I went into this somewhat apprehensively due to some underwhelming reviews. And what do you know…a pleasant surprise. Way to manage expectations, me.
It seems the consensus with those underwhelming reviews is the unlikeable protagonist and sure enough he is at the very least a scoundrel. A 25 year old deadbeat with a short trigger and unimpressive resume he gets clued in on a job far outside of his skills and talents and, desperate for money, applies and gets it. Turns out it’s a job he is indeed specifically suited for, only not in a way he ever expected. Now he’s a caretaker for an elderly brother and sister, who live in a dilapidated mansion in a wrong area of town, a pair that once upon a time were famous magicians (the advertising poster of the Walgraves prefacing the book was a nice trick, definitely grabbed my attention) and now are being slowly beaten down by old age. They have money (lots of it) and friends (a Redevine social club they belong to), but in the end of the day they have…other needs. And a handsome, greedy and not all that bright albeit accommodating Mr. Norman might just meet those needs. To be fair, I understand the importance of a likeable protagonist, it’s usually very important for my enjoyment of the book, but every so often it just doesn’t matter or the book doesn’t need one. Not if it’s a book about nasty people taking advantage of one another. So this one worked for me just as it was, amoral all around. It might even be read as a morality story on greed, since greed in various shapes and forms is the main motivator for most of the cast of these reprehensibles. Also, the writing’s quite good. I’ve never read the author or, since she is pseudonymed, I don’t think so, but it’s fun and atmospheric and dark in all the right ways and has some nicely realized creepiness. It is, after all, a scary story, and it does what it’s supposed to, nightmarishly so. There isn’t ton of suspense in the narrative, it’s very easy to figure out what’s going on pretty quickly, though for the protagonist who is up to his shoulders in it and has no outside omnipotent perspective that the readers do, it’s all pretty freaking surprising, stunning and deadly. So it’s one of those stories, you know what’s up and you watch the characters get clued in. At least that’s how it read for me. But it read well, surprisingly so for a random genre book from an unknown author. And yes, the general idea behind it isn’t a most original one, it’s been done many times before, but it was done nicely here and the magician thing was a nice twisted cherry on top. So I say abandon your conventional character likability presets and enjoy the ride. The Walgraves are just dying to meet you. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
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