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A review by melissa_who_reads
Haunt Me Still by Jennifer Lee Carrell
3.0
This one centers around the Scottish Play, MacBeth -- engages with all it's history, flaws, and superstition. Mostly set in Scotland, in the fictional home of the original MacBeth, it weaves the legends surrounding the play with an exploration of witchcraft and religion.
I very much enjoyed the parts around the play, and the historical background. The historical characters range from Elizabeth Stewart, Countess of Arran, to John Dee, to William Shakespeare -- to Edwin Forrest and Catherine Sinclair Forrest, with a little Macready thrown in for riots. As well as Ellen Terry and Herbert Beerbohm Tree from the late nineteenth century.
However, the plot ... I like the character of Kate Stanley, but this one had her rushing around like a chicken with her head cut off for most of the book. And doing some frankly incredible things (I found her escape from an attacker in Her Majesty's Theater and later the British Museum frankly ridiculous). She came off through most of the book as if she were dealing with post-traumatic stress - which she was. But it all felt a little off ...
Also, how did Ben and the police arrive in time in the final climax? We know how some of the characters got there, but Lee pulls all the characters together in danger in one place ... and how the ones who weren't kidnapped got there remains unexplained.
So, a solid three stars. Some real enjoyment in the discussion of the play and it antecedents; some great characters, but overall it didn't totally hang together for me.
I very much enjoyed the parts around the play, and the historical background. The historical characters range from Elizabeth Stewart, Countess of Arran, to John Dee, to William Shakespeare -- to Edwin Forrest and Catherine Sinclair Forrest, with a little Macready thrown in for riots. As well as Ellen Terry and Herbert Beerbohm Tree from the late nineteenth century.
However, the plot ... I like the character of Kate Stanley, but this one had her rushing around like a chicken with her head cut off for most of the book. And doing some frankly incredible things (I found her escape from an attacker in Her Majesty's Theater and later the British Museum frankly ridiculous). She came off through most of the book as if she were dealing with post-traumatic stress - which she was. But it all felt a little off ...
Also, how did Ben and the police arrive in time in the final climax? We know how some of the characters got there, but Lee pulls all the characters together in danger in one place ... and how the ones who weren't kidnapped got there remains unexplained.
So, a solid three stars. Some real enjoyment in the discussion of the play and it antecedents; some great characters, but overall it didn't totally hang together for me.