A review by phyrre
A Barricade In Hell by Jaime Lee Moyer
4.0
Rating: 3.5 stars (rounded to 4)
In her sequel to the paranormal mystery Delia's Shadow, Jaime Lee Moyer ups the stakes and brings out the big guns. The cast we've come to know and love from the first book are back, only things have happened since the first book. Namely, life.
Jack and Sadie now have a baby, and Delia and Gabe lost theirs. In fact, it's quite possible that they'll never be able to have children due to the toll seeing spirits takes on Delia (though, frustratingly, this is never explained or elaborated on). This might explain why it's so troubling that they're being haunted by the ghost of a child, one that seems to be zeroed in on Gabe. Even more troubling are the cult-like murders happening in San Francisco. They quickly realize there's something more sinister than just murder going on behind the scenes when they learn that one of the victim's souls was stolen.
A Barricade in Hell is an easy-to-read page-turner with an intriguing enough mystery. Delia herself is quite a boring character, but she's surrounded by very lively, interesting characters that carry the plot well. The killer is obvious by about a third of the way through the book, and at that point it's just a matter of "proof," but then again, the book's not really much of a whodunnit, so I can't really fault it for that. If you're reading this for plot, you're in for a treat; if you're reading for a solid mystery, look elsewhere.
So why the rating? A couple big reasons that really jump out:
- The elements are there to make the story great, but they're not tied together. The little girl spirit haunting Gabe and powerful enough to thwart Delia's barriers is fantastic, but unexplained. There's no reasoning why she's so strong or how she knows to seek out Gabe in the first place or even her anger towards Delia. Considering this is a major plot point in the beginning, it's a bit annoying how it's glossed over. Also, I'm not sure this is a spoiler, but I'm going to hide it as such anyway, just in case.
- The denouement was disappointing. The climax was exciting and left a lot of questions, but then it ended so easily. I mean, everything literally neatly fell into the main characters' laps to draw everything to a close, and after the climax, the sense of danger just deflated. I felt like it was over at that point, because everything the characters needed was neatly handed to them, so there was no real struggle.
- The antagonists' motives are sort of explained ... briefly. They're touched on. It's not elaborated on, and there's pretty much no wrap-up there. There are so many loose ends, especially in regards to all the spirits Delia sees. As this is pretty much the only thing of interest about her, the fact that the spirits mostly serve as a backdrop prompt in this book is a bit disappointing. Sure, they're mentioned, and it seems like things about them should be interesting (trying not to give spoilers about any particular moment), but then the idea is never revisited, and in the end, only the little girl's ghost is explained and pans out as something tied up in the end.
- One of the major murders involves a Chinese man and his daughter. The man's soul is stolen, and the daughter's is not. However, the reasoning behind his daughter's murder is never explained. It's also never explained why her soul wasn't stolen. Since the book made such a big deal over this murder, in particular, as she was young and innocent, it seems like a big thing to leave out.
With all that being said, I did enjoy reading the book, and even though I knew who did it, the bigger mystery was in how and why, and that held my attention. My favorite part was definitely the rhymes from the little girl. They were clever and cute, especially after I realized that there were big hints about her identity and what was going on in them. I thought that was quite clever.
In her sequel to the paranormal mystery Delia's Shadow, Jaime Lee Moyer ups the stakes and brings out the big guns. The cast we've come to know and love from the first book are back, only things have happened since the first book. Namely, life.
Jack and Sadie now have a baby, and Delia and Gabe lost theirs. In fact, it's quite possible that they'll never be able to have children due to the toll seeing spirits takes on Delia (though, frustratingly, this is never explained or elaborated on). This might explain why it's so troubling that they're being haunted by the ghost of a child, one that seems to be zeroed in on Gabe. Even more troubling are the cult-like murders happening in San Francisco. They quickly realize there's something more sinister than just murder going on behind the scenes when they learn that one of the victim's souls was stolen.
A Barricade in Hell is an easy-to-read page-turner with an intriguing enough mystery. Delia herself is quite a boring character, but she's surrounded by very lively, interesting characters that carry the plot well. The killer is obvious by about a third of the way through the book, and at that point it's just a matter of "proof," but then again, the book's not really much of a whodunnit, so I can't really fault it for that. If you're reading this for plot, you're in for a treat; if you're reading for a solid mystery, look elsewhere.
So why the rating? A couple big reasons that really jump out:
- The elements are there to make the story great, but they're not tied together. The little girl spirit haunting Gabe and powerful enough to thwart Delia's barriers is fantastic, but unexplained. There's no reasoning why she's so strong or how she knows to seek out Gabe in the first place or even her anger towards Delia. Considering this is a major plot point in the beginning, it's a bit annoying how it's glossed over. Also, I'm not sure this is a spoiler, but I'm going to hide it as such anyway, just in case.
Spoiler
There's a big deal made about Gabe's sister, whom he never mentions, who died when he was little. There's no backstory given about her, no actual explanation as to how she died, and the connection with her seems tenuous, at best. From what I gathered, the little girl sort of bears a resemblance to her and that's it. His sister was just a poorly developed red herring that, in the end, amounted to nothing and left me disappointed.- The denouement was disappointing. The climax was exciting and left a lot of questions, but then it ended so easily. I mean, everything literally neatly fell into the main characters' laps to draw everything to a close, and after the climax, the sense of danger just deflated. I felt like it was over at that point, because everything the characters needed was neatly handed to them, so there was no real struggle.
- The antagonists' motives are sort of explained ... briefly. They're touched on. It's not elaborated on, and there's pretty much no wrap-up there. There are so many loose ends, especially in regards to all the spirits Delia sees. As this is pretty much the only thing of interest about her, the fact that the spirits mostly serve as a backdrop prompt in this book is a bit disappointing. Sure, they're mentioned, and it seems like things about them should be interesting (trying not to give spoilers about any particular moment), but then the idea is never revisited, and in the end, only the little girl's ghost is explained and pans out as something tied up in the end.
- One of the major murders involves a Chinese man and his daughter. The man's soul is stolen, and the daughter's is not. However, the reasoning behind his daughter's murder is never explained. It's also never explained why her soul wasn't stolen. Since the book made such a big deal over this murder, in particular, as she was young and innocent, it seems like a big thing to leave out.
With all that being said, I did enjoy reading the book, and even though I knew who did it, the bigger mystery was in how and why, and that held my attention. My favorite part was definitely the rhymes from the little girl. They were clever and cute, especially after I realized that there were big hints about her identity and what was going on in them. I thought that was quite clever.