28 | April | 2019 | Berit Talks Books

Happy Sunday all!

Thrilled to share with you today my review for this creepy and atmospheric story! This was a group read and I’m glad I had friends to discuss this one with!💀

My Thoughts

Creepy. Atmospheric. Haunting.

Lexie Elliot Will completely transport you to this Erie Scottish house with her descriptive writing. I could feel the cold and contempt seeping from the house. The house has a life of its own and is probably the most dynamic character in the book. This is a slow burner that combines mystery, suspense, and magical realism.

Ailsa inherits a house, well half a house. The other half belongs to her father who she has not seen for over 20 years. Unable to sell the house until her father is found, or pronounced dead; Ailsa moves into the house along with her half sister Carrie. It doesn’t take Ailsa Long to figure out the house has a mind and a heartbeat of its own. Not only that she discovers a intruder in the house her very first night there. Then things start appearing and disappearing, noises are heard and there is that feeling of being watched at all times. A dead fox at the door, fire alarms going off, and the flies… oh the flies! Just thinking about the flies gives me the heebie-jeebies! So is the house friend or foe? Is it warning her or scaring her off?

For the most part I really liked this book it was so atmospheric and evocative. However some parts were extremely slow. Also as much as I enjoyed the magical realism element of this book, I wish it had been explored a little more in depth. Time folding? I was left with a few questions I would have liked answered. I recommend this to people who enjoy descriptive writing, a slower burn, and a touch of magic.

*** many thanks to Berkley for my copy of this book ***

About the Book

An eerie, old Scottish manor in the middle of nowhere that’s now hers.

Ailsa Calder has inherited half of a house. The other half belongs to a man who disappeared without a trace twenty-seven years ago—her father.

Leaving London behind to settle the inheritance from her mother’s estate, Ailsa returns to her childhood home, nestled amongst the craggy peaks of the Scottish Highlands, joined by the half-sister who’s almost a stranger to her.

Ailsa can’t escape the claustrophobic feeling that the house itself is watching her—as if her past hungers to consume her. She also can’t ignore how the neighborhood animals refuse to set one foot within the gates of the garden.

When the first nighttime intruder shows up, Ailsa fears that the manor’s careless rugged beauty could cost her everything.

The Besties

Mackenzie @ PhDiva

Jennifer @ Tarheel Reader

Holly @ Dressed to Read

Kendall @ Sunflower Book Lover

💕💕 Be sure to check out all the Besties’ reviews!

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Have A magical day!✨

Berit☀️✨

My Thoughts

WOAH this is sooo much better than the movie, and I loved the movie (I must have seen it 20 times)

Lincoln Rhyme is a forensic criminalist who is good as his job, brilliant in fact and was often called to help with crime scenes as he is the best…… was the best.

After a terrible accident Lincoln has ended up lying in a hospital bed and paralysed, now as a quadriplegic Lincoln can only dream of his old job, until he gets a visit from an old friend.

There has been a murder, a gruesome one at that, and the murderer has left clues to another one that is going to happen, the clues were found by Amelia Sachs, a street cop who is then paired with Rhymes to help solves these grizzly crimes.

Lincoln and Sachs are a good pairing, him in his bed talking Amelia through what he wants her to do.
He is also a very angry man who doesn’t want to live any more, and has arranged his own suicide, however the job seems to be getting his creative juices flowing again.

I liked the narration of this book and the gruesome murders were even more graphic when they are being spoken to you.

If you have seen the movie i would take it with a pinch of salt, it is completely different to the book, different murders, people, even the bad guy at the end is different.

So even though it is a brilliant movie, the book always does it better.

About the book

Lincoln Rhyme was once a brilliant criminologist, a genius in the field of forensics — until an accident left him physically and emotionally shattered. But now a diabolical killer is challenging Rhyme to a terrifying and ingenious duel of wits.

With police detective Amelia Sachs by his side, Rhyme must follow a labyrinth of clues that reaches back to a dark chapter in New York City’s past — and reach further into the darkness of the mind of a madman who won’t stop until he has stripped life down to the bone.