Story Overview:
Christian quits
his job when he is passed over for promotion on the grounds of not being
technical enough. Moving out of the big town he and his wife buy a house that
is in need of some serious work while he starts writing a novel. His beginning
efforts are ‘terrible’. But one day he stumbles across a gravestone, on it is
the name Rachel Petersen. Christian decides to write her story, where she is a
murdering ghost. But when the book becomes a best seller, Christian starts to
imagine that Rachel is coming after him.
Cover Page: 15/20
The cover has
lot of material on the front. The ghostly girl certainly adds to the atmosphere
that the author is attempting to create, but the added extras of what I can
only presume to be snow (derived from the snow in the storyline) adds to a
cluttered cover. Although it will please some people, I don’t personally think
it does the cover any good and that it detracts from what should be the main
focus of the cover.
Character (and
their development): 12/20
The characters
are effectively portrayed, but I see little development in them throughout the
book. This could be the little amount of
time that the characters have with the reader. Christian and his wife are
really only in the beginning and the end, while other characters are only in
the middle and neither set really interact.
My major concern
is that you spend nearly a third of book investing your time into Christian and
his wife, almost cheering him on to become a good writer. Then your perspective
is changed to that of the Christian’s book characters and in your mind you are
wondering how long you have to invest in these characters. This creates a poor
relationship between the reader and the characters. But just as you get
comfortable again, the character set changes, then changes back, before just
for the end, you are back with Christian as he releases his bestselling novel.
Storyline: 16/20
The storyline,
in which ever one you wish to concentrate on is not a bad one. It certainly has
its uniqueness. In fact I would go as far as to say that with a little
refinement to certain areas of the style and characterisation could turn this
novel into the bestseller that the author writes about. Even the story within
the story is good enough that a little extra would push it up.
I think the
concern is that there is no depth to the storyline, nothing compelling the
reader to keep reading once you get to the legend of Rachel. Instead the story
is driven by whether Christian will or will not become a successful writer and
how he fares. And I don’t think that this is what the author intended.
Style: 12/20
The actual
writing of the novel is not bad. The style of the sentences and paragraphs is
good. But a more descriptive tone would probably have pushed it up a little
bit. It did feel at times as if I was reading an account of what was happening
line by line. Instead as a reader I want the atmosphere, the actions and the
thoughts of the characters to be described so I can imagine the whole world in
which the characters live in. This lessens the horror part of the book which
could have been on the level of several well known horror books.
Another problem
for me was the story within the story, element. It would have been a great
story if either of the stories was picked up and ran in throughout the book.
But unfortunately the author chose both and the books effectiveness is lost.
Spelling and
Grammar: 20/20
I could not see
any mistakes so there is nothing more that I can say.
Conclusion: 75/100
This is a book that
has a great number of ideas but tries too hard to mesh them all together into a
single storyline. This probably would have done better as two short novellas or
novels but together they are damage the other. Saying that it is not a bad book
and I would say that casual readers of horror may enjoy the book, but not those
hard core horror fans or those who like to see the characters develop.
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