A review by pandasbookshelf
The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone
4.0
The Blackhouse | Carole Johnstone
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
The Blackhouse is a standalone mystery novel by author, Carole Johnstone. I have previously read Carole Johnstone’s debut Mirrorland. On the strength of Mirrorland, I eager grabbed up this book when it became available.
The Blackhouse follows Maggie Mackay, who when she was 5 years old announced that she was a man called Andrew MacNeil and that someone had murdered him. This intriguing premise drew me into the book immediately. The atmospheric setting in the remote island community of Blairmore makes this book something different. The author delivers a dark layered mystery which touches on mental health, supernatural, parenting, murder and much more.
The only thing I struggle with was the pacing. The book started out so strong, I was hooked immediately, the story that the author set up was tense, foreboding and I just had to know more. The middle section of the book dragged for me a bit and I was tempted at times to DNF. I’m glad I didn’t and felt the set up and strength of the books start allowed me to hold in there and get to the end. I enjoyed the way the author wrapped things up and I wasn’t disappointed.
The book is told with dual POV between Maggie and a male character. I enjoyed the Maggie chapters a lot more than the other ones. Maggie was an interesting protagonist and I felt the author portrayed her mental health and grief in a realistic way.
Overall this was a dark, complex mystery with interesting characters and set in a unique location. While I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Mirrorland, I will definitely continue to read more by this author going forward.
Thank you to Carole Johnstone, the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
The Blackhouse is a standalone mystery novel by author, Carole Johnstone. I have previously read Carole Johnstone’s debut Mirrorland. On the strength of Mirrorland, I eager grabbed up this book when it became available.
The Blackhouse follows Maggie Mackay, who when she was 5 years old announced that she was a man called Andrew MacNeil and that someone had murdered him. This intriguing premise drew me into the book immediately. The atmospheric setting in the remote island community of Blairmore makes this book something different. The author delivers a dark layered mystery which touches on mental health, supernatural, parenting, murder and much more.
The only thing I struggle with was the pacing. The book started out so strong, I was hooked immediately, the story that the author set up was tense, foreboding and I just had to know more. The middle section of the book dragged for me a bit and I was tempted at times to DNF. I’m glad I didn’t and felt the set up and strength of the books start allowed me to hold in there and get to the end. I enjoyed the way the author wrapped things up and I wasn’t disappointed.
The book is told with dual POV between Maggie and a male character. I enjoyed the Maggie chapters a lot more than the other ones. Maggie was an interesting protagonist and I felt the author portrayed her mental health and grief in a realistic way.
Overall this was a dark, complex mystery with interesting characters and set in a unique location. While I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Mirrorland, I will definitely continue to read more by this author going forward.
Thank you to Carole Johnstone, the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.