Natasha Mostert

Reading Dark Prayer, an enthralling novel all about memory (and parkour), was a stretch for me at first. I thought the parkour segments were going to be too far out of my comfort zone because I wouldn't understand half of what was being explained, and I figured from what was first detailed that the memory bits would leave me feeling fatigued because the author would go too in-depth.

What I came to realize was that the book was actually surprisingly easy to read. Easier than I would've show more thought, by far. And that's what made it so enjoyable. Although this is the first book I've read for 2015, it has already made me want to read more for the year because everything just flowed so well and was so well-written. There were a great deal of quotes that I wanted to...quote...

I came to learn a lot about parkour, or free running, and reading this book made me nostalgic for my high school days when I saw a few buddies try it out. My friends, of course, were just beginners compared to these characters. Jungles, the name of the most skilled free runner of the bunch, is pretty much a ninja, and the author does a great job of describing how he (and the others) ran and climbed and jumped. But that doesn't mean the author of Dark Prayer treats you like you're automatically knowledgeable in the ways of imagining someone free running. Instead, Natasha Mostert lays the sport of parkour out in a way that is understandable to us amateurs without being condescending to those who actually have a good grip on the skill.

You could tell extensive research had to be done--both in parkour and in psychological matters. There's even a link to a real article in the Kindle edition of the book. In college, I minored in Psychology and volunteered at a traumatic brain injury rehab facility. So I like to think I know a fair amount about memory (and the absence of it). At least, I'm interested in it. The way Mostert incorporated aspects of psychology--especially regarding memory and trauma--into the life of main character Eloise was fascinating because it was realistic. However, I never once felt like I was reading a case story or out of a textbook when it came to these points.

Our main character is caught in a fugue state--this is what has caused her to wipe out all memory loss of her former and original self, Jenilee Gray, and to establish a new self, Eloise Blake. She has created new memories for herself. A new mother, a new father--circus performers. A new name. A new identity.

I've often thought how neat it would be to create a new identity for myself, leaving my past behind. But I wouldn't be me; I want my memories, all of them. The problem with Eloise, however, is that she did not consciously form for herself a new identity. And maybe there's something else going on behind the scenes. Gasp.

Now, there is another main character--named Jack--that I haven't meant to leave out, necessarily, but I just didn't find him to be that appealing. He wasn't near as interesting to me as Eloise, at least. But I can't leave out his name because 1) He's important to the story. And 2) I'm about to make a joke about him. Because if you were a free runner and your name was Jack, wouldn't you call yourself "Jack-B-Quick"?

If you read this, I hope the time flies by as quickly for you as it did for me. In a good way. show less

Eloise Blake isn’t who she appears to be. She’s actually Jenilee Gray, surviving daughter of a brilliant memory scientist murdered in her home when Jenilee was five. Eloise is Jenilee in a fugue state. Her skill sets are all intact but she has no personal memories of Jenilee. Her looks, personality, everything is different.
So, is someone actually trying to kill her or are they simply random accidents?

Jack Simonetti is a poor little rich boy. His father, Leon, is controlling, show more manipulative, and distant. His mother died in a car accident. Jack is a wastrel, no purpose or goal. After his last less than stellar episode involving a bar fight captured by paparazzi Leon gives him an ultimatum. Jack is sent to England to help Leon’s old friend, Daniel Barone, retired scientist, recover his missing ward. That missing ward happens to be the fugue sufferer, Eloise.

DARK PRAYER is categorized under literature, mystery/thriller, and occult. All those tags apply but they don’t quite capture the allure of DARK PRAYER. The wonderful writing helps ease the fact that the mystery is a no-brainer. Even someone who rarely reads mysteries would easily figure out who is behind the attempts on Eloise’s life and probably the why behind it. But that isn’t the whole answer. Combine the writing with what you think and feel while reading. That’s where the allure lies. Ms. Mostert introduces new ideas and/or views to the table. Memory isn’t something I’ve given a lot of thought so the various opinions on memory and its effects on a person were fascinating even before you consider the religious/mystical overtones. In fact, DARK PRAYER raises thought provoking questions about memory and so much more.

As interesting as the present was, Eloise’s fugue state and Jack’s efforts to befriend and protect her, what intrigued me the most was Mnemosyne and its members.
All this brilliance focused on memory, the differences in the ways they approach it, see it, and their end goals. These five people, their actions, and their transgressions, the repercussions of which are being played out now, years later.
One of my favorite lines is when Eloise is told by a former member that her mother, Julianne, was corrupted by love. It was so utterly fitting, corrupted by love.
DARK PRAYER is thoughtful and thought provoking, making me consider things I’d never really paid much mind to. This puts Ms. Mostert at the top of my “new to me” authors list. Looking forward to seeing if her other works live up to DARK PRAYER.

