A review by wheems01
The Thirteenth Chime by Emma Michaels

3.0

While staying in a strange old house on the west coast with her best friend Stephanie and her mother Leslie, Destiny is the only witness to an unsual attack that leaves both Stephanie and Leslie hospitalized. With no one else to turn to, Destiny seeks the help of her ex-boyfriend David to help unravel the mystery surround the house and the events of that dark night.

Kudos to author Emma Michaels for being able to create a creepy mood. In fact a few years ago I would have happily devoured this book--the creepy mood, creepy town, and especially creepy house have been some of my favorite motifs. I love creepy houses with a hint of the ghost story and in this book it just felt right.

That said, as much as I loved the mood and setting, the rest of the story fell a little flat for me. The character's relationships were twisted and I had trouble believing their motivations. Why did David go to so much trouble for this girl who dumped him, and why did Destiny dump him to begin with? It just didn't fit. There is a sequel coming, so perhaps more of this is explained there, and I admit, Michaels has me hooked to the point where I will definitely pick up the sequel.

The mystery, while interesting was also a little frustrating. I had one major portion of the plot figured out long before I got there, but sometimes that happens. What was so frustrating were the bits and pieces of information that was so sparsely doled out along the way. This also affected the pacing which also felt a little off because there was so much time when nothing was happening.

One other note, the book was categorized as YA (and seems to be marketed to that audience) and while that may be the interest level of the book, the age of the characters kind of feel off for that particular category--at least as my library categorizes them. In my library you would find this book to be considered more adult than teen. Let me make clear what I am saying though. There is nothing inappropriate to the age group, in fact they may find it interesting, but as the main characters are adults my library would classify it as an adult novel. The way the characters acted however, felt more teen like than adult, so that too lends to some confusion.

In the end, it was a good mystery with a great setting and creepy house. I admit I loved that part. I can't wait to see what Michaels does next with this series, and I hope she fills in some of the gaps we are missing.

Cautions for sensitive readers: This was a very clean novel with only some mild violence.