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Carolyn's Reviews > The Shape of Night
The Shape of Night
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I love Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli & Isles series so was looking forward to read this, especially when it sounded like a foray into a very different type of novel - a gothic paranormal mystery. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work for me. I’m not sure whether it was the handsome ghost who was into BDSM, the too good to be true town doctor who instantly falls for the main character or the mysterious deaths of a number of women or just that the whole did not fit well together.
The main character, Ava is a cookery writer who has rented a mansion on a secluded point with views out to sea for the summer. The reason she gives everyone is that she needs to work in seclusion to finish her book, with a large kitchen for testing her recipes. However, mainly she is running away from her guilt at her part in the death of her sister's husband. After meeting the ghost of the sea-captain who built the house she decides to research it's history and discovers that several women have lived alone in this house before her and died prematurely. However, the ghost reassures her that he will protect her and she soon finds herself looking forward to his visits after dark.
The characters were well developed and the setting was atmospheric, but somehow I felt that none of the elements (gothic, paranormal or mystery) were as well realised as they could have been to pull this into a really creepy gothic mystery.
The main character, Ava is a cookery writer who has rented a mansion on a secluded point with views out to sea for the summer. The reason she gives everyone is that she needs to work in seclusion to finish her book, with a large kitchen for testing her recipes. However, mainly she is running away from her guilt at her part in the death of her sister's husband. After meeting the ghost of the sea-captain who built the house she decides to research it's history and discovers that several women have lived alone in this house before her and died prematurely. However, the ghost reassures her that he will protect her and she soon finds herself looking forward to his visits after dark.
The characters were well developed and the setting was atmospheric, but somehow I felt that none of the elements (gothic, paranormal or mystery) were as well realised as they could have been to pull this into a really creepy gothic mystery.
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Reading Progress
September 6, 2019
–
Started Reading
September 6, 2019
– Shelved
September 6, 2019
– Shelved as:
2019
September 6, 2019
– Shelved as:
ghost-story
September 6, 2019
– Shelved as:
netgalley
September 6, 2019
– Shelved as:
netgalley-2019
September 6, 2019
– Shelved as:
thriller
September 7, 2019
–
Finished Reading
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by
Liz
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rated it 3 stars
Sep 11, 2019 06:31AM
Dang. I’ve got this one coming up. And I didn’t read the NG description, just requested because of the author. It must be my age, but reading your summary, my initial impression is that it’s a takeoff on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
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A ghost into BDSM...interesting. Hope your next read is better ❤
Liz wrote: "Dang. I’ve got this one coming up. And I didn’t read the NG description, just requested because of the author. It must be my age, but reading your summary, my initial impression is that it’s a take..."Yes, kind of but without giving too many spoilers the relationship is a bit darker than that. It's probably just me and maybe if it was by an unknown writer I would have felt differently. A lot of reviewers really liked it so give it a try and see what you think.
Paige wrote: "A ghost into BDSM...interesting. Hope your next read is better ❤"Thanks Paige. I nearly gave up reading it when it veered in that direction!
The Ghost and Mrs Muir came to mind for me too, as I read your review. Gosh. Sounds interesting. I didn’t see it or request it. I may look for it when it comes out. Great review!
I hope you love your next read! Great honest review!
Your review says it well. This one didn't work for me either.
Good review Carolyn.I will give the book a miss I think.
Terrific review, Carolyn! 💜 We both felt the same way about this one.
I never got into her Rizzoli series (even though I read mysteries and police procedurals predominantly) but since I like ghost stores, I was considering this. I so do not want to read books that include such things as BDSM. There are just so many other talented writers out there and in my TBR pile. Thanks for the head's up.
I'm almost half way through and I wish she'd stuck to the normal she writes. Ages to wait for another book from her and this is very weird :(
I just picked up this book and am only on Chapter 5. I was not loving the direction it was going so I had to read some reviews. Paranormal, gothic are two themes I am not a fan of and it is already apparent, 35 pages in. What happened to Gerritsen?
My thoughts exactly Ines! It's like it's written by someone else entirely!
I had absolutely no comparison to disappoint me, as my first sample of Tess Gerritsen but my reaction came out the same as yours. If you look up my review, I was able to identify what the problem was, because I prefer standard mystery or standard paranormal mystery, to thriller / horror mysteries.I think Tess intended to write a standard mystery ghost story but fell back into her thriller style. The problems were people oriented instead of paranormal, so the latter did not deliver. She fell into the twist trap too, thinking that is what all readers want. Keep the excellence of stories and ditch twists.
Oh and the protagonist had plenty of time to pick up her cat and leave town. What a cliché that somehow, the villain returns from a hospital errand that should have taken awhile, exactly when she figures out from paintings that he is a maniac.
