

4.75 stars
Mystery set in a British seaside town, where Adam, after his wild and hedonistic youth, settles as a goldsmith trying to find a more stability and to be near his young son. While mysterious and tragic events occurs at his work place, he meets a potential client, a young writer named Ophelia who has her own loneliness and struggles. As the strange occurrences are being investigated by a local Detective inspector, both Adam and Ophelia’s lives becomes increasingly intertwined.
This is Bonnie Burke-Patel’s sophomore novel and I’ve got to say this was another great read.
Like her first novel, her writing is lush and evocative, perfectly rendering the seaside city and its wild climate, with an eerie and gothic atmosphere .
As always her characters are compelling, complex characters and even the antagonists come off as real human beings and not mustache twirling Villains. I loved how her characters would weave relationships with each other without words, the author found a great job of showing feelings and acts with a minimal but impactful prose.
The pacing was just right and this was such a page turner with plenty of twists, so I inhaled it in a day. The last 30 pages felt both intense yet so emotional.
I loved how the author approached various themes of family, love, parenthood, trauma, secrets, loneliness…
Some tiny elements I wasn’t sure about the weaving of a fairy tale like stories into the main story which at times felt a bit redundant and distracting to me? I liked the dark undertones of it, but I guess not every part made an impact on me.
An other incredible story by Bonnie Burke-Patel, I’ll definitely look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.
4.75 stars
Mystery set in a British seaside town, where Adam, after his wild and hedonistic youth, settles as a goldsmith trying to find a more stability and to be near his young son. While mysterious and tragic events occurs at his work place, he meets a potential client, a young writer named Ophelia who has her own loneliness and struggles. As the strange occurrences are being investigated by a local Detective inspector, both Adam and Ophelia’s lives becomes increasingly intertwined.
This is Bonnie Burke-Patel’s sophomore novel and I’ve got to say this was another great read.
Like her first novel, her writing is lush and evocative, perfectly rendering the seaside city and its wild climate, with an eerie and gothic atmosphere .
As always her characters are compelling, complex characters and even the antagonists come off as real human beings and not mustache twirling Villains. I loved how her characters would weave relationships with each other without words, the author found a great job of showing feelings and acts with a minimal but impactful prose.
The pacing was just right and this was such a page turner with plenty of twists, so I inhaled it in a day. The last 30 pages felt both intense yet so emotional.
I loved how the author approached various themes of family, love, parenthood, trauma, secrets, loneliness…
Some tiny elements I wasn’t sure about the weaving of a fairy tale like stories into the main story which at times felt a bit redundant and distracting to me? I liked the dark undertones of it, but I guess not every part made an impact on me.
An other incredible story by Bonnie Burke-Patel, I’ll definitely look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.