A review by ljwrites85
In Darkness, Shadows Breathe by Catherine Cavendish
3.0
I read and enjoyed The Haunting of Henderson Close by this author way back in 2019, so I thought I'd see what her new book had to offer.
In Darkness, Shadows Breathe is a psychological horror that follows the stories of Carol, a troubled young woman who had spent her life in care, and Nessa, a retired lecturer who's suffering from cancer. They both seemed to be plagued by similar hauntings and visions from another time involving a woman by the name of Lydia Warren Carmody, a mysterious woman from the past.
There were plenty of spooky goings on throughout the novel, as I've come to expect from Catherine Cavendish's writing. There was an interesting theme to the novel of time being nonlinear, so in theory you could be in several time periods all at once!
I found the little flashbacks to the days of the workhouse and asylum fascinating and more than a little disturbing. It was appalling how the women were treated, half the time as nothing more than things to be experimented on.
The characters are really well drawn, flawed yet relatable. Nessa's story really got to my heart, reminding me of my mother's own battle with cancer.
For me the two halves of the didn't quite mesh as well as I would have liked, it felt for the most part two separate stories. I also would have liked to have found out a little more about the evil entity known as the one and the many, but of course that's just my opinion.
In Darkness, Shadows Breathe is an atmospheric read packed with tension and chilling moments.
In Darkness, Shadows Breathe is a psychological horror that follows the stories of Carol, a troubled young woman who had spent her life in care, and Nessa, a retired lecturer who's suffering from cancer. They both seemed to be plagued by similar hauntings and visions from another time involving a woman by the name of Lydia Warren Carmody, a mysterious woman from the past.
There were plenty of spooky goings on throughout the novel, as I've come to expect from Catherine Cavendish's writing. There was an interesting theme to the novel of time being nonlinear, so in theory you could be in several time periods all at once!
I found the little flashbacks to the days of the workhouse and asylum fascinating and more than a little disturbing. It was appalling how the women were treated, half the time as nothing more than things to be experimented on.
The characters are really well drawn, flawed yet relatable. Nessa's story really got to my heart, reminding me of my mother's own battle with cancer.
For me the two halves of the didn't quite mesh as well as I would have liked, it felt for the most part two separate stories. I also would have liked to have found out a little more about the evil entity known as the one and the many, but of course that's just my opinion.
In Darkness, Shadows Breathe is an atmospheric read packed with tension and chilling moments.