Monday, November 10, 2014

Review: WAKENING THE CROW by STEPHEN GREGORY. Release



Review: WAKENING THE CROW

I loved this book. The setting, the plotting, the horror so subtle it only creeps, not pounces, the lyricism such that I often slowed to savour...lovely, all! I think of Susan Hill 's Simon Serraileur, who resides in a cathedral close--this family, since the settlement from the accident, live in a renovated church tower and vestry. It's all lovely, it is....until we get to the protagonists. 

No joy here. The first-person narrative is delivered by one Oliver Gooch, a character I've tried very diligently to like, or even admire--but no, that's not happening. By rights I should: reader, incipient bookseller, newly writer, devoted father and husband.  oh, stop right there.. Devoted he is not. His daughter is a profane, spoiled piece of nonsense, so he allows her to be concussed during a hit-and-run. His wife is.infected by a very strange crow. So Oliver turns guilt to.joy, and happily enjoys the freedom of the senses. I.just want the crow to carry Oliver somewhere far, far away. Meanwhile, the prose is special, and the wide cast of secondary characters are sheer delight. 12 stars for WAKENING THE CROW, and I'm anticipating further reading of author Stephen Gregory.

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