Tom Mohan

I've read a quite a lot of variants of the 'traditional' sidhe faerie fantasy, and I'm always pleased to discover and author with a new take on the sub-genre, keeping aspects of the main concept, but playing with others. This is certainly a novel departure and works quite well. Unusual for an urban fantasy as a full standalone novel. Substantially improved in the latter thirds when the pace and tension ratchets up and all the initial exploration has been made, and everything is known.

Lisa show more never quite feels connected in her California life, although it's all she's known. Her dysfunctional parents mostly left her to be raised by their staff - although the privilege of this position is never acknowledged - and she thinks of herself more as a daughter of Mannie than her real parents. A spooky feeling is followed by a disturbing phone call urging her to flee, the same disembodied voice urges her to follow her instincts and meet the caller in a tiny town deep in the rural backcountry, further than she's ever traveled. She's greeted by the Finn family and taken to meet Brianna the voice on the phone who couldn't really explain why or how she knew to contact Lisa. Although invited to stay in one of the several Finn homes, Lisa feels more comfortable in the town's only hotel, until the weird dreams start, and then the next morning the first of several unexplained deaths occur, which rattles the Finns more than seems reasonable. Lisa realise's there's something very odd about not just the Finn's but the whole town, and in turn the Finn's quickly appreciate that Lisa may unknowingly be considerably more unusual than she appears.

The latter third is by the far the best of the book. There's something not quite right about the opening half, an uneven pacing or explanation, characters acting with too much knowledge. I can't quite pin it down, but it certainly feels slightly forced throughout.. I suspect that unusually the author knew the ending he wanted but didn't quite have the start worked through and it's a meld of several drafts. There's nothing technically wrong that I could tell, the characterization and descriptions works well enough to set scenes etc, but something's missing overall, that then emerges towards the ending, where it all comes together very well. I'm never a fan of character jumps which I suspect may be part of the issue - we could get the entire story from Lisa and maybe one of the Finn's and the infrequent jumps away to other Finns becomes distracting. Perhaps there's also a lack of surprise when Lisa discovers just how weird this town is - it's a tricky concept to manage in urban fantasy, just how to acclimatize the reader and the characters to magic and non-humans.

All of that carping aside much of the rest is quite good, the plot isn't immediately obvious, although becomes so and then there's a tense conclusion as the everybody gets to makes their choices. The characters have some depth and concern for more than just themselves, the scenery feels belivable, as it should being based on the author's hometown. It is slightly too autobiographical in geography, the author admitting to not liking his current californian location and preferring to revisit the small town of his childhood. I suspect he may be in for quite a surprise at how things have changed.

Overall worth persevering through the opening to discover the secrets of Haven Mill and the Finns. show less

Stephen King meets the land of the Fae. This was a very heavy read. The style reminded me of the Talisman. I happen to be a huge King can so the writing style worked for me. The world building is cinematic. The story keeps you engaged and in a constant state of wonder. You have to pay close attention because it's 3rd person POV and follows quite a few characters jumping scenes often. I enjoyed the read but the ending could have used a little something to give it that wow factor. I will show more definitely try more from this author show less

I received this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The book had a very steady start. It had me hooked for the majority until the climax. Then, I found myself losing interest and repeatedly putting the book down, procrastinating on finishing. When I finally got past the part I was dragging on, the story picked back up and rounded itself off nicely.

I appreciate how relatable I found the protagonist, Lisa. I enjoyed the overall conflict and how it played out. How the the subject of show more faeries and the journey of Lisa’s heritage was tackled was done in a creepy manner. I found the take of faeries in general a fresh view I appreciate. I didn’t however enjoy Lisa’s love interest. He felt like an afterthought or a walking archetype that just existed for the sake of the story.

The book gave me decent chills, a difficult task, I just wish the pacing towards the climax was better. That being said, this is a solid read for anyone interested in Dark fantasy and/or faeries. show less

This novel is difficult for me to review. I really enjoyed the first 80% and was prepared to be enthralled by a thrilling climax. However, as the climax approached, the story began dragging and, unfortunately, I found myself losing interest.

This is the story of a young woman, Lisa McCarthy, living alone in L.A. She’s by no means a social butterfly and spends most of her time with an elderly retiree, Manny, whom she treats as a father figure. Her real father is unknown. One evening, she show more gets a phone call from a person she doesn’t know informing her she needs to leave the house immediately because there are men coming to kill her. A sense of foreboding surrounds her and she believes the caller – mainly because the landline phone was unplugged when the call came through!

This starts our heroine off on a journey of discovery to find her own parentage and experience a strange and elusive world that exists just beyond humanity’s reach. The journey leads her to a small town in Missouri and an acquaintanceship with the Finn family who are quite unusual to say the least.

As I said at the beginning, I really enjoyed the majority of the novel. However, as it moved toward the final climax, it dragged. Endless scenes of walking in the fog/mist left me cold. I also found the character of Marcas Finn, a former boyfriend of Lisa’s, to be rather one dimensional. I didn’t understand him, his motivation, or what is relationship to Lisa had been in L.A. Was he a true love interest? I couldn’t tell. In addition, what happens to Manny, which should have had a very traumatic effect on Lisa, is somehow treated like an afterthought. I think had the author spent a little more time on characterization and tightening the plot, the result could have been a 5-star read.

In conclusion, this is a good read for fans of dark fantasy and those who love all things involving the world of the fairies.

I received a free copy of this novel as part of Library Thing’s Early Reviewer Program. show less