Winter Haven

I hadn’t read any of Athol Dickson’s work before, but I was curious about the acclaim his novels have received. It was with some uncertainty that I opened the pages of his atmospheric, moody Winter Haven. Set on a remote Maine island, filled with fog, superstition, and the appearances of dead bodies on the beach – including that of Vera Gamble’s long missing autistic brother. Gone some 13 years, his body appears the same as the day he left home – one of the many mysteries she finds on this spooky island.

While variously appearing to be mystery, suspense, and possibly even paranormal at times – the novel’s heart instead lies in the relationships between the characters, and perhaps most importantly – Vera’s struggle show more coming to terms with her tortured relationship to the past and a newly forming tenuous hope that ties her to the future.

Without giving away too much, I will say that this novel kept me rapidly reading in order to uncover the mystery at the heart of Winter Haven. I think I finished in two days, which is pretty fast for me considering I have a house full of children (4 at last count). I’m not afraid to admit that the last few chapters wrung a few tears out of me as well.

Winter Haven is a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride, surging between fear, suspicion, trust, and even the tentative buds of romance. Dickson is a confident writer who takes you through the trip with a sure hand at the rudder.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com show less

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Thirteen years after Vera Gamble's little brother ran away from their Texas home, his body washes ashore on the remote island of Winter Haven, Maine. Vera goes to claim the corpse and discovers the impossible: her brother hasn't aged a day since last she saw him. Determined to uncover what happened, she is confronted by unearthly fog, disturbing locals, and stories of lost colonies and a vengeful witch.

Beyond the forest where no creature dares to live, her only hope is the mysterious owner of a dilapidated mansion on a rocky cliff. But will this solitary man assist her, or is Vera Gamble doomed to disappear forever into yet another Winter Haven legend?

I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK show more YOU.

My Review: In my ongoing, possibly misguided, quest not to die above the neck before I do below it, I asked Bethany House for an ARC of this author's latest (in 2008) christian-themed mystery. I don't know why they said yes, but they did, and then I never reviewed it. Sinful wicked shame on me!

There was a time in the early Aughts that I made a concerted effort to believe in the whole christian malarkey-fest. (I was pursuing a most callipygian, but Jesusy, guy.) It was a complete and abject failure on every level, since he didn't give up the goodies despite my going to church with him! The nerve! But I found some very interesting books....

Supernatural shenanigans? Teased; not delivered. Much depends on the voice the author creates when reading a first-person narrative. Vera Gamble is a ninny, the spit-and-image of a Mary Sue. Hanging the story on her was not satisfying. The death of her brother seems to me to be a weirdly xianized form of fridging. The entire story resolves into an address to the Problem of Evil. It is, as I am sure you've already twigged by now, utterly unconvincing as such. (I've never read anything, even straight-out apologetics, that resolve the Problem of Evil.)

There is a great deal of cartoonishly overstated Wickedness imputed to the townspeople of Winter Haven. It is, peculiarly enough, this over-egging of the pudding that gave me the "in" to this book's successful level: Gothic fiction is heightened, exaggerated, and therein its charm. It's a feature, not a bug, of the Gothic tropes that they're over every kind and sort of top. Without that the story would collapse under the weight of its silliness. Once I got that spark to light the brain-fuse I began to enjoy myself. I read the christianizing bits as irony, though they were decidedly not meant that way. It gave me a way to derive enjoyment from what was otherwise a truly dreary slog. show less

This book could probably be called my first foray into Christian fiction. And, honestly, being generally agnostic in nature, I wasn't sure exactly how much I'd like it. However, the plot's premise sounded interesting enough that I decided to give it a try. It was a pleasant surprise to discover the book's lack of preachy-ness. Yes, religion does play a major role in the story, but that role felt real as opposed to forced and pedantic. I didn’t feel like someone was trying to convert me, it just came across as an important aspect of Vera’s life.

Putting religion aside, I especially enjoyed the main character, perhaps because I could see a lot of myself in Vera. Admittedly, I did find some of her actions and conclusions throughout the show more story foolish (and a little melodramatic) but there was still something about her that drew me in. Her struggles, both emotional and physical, felt honest and real.

