Gina Ranalli

"Two men have the carcass." These words, heard over a crackling telephone line, change writer Karen Lewis's life for the worse. Months earlier, her brother went missing in the small rural town of Fallen Trees, Washington. And now she finds out he willed his half of a bizarre bed and breakfast to her. "Two men have the carcass." Is this ominous phrase enough to draw her into the mystery of Fallen Trees? Is the answer to her brother's disappearance located there? Or is it just a trap, something designed to draw her into a nightmare world and break her sanity? What horror awaits Karen in the House of Fallen Trees?

House of Fallen Trees

Ewan

This is one of those 3 1/2 star books.

There was good and bad, a little from column a and a little from column b.

First the good. I got sucked in, the story moved along at a near perfect pace for the most part and as a BIG fan of Shirley Jackson, the stylistic homage was just lovely (I assume it was on purpose, so benefit of the doubt there)

The characters were well drawn out, the dynamic in the house was excellent. It was creepy and as a ghost story all I can say is bravo.

Now the bad.

There were a few lines that seemed so clunkily written i could have screamed. "she switched off the internet and turned on her Microsoft Word program" - ouch. 

But that was a small quibble, my main gripe is the ending. Without giving anything away I felt the main ending was rushed and a bit "oh, was that... ah ok?" BUT THE EPILOGUE!! It's almost like she had 2 endings and couldn't work out how to have them both, so it seemed tacked on and rushed. which was a real shame indeed.

Overall though, I still really enjoyed most of it.

House of Fallen Trees

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