Steven A. Rigolosi

In 1746, famed fundamentalist preacher Jonathon Edwards is feeling the heat of his own sermons as he enters another year of keeping his private sins quiet while publicly chastising other sinners from the pulpit. To ease some of his guilt, he sends his servant Bebhinn and their illegitimate son, Parthalan, to help set up a new township on a strip of land along the coast of Maine. What Reverend Edwards does not know is that Parthalan is more than just a surly young man, and he has no use for show more Reverend Edwards's Heavenly Father, as he has his own darker and more demanding deity to worship. Parthalan takes over everything in the new town of Agamenticus: the plans, the people, the buildings, the church. Before long, he'll have convinced hundreds of people to abandon God and turn to his own dark master. Two and half centuries have passed when musician, Matthew Rollins, needs a place to get away from it all, a place to spend time rediscovering his passion and hopefully writing a few new songs. A mysterious invitation to spend the winter at the beautiful Kinnawe house in Agamenticus, Maine, arrives...truly an offer too good to refuse. Matthew then starts out on a journey that will have him questioning his sanity, questioning reality, and questioning his own lineage. The chapters alternate between past and present as we travel along with Matthew. He discovers the dark and terrible secrets of Kinnawe House as well as those of the now nearly non-existent town of Agamenticus...and comes to face with his own shadowy past. The book has ghosts, devil worshipers, human sacrifices, and a sleep-deprived spiral into hallucinations and madness. Matthew is a mystery story all by himself, complete with a body covered with scars, a mother in the madhouse and no father to speak of and old "friends" who seem to be anything but friendly. Parthalàn is an outstanding villain without not a speck of good in him. He's vicious and cruel and cunning and will stop at nothing to get what he wants even if he has to take it by trickery or by force. Another wonderful character in the story is Helen Crowe, who lives down the road from Kinnawe House and fully embraces her role as the archetypal sage and caregiver. She's a woman who knows the answers to all Matthew's questions but is smart enough to let him figure most of them out himself. She gives him hints along the way such as: always leave one window in the house cracked open; stay away from the cliffs after dark; whatever you do, don't go in the old, abandoned church down the road. Eventually, past and present will collide as Matthew and Helen come face to face with the evil that dwells...some of it willingly and some of it not...in Kinnawe House as well as the village. Those that love ghost stories and haunted houses will really like this one. show less

This was an absolutely delightful little mystery. The cover is deceiving as one expects a cozy mystery set in the 1920s, but it is actually set in the 21st century with the lead Miss Felicity Prim who just appears to be from a previous century. She's never heard of the internet, yet she has purchased herself a stun gun as she moves from NYC to a small cottage in Connecticut in order to take up the career of outsmarting criminals. Miss Prim is such a clever character, and the mystery didn't show more disappoint with all of its twists and turns. I truly hope this is the first in a series as I'm excited to read more of her criminal outsmarting adventures. show less

I shared a panel with Steve Rigolisi a couple of weeks ago, and was intrigued enough by his descriptions of his books that I decided I had to get hold of one. This is it.

The novel is #2 in his Tales from the Back Page sequence, whose conceit is that each story starts with a small ad in the back of The Clarion -- which is essentially Manhattan's famous Village Voice. In this case the ad reads:

REVENGE IS SWEET!
Every day we are brutalized by those who hurt us, take advantage of us, steal show more what is ours [. . .:] Enough is enough! It's time to turn the tables. Write to A care of Box 270. (For entertainment purposes only.)

What "A" is setting up is, if you like, an elaboration of the old Strangers in a Train plot: five people will each murder the foe of one of the others; because there's no logical connection between each of the five murderers and their victims, they'll surely all get off scot-free -- especially since the scheme that's being set up ensures that no one, not even "A", knows the true identity of anyone else.

Well, yes. An English prof wishes her supposedly sexist, misogynist head of department to go permanent bye-bye. A subliterate Italian youth can't bear the thought of his idolized sister marrying the guy she loves. The elderly resident of a shabby-genteel area would like to see the demise of the recently arrived drug dealer whose presence is threatening to turn it into a slum. A priest despises the sociopathic hypocrisy of a local cop. And "A" himself wants to see a murderous paedophile rubbed out.

For a while I wasn't sure I was going to get on with this book. Its first 50 pages or so forgo straightforward storytelling in favour of reproducing relevant documents; this can be an enthralling narrative technique, but I'm not sure Rigolisi quite pulls it off. Thereafter, though, I was completely engaged. This book isn't really a thriller -- more like a dark comedy of manners -- but it's as engrossing as one. I have to confess I quibble with the morality of Nick Lang -- the partner of the murdered cop, latterly trying to clear everything up in the wake of all the killings -- but that was an irritation I found I could live with.

I'll be keeping an eye open for more of Rigolisi's Tales from the Back Page. show less

I received a free copy of this ebook from LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.

Not your typical, modern ghost story or good vs. evil tale. This book is more atmospheric in line with Gothic tales of the 1800s. The story follows two timelines: in the 18th Century, the fictional congregants of Jonathan Edwards (of 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' fame) split off and relocate to Maine to settle a new town; 21st Century Matthew Rollins is a struggling musician who becomes caretaker show more of Kinnawe House for the winter months.

What follows is a chilling tale of mystery and uncovering the truth of a person's past infused with just the right amount of horror. show less