The story itself, while a bit slow to start, was a clever and well-executed mystery. Although I typically remained a step or two ahead of the main character, there was quite a bit that caught me by surprise. One of the other reviews mentions having to suspend disbelief towards the end, but I really think that depends on the way you believe the world works (whether you’re religious or not) because I found it intriguing rather than unbelievable. And while some might feel the ending was a bit too nicely packaged, (and they’d probably be right) I still think it made for a pleasant conclusion to an overall enjoyable read. show less

Vera Gamble hasn't heard a word from her autistic brother who speaks only in Bible verses since she watched him leave their home thirteen years ago. When she receives a phone call that his body has been found washed up on an isolated island in Maine, she travels north to claim it - only to discover that he seemingly hasn't aged in the thirteen years he has been gone. When this news comes out, the town law enforcement won't let her take the body until the mystery has cleared up, and Vera finds herself being sucked into old hostilities, tales of ghosts and menacing trees, and a very handsome man whom the other townspeople warn her may be dangerous.

The book has several Gothic elements - the ancient legends of malevolent spirits, visions, show more a creeping unnatural chill and fog, a black clad spirit that wanders hissing through the forest, and even the forest as a dangerous presence itself. Dickson certainly knows how to weave these elements into a creepy atmospheric spell as well (although parts of that seem over the top, particularly the bit surrounding the altar in the woods). Unfortunately, the author rarely sustains the creepy atmosphere. In one particular passage, he interrupts the mood by inserting a banal dialogue about property taxes which dispels the building tension and left me quite frustrated. The Gothic aspects could truly draw the reader into the story, if only Dickson would allow them.

The first-person point of view is a bit difficult to get into. The narrator is utterly unreliable with a heap of neuroses and a seeming incomprehension that she suffers from epilepsy not a curse of God. Not only that, but she seems to be a pushover - witness her behavior towards her boss, and her immediate gaga reaction to Evan Frost (and need we hear about his "phenomenal good looks" every single paragraph?) - and her sullen lashing out and some of her fears make her seem more like a recalcitrant child than a heroine with any sense. It is difficult to like or identify with her, particularly since she seems to communicate in snippets of cryptic references and flashbacks to the horrifying events of the past, and then moves on to the present story.

The writing includes a lot of evocative details including intriguing symbols in heat and cold - emotions and logic, but at times it also seems unnatural and stilted - particularly in the lack of use of contractions.

Once Vera starts suspecting everyone and things are winding down to a close, things get better - creepier, and Vera seems less obnoxiously paranoid. The Christian elements, while not subtle, also don't overwhelm the story with moralizing. The resolution of the mystery is clever and original. For me, it wasn't wholly unexpected, but nonetheless satisfying.

Overall, an entertaining enough story, but not for fans of true Gothic stories, nor for those who don't like those elements. A half-hearted Gothic tale.

Also posted at my blog.

FTC Disclosure: I received a free review copy through the LT Early Reviewers program. show less

This book seems all mixed up with the supernatural - there is a malevolent ghost, and a tragic tale of death and vengeance, and the possibility of madness. Vera doesn't know whom to trust - she can't even trust herself. But somehow Mr. Dickson gathers all the threads of a ghost story and turns it instead to a story of faith and goodness and healing. Beautiful.

Like Vera, the main character of this book, I was completely taken in by it's mysterious supernatural occurences and couldn't put it down until the truth had been uncovered. Vera is startled out of her workaholic existance by a phone call from an islander off the coast of Maine saying that they have found the body of her brother--the brother that disappeared when Vera was just a child. Vera goes on a quest to claim his body and bring it home--but becomes immersed in the mystery of the island where he died, and the mysery of his death. Dickson weaves a skillful tale that shows our perceptions may not always lead us to a true vision of reality. I definitely recommend this one for when you are in the mood to savor a intricately told story.

I was really not enjoying this book until I got to the very end, which almost made up for the turgidness of the prose. The last chapter saved the book from getting an even lower rating.

This is a story of Vera, a young woman (much younger than she acts) who sets off to pick up the body of her brother who has washed up on the shore of a small Maine island. How we got there, and why he doesn't appear to have aged in 13 years, are the "mystery" of the book. The answer, when it is finally revealed, is fairly straightforward, and not unsatisfying.

In the course of finding that out, though, Vera must deal with her own guilt over not stopping her brother from running away, and her belief that her "visions" of what happened to her brother are show more actually punishments from God. She must also deal with unkind islanders, a "ghost", and a too-handsome man (with a wandering eye) who might be friend or might be foe.

One might suppose that all of those factors would combine to make a compelling story. Alas, that is not the case. Dickson gets too bogged down in his first-person narration to let the story run naturally. We are teased with hints and glimpses of what's really going on, but Vera's overdrawn naivete prevents us from finding anything in the story that will allow us to be drawn in. show less