SYNOPSIS:
Ghosts have always walked there. Now they’re not alone… In the depths of Edinburgh, an evil presence is released. Hannah and her colleagues are tour guides who lead their visitors along the spooky, derelict Henderson Close, thrilling them with tales of spectres and murder. For Hannah it is her dream job, but not for long. Who is the mysterious figure that disappears around a corner? What is happening in the old print shop? And who is the little girl with no face? The legends of Henderson Close are becoming all too real. The Auld De’il is out – and even the spirits are afraid. This is an odd review to write, because for about 80% of it I loved and adored it and it was an easy five-star rating: ghosts! Unique, incredibly detailed setting! Accidental time travel! Reincarnation! And then came the graphic rape/murder of two prostitutes (who were naturally never mentioned again, because what purpose do sex workers serve in a horror narrative but props in a Jack-the-Ripper homage?) and the entire thing kinda fell apart for me from there. And the reveal for the main whodunnit had some implications I didn't care for. That said, I will absolutely read Cavendish again- the idea behind the novel is fantastic and I loved her descriptive writing. Endings are hard to stick, especially with as many mysteries as she had going by the end. ((I did look up a couple of short documentaries on The Real Mary King's Close after finishing the book. Instant claustrophobia. Brrrrrr)) Quotes/Lines: ((spoilers below!)) -- 'They couldn't understand why she did this. Helping those too feckless, in their eyes, to help themselves.' I love you, ma'am. Also you need better friends. -- 'On cue, a corner of the room lit up gloomily to reveal a lifelike waxwork of a sickly looking woman, her face frozen in an agony of childbirth. She wore a filthy greying shift streaked with 'blood' and lay on one side, on the straw mattress Hannah had just described. The light shut off.' I don't know. A history tour of the Close sounds fascinating but something like that...there's a line between "times were dangerous and shouldn't be romanticized" and sensationalism. -- 'Mairead rummaged in the side pocket of her dress. "Damn. I've left my keys down there." Don't go alone! -- "I'll get changed and pop down for them. Won't take a sec." Dammit, Mairead, I liked you -- "This isn't funny. No one is supposed to be down here. Show yourself. This instant." "I don't think you'd like that." .......nope -- "Come on, Beth, you're making a spectacle of yourself." "Sir, I'm sure if your wife doesn't want to come down here, she doesn't have to. She can always wait for you upstairs." "No," he retorted. "I paid good money for these tickets." Now why didn't the ghost eat him? So fickle, I swear. -- "We've had a request from a group of paranormal investigators based in Leith. They want to do an all night vigil." This will end well -- OOOOOH, reincarnation? -- Ailsa is pissing me off, with the 'I'm worried, too, perhaps more since I've known the missing girl longer' and 'if she saw something (which Mairead told her she had; it's not like she'd made a huge habit of this before). -- "The little girl in the mist. She has no face." Yep, that'd be the rest of my life spent on a wide-open beach in Hawaii. No more claustrophobic alleyways, ever -- "Alone," Scott said. "It wants you to come alone." "No chance!" Atta girl, Hannah. You'd know how to survive a horror movie. -- 'Sorry about the letter, but I thought it was best this way. It must be a huge shock for you and this way we can avoid a scene and maintain our dignity.' You mean this way you won't have to face direct repercussions, you ass. (admitting to years of cheating and then breaking up with her in a letter? If the book had ended with Hannah tying you to a stake in the Close for the ghosts, I don't think I'd have blamed her) -- YAY using 'Romany' instead of the slur -- I'm thinking something is up with Ailsa (I mean, aside from her generally being a jerk) -- I am well and truly baffled by wtf is going on here. -- At least Mairead remembers things like involuntary committals to asylums and what medicine was generally like back then. -- I love Miss Carmichael offering to repair and clean Isobel's doll. ((well, technically, I'm sure her servant/maid is going to do most of the actual work, but still)) -- So Robbie does go with her! But he wasn't mentioned at the beginning flashback. Ohhh, what happens to the poor kid? Please don't tell me his parents made that horribly hard decision to let him leave home so early to get a better education only for him to have an accident in the supposedly-safer New Town. -- Yeah I'm just gonna skim over the rape/murders, thanks. Also, where the hell are their ghosts? They have just as much motivation to get rid of this creep as Miss Carmichael does, if not more (at least most of her killers were caught; I doubt their murders were much investigated at all). If we're going to veer toward Jack the Ripper style killings of sex workers mixed with the supernatural, can I for once please get the ghosts of his victims teaming up to kick his ass? -- 'Only the pressure of their hands on hers told Hannah the others were still there.' *waiting for the 'whose hand was I holding' Haunting of Hill House reference* -- Yep. <3 -- "I vote we go to the pub, sink a couple and try and come up with some sort of plan." I like the way you think, George. -- The psychics here have both been super helpful. "Oh noooo, this is bad! You are in such trouble. Can't help though, bye!" "...thanks?" -- I love that Murdoch Maclean is starting to get used to weirdly-dressed strangers popping into his shop. -- "You'll be safe there. As long as you take your medication and attend your appointments." I swear if this turns into some 'it's all in your head' nonsense... -- 'but even he couldn't be in two places at once'. You are currently fighting a murderous demon and traveling back and forth in time from an old newspaper shop. -- seriously what is up with Ailsa -- "Ye'll pass on our thanks to Miss Carmichael and ye'll tell her we'll manage fine from now on. Say goodbye to yer ma now. Ye'll no' be seeing her again." ... "Yer faither's right, Robbie. Ye're not one of us now." Oh, kiddo. :( (well, not exactly a kid anymore, given that he's in university, but that'd still be rough) -- 'Damn Miss Carmichael and her do-gooding ways! Damn Kirsten! Damn them both to hell!' Are...are we really going in this direction? -- We are. -- 'Finally, her mind cleared and she had her answers. All the ones that mattered anyhow.' CARE TO CLUE ME IN? Because-- *deep breath* What was Ailsa; cult member or possessed all along or killed and taken over sometime during the book? What was the random reference to Mairead needing to 'take her medication'? Why was Mairead's mother there and her house lived in for some people and then boarded up and empty for others? Why those brutal sexual violence scenes from Bain's pov if he's just a red herring? (not that I much care to read stuff like that anyway, but it seems especially unnecessary when that's the only role the women played in the narrative) What was going on with Isobel? Why did they have to stay in the pentagram? I wouldn't think they can protect the lines and keep the spirit contained from inside the thing. -- The one thing that is plain and clear is that Robbie had Miss Carmichael killed, and I honestly can't stand that ending, because he was an adult. Told to stay away by his parents because he didn't belong in Old Town anymore, but also rejected by the girl he liked because he didn't come from wealth? Yeah, that's tough, but there are lots of Fish Out Of Water narratives without the subject murdering people. Miss Carmichael, our main pov to the past, being murdered by someone she tried to help just comes across as an endorsement of the quote at the beginning-- that if she'd just stayed where she 'belonged' and left Robbie in Old Town, she'd still be alive. And I'm sure that's not what was intended. This book has a bunch of 4 and 5 star reviews; it's obviously not what most other people took from the text. This might just be a 'me' thing, which is partly while I'll be giving Cavendish another shot.
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A WORLD WITH A BLUER SUNMy reviews are set up a little like live-tweets: I write down lines I like/impressions as I read, and then transcribe. Reviews will contain spoilers, but I'll give a warning before they start. Archives
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