REVIEW: THE WHITE DEVIL by Justin Evans

I can't be sure how I became entirely sucked into this story.  Perhaps it was the easy, seductive charm of the setting; or the way the era was not obvious at the outset; maybe how it took on the genres of ghost story, coming-of-age tale and historical fiction all at once.

It is set in the exclusive Harrow on the Hill boarding school, just outside of London.  Alma mater for Byron as well as other fabled graduates, it becomes a torturous last chance for a young American studying abroad.  Escaping his own troubled past, our narrator seeks some sort of firm footing and perhaps a bit of acceptance.  Instead he finds himself the victim of an angry spirit's torments. 

It seems the ghost of Lord Byron's jilted lover has turned his sights on the main character and those that surround him.  With a few faithful friends and professors, they seek to sooth the phantom and release themselves, and the school, from his scornful mischief.  

It is enjoyable to explore Byron's past through the eyes of this author and his characters.  His imaginative story is based on numerable biographical facts.  Byron did attend this school, there is a play called The White Devil, Byron did have a close friend, who did die of tuberculosis and Byron did leave England suddenly in 1809.  (Read more from author Justin Evans here.)  The weaving of all of these unusual circumstances into a ghost story would have been too much for any author to resist.  Luckily they were picked up by Justin Evans who clearly enjoyed letting his imagination wander the underground chasms disguised by time.

   

All in all, the book is great fun.  The point-of-view changes fairly seamlessly.  The narrative style of inner thoughts that break in is particularly well-used.  What is not perfect in every aspect (sometimes the villainy of the Snape-like headmaster gets a little overdone), it more that makes up for in chills and creativity. 

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Thanks to the folks at Harper for the review copy.

ISBN: 9780061728273; ISBN10: 0061728276

Imprint: Harper

On Sale: 5/10/2011

Format: Hardcover

Trimsize: 6 x 9; Pages: 384; $24.99

Ages: 18 and Up; BISAC1:FIC031000

REVIEW: THE DIVINER'S TALE by Bradford Morrow

To be blunt, I couldn't put this book down.  I was up until the wee hours last night, determined to finish it, lest my dreams be infiltrated by the specters of this book.  

Author Morrow remains on the better side of a fine line between psychological fear and shock tactics.  He relies on unexpected appearances alongside stellar imagery for breathtaking moments.  Truthfully, the book is much scarier that way as we view the actions through a first person narrator.  Cassandra (aptly named) Brooks is a diviner, a dowser.  She comes from a long line of "witches" who have helped countless generations find water for wells.  

Victorian era dowsing

Yet her sensitivities go beyond finding water - she will often have cryptic notions of impending doom.  Her brother died all too young, despite her warning - a weight she has never managed to shrug entirely.  Now a mother, she struggles with the demons of her past and tries to determine her own path forward. 

This is not, however, a Lifetime movie waiting to happen (though it would make a great feature film, in the right hands).  Sympathetic though she is, she is no pushover.  Insistent on pursuing the answer to the visions she has had, she negotiates the pitfalls of ridicule, and her own past.  At it's heart, it is a ghost story.  And Morrow's delicious descriptions make it palpable.  

Author photograph

Furthermore, his choice of the metaphor of dowsing is neither overused or trite.  He treats it as another character, waiting in the background for its turn to speak.  Initially a skeptic himself, he discovered dowsing when a plumber recommended one for some home repair.  It became a jumping off point for the novel, but also a window into another way of thinking, believing.  Unlike other leaps of faith, one has only to dig to find out if the diviner tells the truth.  This, and other considerations of reality versus perception, pepper the book.  They serve to layer a light fog over clarity, and add to the mystery only revealed in the final pages.  A little bit Shirley Jackson, a bit Joyce Carol Oates, a touch of Du Maurier (all females, ironically), and a great deal of original vision, The Diviner's Tale deserves a place on any well-wrought mystery lover's shelf. 

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Many thanks to the folks at HMH Books for the review copy.

Me and my cat enjoying the book.

ISBN-13/EAN: 9780547382630 ; $26.00
ISBN-10: 0547382634
Hardcover ; 320 pages
Publication Date: 01/20/2011
Trim Size: 6.00 x 9.00