Reviewed by Miss Ivy’s Book Nook Take II, Manic Readers, & Novels Alive TV show less

How much worse are suitors, who to men’s lust
Are made preys? O, worse than dust or worms’ meat,
For they do eat you now, whose selves worms shall eat. – John Donne, Thou shalt not laugh in this leaf, Muse (British Poet, Satirist, Author, 1572-1631)

The sin of pride may be a small or a great thing in someone’s life, and hurt vanity a passing pinprick, or a self-destroying or ever murderous obsession. – Iris Murdoch (British Novelist and Philosopher, 1919-1999)

We’re going to start a show more rumour. It’s easy: here’s how. And thus starts a tale of twisted obsession, of ghostly presence and lucid dreaming. A tale of suffering. But whose? And how far will obsession live within the soul? To the grave? Beyond?

Too late hee would the paine asswage,
And to thick shadowes does retire;
About with him hee beares the rage,
And in his tainted blood the fire.
Edmund Waller -The selfe-banished – (English Poet and Politician,1606 – 1687)

Isabella, or Isa to her friends, lives a life of quiet desperation in South Africa. The mistress of a married man for the past thirteen years, Isa has set aside her own needs for those of her lover, Eric. Eric, who has just died, leaving her with nothing but heartache.

In the night, as she lies dreaming, the phone rings, a flat, atonal sound, odd and strangely off-key, and the crackling voice of her cousin, Alette comes through. Alette, the wild and flighty girl with whom Isa was raised. Alette the strong, Alette the vibrant. And, as Isa is soon to learn, Alette who is two days dead.

Now back in London to close Allete’s estate, Isa receives a message from Allete along with a copy of her will. A very odd and devastating message, which leads Isa to carry out a twisted scheme against Jason, Allete’s ex-husband – an ex-husband whose tortures Allete lays out in a letter, sealed for only Isa.

Lucid dreaming, African mysticism. Alchemy and premonitions. Mostert’s The Midnight Side is a brooding, atmospheric tale of suspense and psychological thrill, full of the kinds of fear and gloomy atmosphere sure to lure in even the most jaded of readers. Isa wanders through the halls of her dreams, following orders, reaching out . . . and changing within herself. The Vigyan Bhairava Tantra, the seventh sutra, says, “ . . . reach the heart at the instant of sleep and seek direction over dreams and over death itself.” Is Isabella following her heart? Or are the dreams of death drawing back the soul of her beloved cousin?

What cruelty, wasted love – love which lies only in recompense? Mostert speaks to deep waters of the mind, dark corners of the soul, the ruin brought on by wounded and damaged souls. And yet, her journey also showcases the beauty and drabery of London itself, with it’s fogs and rains, the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery of the British Museum, the odd libraries and collections, the tea shops and cathedrals. The mass of cultures and foods and beliefs. A brooding city of history and blood and loss and joy, all wrapped up in banks of fog and fire, melancholy, and old, old guilt.

What Isa does and doesn’t do, thinks and feels and suffers leads you through murky darkness, fear, and the question, or promise, of forbidden destiny.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review. Highly recommended. show less

Pearl Ruled

Rating: 2* of five (p141)

The Book Description: A highly original supernatural thriller blending magic, science, martial arts, and the greatest desire of all: to live forever

Mia Lockheart has a secret. Her mother was a Keeper, as was her grandmother--women who were warriors, healers, and protectors. As Mia practices her craft among the boxers and martial artists of South London, and begins a romance with her childhood friend, the fighter Nick Duffy, she has no idea that a man who show more calls himself Dragonfly is watching from the shadows.

Adrian Ashton is a brilliant scientist, an expert in the breaking field of biophoton emissions from cells within the human body. He is also a skilled martial artist--and a modern-day vampire. With the aid of the enigmatic Book of Life and Death, written in the thirteenth century by the legendary Chinese physician Zhang Sanfeng, he preys on other martial artists and drains them of their chi--the vital energy that flows through the body.

Mia finds herself drawn to his dark genius, but when he targets Nick as his next victim, she is forced to choose between the two men. It becomes a fight to the death in which love is both the greatest weakness and the biggest prize.

My Review: Oh for goodness' sake. Really now! I made it to p141, the end of chapter 27, by dint of the good things I'd heard about the book...interesting conflicts, good writing, and so on. The following is said of a hungry vampire:

“His heart trembled. He couldn't remember desiring anything so much.” (p141)

And that's where my give-a-damn gave out. The writing's okay, not by any stretch of the imagination awful or even tedious, but with a tendency to the over-the-top that wore on me. It doesn't help that Mia, the main character, is so annoying to me that I want to cause her pain.

So, on balance, I think not. And I'd steer you away from it, too, if unbearable aches and eternal yearnings and the like make you twitch the way they do me. show less