My Rating
Book Review
What an alluring cover image for fans of horror. It is just that perfect mix of intrigue and a shudder thru the body kind of image that fans of horror are forced to pick up and YES, author G R Thomas delivers big time.
The Rutherford House cannot get any more gothicky than this. The dimly lit passageways, the closed rooms, the echoing halls, and to top it all, the weirdest room filled with mirrors all around, the atmosphere captured by the author oozes terror. The Frangitelli Mirror is brilliant in its conceptualization starting with a slow pace introducing the hard conditions faced by Rose and her mother and the paucity of necessities due to the war that forces Rose to seek any form of employment. Being haunted by the dead all around her, she finds life at her home extremely difficult, and spending sleepless nights afraid to see her dead brother or other shadows she longs for an escape. But the escape that arrives may be more a curse rather than a blessing.
There is an insidious quality to the writing by the author as Rose reaches Rutherford House. Until about three-quarters into the book, there is just that feeling that something menacing is out there. The incompassionate housekeeper Martha and the presence of crows following her from her home offer no respite to her only wish to be free of the supernatural. I loved how the author keeps piling on that tension with snippets and Rose herself doubting her sanity and wondering if he has imagined most of what she sees in the dead of the night. The little threads of something scuttling on the ceiling, Rose’s glasses reappearing at different places, and the reflections of the mirrors raise chills in the reader’s mind. And honestly, by the time the end chapters are reached, the terrifying events rise to a resounding boom. The romance between Eric and Rose adds to the drama as Rose initially refuses to listen to her heart and holds her heart wrapped in pride and anger.
The secondary characters including Borgia and Mary have also been wonderfully fleshed out by the author. In fact, Mary evokes equal parts sadness and admiration for her strength in dealing with her demons.
Get ready to feel the chills!
Book Blurb
In 1915 a book was stolen, a crow appeared, and fate dealt its hand. Rose Carbonelli sees ghosts.
She doesn’t sleep.
She watches every corner, studies every shadow, listens to the screams that no one else hears.
Rose Carbonelli is terrified.
Her father hasn’t been heard from since he volunteered to go to war in 1915.
The money ran out a year ago, her mother, Edith, is fading away.
Rose needs a job to save them both, and an excuse to flee the ghosts of her home.
When Rutherford House advertises for a lady’s maid, Rose seizes the opportunity.
A wage to save her mother, food to fill her belly, and an escape from the dead that occupy the shadows…
It seems just so perfect.
But is it the escape Rose has been dreaming of?
Is there truth to the rumours about Rutherford House? What lurks within the bones of it? Why has the Lady Mary Rutherford not been seen in over a decade?
Is this the perfect escape, or is it another nightmare Rose could never have imagined?
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Sounds wonderfully horrifying! I know there are readers who will LOVE this book!
“Gothicky” Noelle, fans would love it😊