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A review by purplesky02
The Voices by F.R. Tallis
3.0
I liked the last 1/3 of the book much better than the first 2/3.
This was almost like two different books rolled into one. One the one side, you have a couple that moves into an old house. They start to hear mysterious voices coming through various electronic means. The other book is the story of a couple who've just had a baby and are experiencing marital problems. Their problems both add to and detract from the plot. I found it a bit distracting at times to have to read through their arguments and frustrations with one another. I get that it created a distance between the two of them that led to an overall lack of communication, but they both annoyed me so much! There are two people who should not be together.
The other part, the haunted house/mysterious voices/Edward Mayberry, was much more interesting! Very creepy indeed. But when you mixed the two aspects of the book together, I was a little frustrated.
I didn't understand why Christopher did not talk more with Laura about what he'd learned about Mayberry. And what a jerk, just dismissing his wife's concerns about their safety and their daughter's safety.
And the end...so creepy! Once Faye disappeared, the book picked up the pace and I got through the rest much quicker. But what exactly happened? Did Mayberry learn some sort of black magic from the book he bought at auction? What were the other voices? Most of what was said was seemingly random, especially the fact that other languages were spoken. What was on the film that Laura had Simon retrieve? I figured it would relate to the plot somehow, but as far as I could tell, its content wasn't even discussed? And what happened with Laura? Are we to deduce that because Faye's body was found at the end that she would be released? What was up with the matching dirt on Simon and Christopher's shoes? Why was that specifically mentioned, and why did it bother Amanda? What did Sue have to do with anything? I wish there had been more answers.
Overall, I did enjoy the book, but I would've enjoyed it more had the characters (aside from Faye) not been so unlikable.
This was almost like two different books rolled into one. One the one side, you have a couple that moves into an old house. They start to hear mysterious voices coming through various electronic means. The other book is the story of a couple who've just had a baby and are experiencing marital problems. Their problems both add to and detract from the plot. I found it a bit distracting at times to have to read through their arguments and frustrations with one another. I get that it created a distance between the two of them that led to an overall lack of communication, but they both annoyed me so much! There are two people who should not be together.
The other part, the haunted house/mysterious voices/Edward Mayberry, was much more interesting! Very creepy indeed. But when you mixed the two aspects of the book together, I was a little frustrated.
I didn't understand why Christopher did not talk more with Laura about what he'd learned about Mayberry. And what a jerk, just dismissing his wife's concerns about their safety and their daughter's safety.
Spoiler
And the end...so creepy! Once Faye disappeared, the book picked up the pace and I got through the rest much quicker. But what exactly happened? Did Mayberry learn some sort of black magic from the book he bought at auction? What were the other voices? Most of what was said was seemingly random, especially the fact that other languages were spoken. What was on the film that Laura had Simon retrieve? I figured it would relate to the plot somehow, but as far as I could tell, its content wasn't even discussed? And what happened with Laura? Are we to deduce that because Faye's body was found at the end that she would be released? What was up with the matching dirt on Simon and Christopher's shoes? Why was that specifically mentioned, and why did it bother Amanda? What did Sue have to do with anything? I wish there had been more answers.
Overall, I did enjoy the book, but I would've enjoyed it more had the characters (aside from Faye) not been so unlikable.