Mark Wheaton

Wraith

McKayla Bohnsack

*** I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

Going into Wraith I expected an atmospheric, gothic horror about a family curse plaguing our main character Cecily. I don't think Wraith delivered on what it promised.

After a traumatic experience in her childhood, Cecily receives word from a distant relative in France she quickly learns that history may be repeating itself. All of these weird occurrences in her life are tied to a family curse going back generations. Cecily's family is haunted by a wraith that has been eliminating her family members in awful ways.

I was a little bored throughout the book. The plot moved clunkily with many events and 'twists' feeling contrived. The rules of the curse were not consistent. Originally (to my understanding) the wraith would inevitably show up in a person's life as an omen of their approaching death. Then the next person in line of the family would eventually face the wraith. But every family member before Cecily was able to fully reach adulthood and have children before dying, yet the story practically begins with Cecily being haunted and seeing the Wraith as a child and then young adult. Some family members thought to kill themselves to keep the wraith away from their children, but that logic doesn't follow in only Cecily's case for some reason. 

The biggest selling point of the story to me was the idea of the LeClerq estate- an old, creepy castle in a dark forest. We barely spend anytime there. Most of the time Cecily is aimlessly running through Paris (every single street she is on is name-dropped in a way that takes you out of the story) with her new french pals who speak google translate french. 

I didn't connect with the characters. Cecily was flat and boring. Everyone in Paris she met instantly thought she was lovely though. I couldn't tell you anything memorable about her other than she liked plants? which kind of had to do with a plot point? but for what? 

This book just wasn't for me.

Wraith

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