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Voice Out Of Darkness
Thirteen years ago Monica died in a terrible skating accident. Katy never forgot the horror of it all. She had tried to save her foster sister, but Monica's last words were "Katy pushed me." Now Katy is working successfully in New York, the torment of the past behind her - until threatening notes start to arrive.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
37 people want to read
About the author
Ursula Curtiss
85 books16 followersDaughter and sister of, respectively, US mystery writers Helen Reilly and Mary McMullen. She worked as a copywriter and columnist before becoming a full-time self employed writer.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 27, 2018
Ursula Curtiss wrote her debut novel at 25, about a 25-year-old heroine haunted by a childhood trauma when her foster-sister fell through the ice on a frozen pond in a close-knit Connecticut town called Fenwick. This is more of a novel than most mysteries; you could read it for the portrait of the townsfolk and their lifestyle. There is, however, also a real mystery and real murders, described in piercing visuals that leave no doubt Curtiss has the stomach for the job.
Weather is a real presence, as in most Curtiss thrillers. As it's December, there's snow, sleet, ice, wind, cold, rain, darkness beyond the windows, and crackling fires in the chimney. Lots of cocktails. Katy is an heiress but since she's a modern woman, she works at a NYC ad agency writing copy. She only returns to her hometown, Fenwick, to confront whoever's writing those creepy poison-pen letters. Her fiancé joins her on weekends, propping her up in the midst of old acquaintances she's not sure she can trust to tell her the truth or not hit her in the head with a snow shovel. The cast of quirky characters are lively and entertaining, and Katy's obsessed with seeing through hypocritical hospitality to uncover who hates her.
Weather is a real presence, as in most Curtiss thrillers. As it's December, there's snow, sleet, ice, wind, cold, rain, darkness beyond the windows, and crackling fires in the chimney. Lots of cocktails. Katy is an heiress but since she's a modern woman, she works at a NYC ad agency writing copy. She only returns to her hometown, Fenwick, to confront whoever's writing those creepy poison-pen letters. Her fiancé joins her on weekends, propping her up in the midst of old acquaintances she's not sure she can trust to tell her the truth or not hit her in the head with a snow shovel. The cast of quirky characters are lively and entertaining, and Katy's obsessed with seeing through hypocritical hospitality to uncover who hates her.
July 26, 2015
I never connected with Katy, was never able to care about her plight. At the start of the book she begins to tell her boyfriend about a secret from her childhood, she was so slow in recounting the story that I wanted to smack her, she deserved to feel some of the pain I was feeling. There was a bunch of stopping and starting, making drinks, and a lot of dramatics to stall out her two-second tale.
I got to page 120 and just had to start flipping the pages to get to the end, everything felt a little stalled out. I found that I had guessed at some of the big mystery, so there was no surprise when the who of it all was at last revealed.
Voice Out of Darkness is OK, but the best thing about it was the atmosphere. The winter weather was so beautifully described that I wanted to jump inside the story. I hate July!
I got to page 120 and just had to start flipping the pages to get to the end, everything felt a little stalled out. I found that I had guessed at some of the big mystery, so there was no surprise when the who of it all was at last revealed.
Voice Out of Darkness is OK, but the best thing about it was the atmosphere. The winter weather was so beautifully described that I wanted to jump inside the story. I hate July!
June 4, 2010
Ursula Reilly Curtiss, born in 1923, came into the world with fairly impressive crime-fiction genes. Her mother, Helen Reilly, her sister, Mary McMullen, and her brother, James Kieran, all wrote mysteries. Her first book, "Voice Out of Darkness," won the Red Badge Award for the best new mystery of 1948.
Rather than penning police procedurals like her mother, Curtiss focused on the type of story where an innocent bystander gets pulled reluctantly into becoming an amateur sleuth — against a backdrop of seeming domestic calm, with layers of evil hiding behind family secrets and familiar faces. Her protagonists were usually female, except for works like 1951's "The Noonday Devil," where the main character is a man who learns his brother's death as a Japanese POW was carefully planned by a fellow prisoner.
"Voice Out of Darkness" falls into the female-protagonist camp, where we find that thirteen years prior to the events of the book, Katy Meredith lost her foster-sister, Monica, in a skating accident. Although Katy tried to save Monica, Monica's last words were "Katy pushed me." Katy thought she'd escaped both her home town and the horrors of Monica's death by moving to New York, until she starts receiving threatening notes in the mail. At first she wonders if someone else near the ice that day overheard Monica's words and is trying to blackmail her, but when Katy returns to her childhood home, she finds evidence of a calculating killer whose sights are now set on her.
Curtiss has moments of crisp observations in her writing, but her strengths are in her characterizations, setting and pacing. The novel is a quick read, which helps make the slight thinness and predictability of the plot (at least by 21st-century eyes looking backward), not much of a distraction.
Rather than penning police procedurals like her mother, Curtiss focused on the type of story where an innocent bystander gets pulled reluctantly into becoming an amateur sleuth — against a backdrop of seeming domestic calm, with layers of evil hiding behind family secrets and familiar faces. Her protagonists were usually female, except for works like 1951's "The Noonday Devil," where the main character is a man who learns his brother's death as a Japanese POW was carefully planned by a fellow prisoner.
"Voice Out of Darkness" falls into the female-protagonist camp, where we find that thirteen years prior to the events of the book, Katy Meredith lost her foster-sister, Monica, in a skating accident. Although Katy tried to save Monica, Monica's last words were "Katy pushed me." Katy thought she'd escaped both her home town and the horrors of Monica's death by moving to New York, until she starts receiving threatening notes in the mail. At first she wonders if someone else near the ice that day overheard Monica's words and is trying to blackmail her, but when Katy returns to her childhood home, she finds evidence of a calculating killer whose sights are now set on her.
Curtiss has moments of crisp observations in her writing, but her strengths are in her characterizations, setting and pacing. The novel is a quick read, which helps make the slight thinness and predictability of the plot (at least by 21st-century eyes looking backward), not much of a distraction.
July 28, 2023
Slowly falling in love with this genre of "mid-twentieth century suspense/murder mystery set in small, wintry New England town."
June 4, 2021
A terrific introduction to the author. More here:
https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpr...
https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpr...
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January 9, 2019Synopsis: thirteen years ago Monica died in a terrible skating accident. Katy never forgot the horror. Now threatening notes start to arrive.
July 20, 2021
Jeugdherinnering achtervolgt inmiddels 25 jarige vrouw die slachtoffer wordt van een wraakactie. De plot is onverwacht maar toch geloofwaardig, de stukjes van de puzzel vallen op hun plaats.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews