A review by stellar_raven
The Devil's Serenade by Catherine Cavendish
3.0
Overall an enjoyable read. Nicely creepy, if not outright scary.
Recently divorced Maddie moves into the very gothic looking home she inherited from her late Aunt. Maddie used to spend summers there as a child, up until something happened on her sixteenth birthday. Something she cannot remember. Once she gets there strange things begin to happen. Is she going crazy? Do neighbor Shona and handyman Charlie have anything to do with the bizarre happenings at her house?
Before I go any further, I have to say that I appreciate the fact that the main character was a woman in her late 40's/early 50's, and not a dewy eyed innocent very young woman. It was a nice change of pace.
I like the premise of the story, but felt it suffered some by being too short. The kindle edition I read says it's 208 pages long. I felt the book needed more time to build its world and develop its characters. I think that I would have felt more horror while reading the book had I had more time to connect to these characters. It also took awhile to really get into the history of the house, and by the time it did, the book was nearly over, and the conclusion seemed to happen in a hurry.
That being said, I did enjoy the book enough to want to try out other offerings by this author.
Recently divorced Maddie moves into the very gothic looking home she inherited from her late Aunt. Maddie used to spend summers there as a child, up until something happened on her sixteenth birthday. Something she cannot remember. Once she gets there strange things begin to happen. Is she going crazy? Do neighbor Shona and handyman Charlie have anything to do with the bizarre happenings at her house?
Before I go any further, I have to say that I appreciate the fact that the main character was a woman in her late 40's/early 50's, and not a dewy eyed innocent very young woman. It was a nice change of pace.
I like the premise of the story, but felt it suffered some by being too short. The kindle edition I read says it's 208 pages long. I felt the book needed more time to build its world and develop its characters. I think that I would have felt more horror while reading the book had I had more time to connect to these characters. It also took awhile to really get into the history of the house, and by the time it did, the book was nearly over, and the conclusion seemed to happen in a hurry.
That being said, I did enjoy the book enough to want to try out other offerings by this author.