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Title: Five Mile House by Karen Novak ISBN: 1-58234-159-1 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pub. Date: September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (18 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Solid writing of an original plot
Comment: "Five Mile House", a first novel for author Karen Novak, was a very enjoyable read. She is an excellent writer, providing adequate character motivation in an original and suspenseful tale.
Leslie Stone is a police detective who is found temporarily insane after she shoots and kills a suspected child killer while he is in custody. After a stint in a psychiatric facility, she and her family move to Wellington where her husband, Greg, has undertaken the task of renovating Five Mile House, a historic and derelict home with a mysterious past. Eleanor, the resident ghost of Five Mile House, helps to narrate the story, providing details of her life a century past. She slowly reveals her life of pain in the house and the reasons she haunts it. An extra ingredient in the mix is the fact that Leslie is a dead ringer for Eleanor and the citizens of Wellington, a town swarming with real life witches, take much notice of the fact.
Her resemblance to Eleanor and her notoriety as a killer cop make Leslie the subject of local curiosity. Struggling to regain control of her life, she welcomes the friendship of her husband's employer, Gwen Garrett, a renegade Wiccan. When Gwen commits suicide, Leslie's suspicions and police instincts are aroused. In her search for answers surrounding Gwen's death, Leslie's life becomes entangled with Eleanor's life and the mysteries contained within Five Mile House.
The book intrigued me and held my attention to the very end. If you enjoy gothic suspense, this book will satisfy you.
Rating: 4
Summary: Left me anticipating her second book
Comment: This is an enthralling combination of ghost story and mystery. I really enjoyed it. Leslie's story is paralleled by the story told by Eleanor, the ghost, of what happened in Five Mile House years ago and how it affects the present. Novak is a good writer who creates interesting characters and has a chilling story to tell.
Rating: 2
Summary: Good idea, but....
Comment: I picked this novel up after reading some glowing reviews on Amazon. The premise sounded very interesting and I couldn't resist a novel that is narrated by a ghost.
The first few pages indicated that I was really going to enjoy this book, but after those few, I wondered when it was going to get interesting- it really never did.
As others have stated, the characters in this book are flat & uninteresting. The main character is completely unsympathetic - all the way through to the last page. I found myself wondering if the author thinks that people typically behave as the "herione???" (I use that term loosely). She is probably one of the most selfish characters ever to be charged with carrying a story.
The story is told by a woman long dead, who somehow has some connection to the main character, Leslie. There are some thoughts included as to how they are connected, but none are very strong or definitive. The story bumps along with Leslie snapping at people, being downright nasty at times, committing adultary without the slightest hint of guilt and trying to convince the reader that she is a good, protective mother, when her actions don't really indicate this consistently. She supposedly is trying to piece together the mystery of an old house that her husband is restoring - one that possesses a dark history and is fodder for local legend.
When the book begins to wrap-up with the cliche'd quick summary at the end, when everything is revealed while fighting with the bad guy, you almost wish it would just hurry up and end. The "explanations" given at the end have too many missing pieces and there are elements that pop up seemingly out of WAY left field.
It is an easy read, not requiring much mental exercise. It is not the worst book I've read, but I would have preferred spending my time reading another novel that was mapped out more carefully and with a bit more intelligence.
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Title: Grange House by Sarah Blake ISBN: 0312280041 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: June, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: House of Strange Music by Ann Lorraine Thompson ISBN: 0595149561 Publisher: Authors Choice Press Pub. Date: December, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill, John Lawrence ISBN: 1567921892 Publisher: David R Godine Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: A Face at the Window by Dennis McFarland ISBN: 0767901304 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 02 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Summer of Night by Dan Simmons ISBN: 0446362662 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: March, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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