantic Ocean and the tilt and cracks in the wall are clear evidence that it’s days are numbered.

Secondly, we have a great cast of characters.  Relatively small but also all with their own strange motivations.  Kit, trying desperately to make a living and gain back some normality.  You’re never really quite sure about her and this gives her storytelling that delicious sense of unreliability and keeps you swinging back and forth.  We have a groundsman, broody and handsome, living mysteriously in a cottage within the grounds.  A cook, who makes delicious morsels and is friendly enough, until pushed to talk about the past.  A housekeeper who would give Mrs Danvers a run for her money and finally a young housemaid who moves from room to room with the impossible task of keeping on top of things. They’re a strange, eclectic collection of characters and I loved finding out more about them.  Obviously I couldn’t help but guess about certain of the characters as the story progressed but I’m very happy to report that although some of my early suspicions started to play out the way I first thought, ultimately, I was absolutely on the wrong track – and yes, maybe perversely so, I love it when that happens and an author keeps me guessing.  The final character is Lenora of course.  Positively famous (well, infamous), for all the wrong reasons, she even has one of those catchy little rhymes about her that the town’s children can sing alone to and of course her house has become that place that young people like to use to taunt and dare each other with.

The mystery itself is a totally twisty turny thing.  Just when you think you’ve pinned something down Riley rips the rug out from under you.  There’s a really clever build up of tension that is increased by the way information is given.  The process is slowed down by Lenora’s own inability to communicate easily and there’s an almost frustrating at times drip, drip, drip of revelations.  It’s like seeing a scene from a movie from three different angles, then moving forward a little to find out something else has been uncovered leaving the previous scenes almost pointless (but not quite so) and it’s annoyingly and tantalisingly delicious and a little mind blowing.  You simply can’t take anything for granted with this at all and in fact the ending well, it kept on going.  I thought things were over – but they weren’t!  That’s all I can say without being a spoiler.

I mean, strictly speaking, there’s actually more than one mystery and on top of that two time frames.  The Hope family massacre took place in the late 1920s and we sometimes jump back to see what was building within the family.  The story we then read with Kit as the leading lady takes place in the 1980s – probably the perfect time in many respects.  Long before the era where everyone is practically permanently attached to their mobiles and also pre huge steps forward in terms of forensic investigations.

Okay, in terms of criticisms.  You might want to go into this with a huge pinch of salt, by which I mean you don’t really want to over scrutinise everything, just go with the flow and enjoy this gothic mystery for what it is.  And, in some ways, there are so many twists that you could almost throw up your hands in despair.  It’s totally over the top, a little crazy even, but I kind of loved that about it.

I have no hesitation in recommending this one.  I couldn’t figure out the murder mystery at all, the whole story was positively drenched in dark gothicy goodness and I simply couldn’t put the book down.  Win.  Win.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion

My rating 5 of 5 stars.