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The Bleeding Door
In 1799, a teenage boy is found dead in his dormitory room at Bethel Academy, a Methodist school located on the remote frontier of central Kentucky. Though the boy died violently, his death was witnessed by no one. Some 70 years later, another young man, one of southern Appalachia's most feared and despised feudists, is likewise found dead inside a deserted millhouse under mysterious circumstances. Though the two deaths would seem to have little in common given the years and distance separating the two young men, they are indeed very much connected. Linking these two tragic figures are a succession of frontier preachers, a troubled Shaker village, and isolated mountain communities terrorized by witches, ghost "haynts," and deadly clan feuds.
270 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 15, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 1, 2015
Historical mysteries are not my normal choice of reading. I was hugely surprised how drawn in to the story I became.
In 1799, a teenage boy is found dead in is dormitory room. He has been attending the Bethel Academy in central Kentucky. The boy's death was brutal and violent, yet no one saw or hear anything.
Fast forward 70 years, another teenage boy is found dead inside a deserted millhouse. And once again, no one saw or heard anything.
What's puzzling is the connection between these two deaths.
A little bit of mysticism, witches, ghosts, ... or just plain humans doing what some humans do to others for no reason at all?
The author did a superb job in bringing the characters and the background of isolated mountain communities to life. I was pulled in almost immediately and stayed captivated until the very last page.
I highly recommend this one. 5 Stars without question.
My thanks to the author and to Word Slinger Publicity who furnished the book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
In 1799, a teenage boy is found dead in is dormitory room. He has been attending the Bethel Academy in central Kentucky. The boy's death was brutal and violent, yet no one saw or hear anything.
Fast forward 70 years, another teenage boy is found dead inside a deserted millhouse. And once again, no one saw or heard anything.
What's puzzling is the connection between these two deaths.
A little bit of mysticism, witches, ghosts, ... or just plain humans doing what some humans do to others for no reason at all?
The author did a superb job in bringing the characters and the background of isolated mountain communities to life. I was pulled in almost immediately and stayed captivated until the very last page.
I highly recommend this one. 5 Stars without question.
My thanks to the author and to Word Slinger Publicity who furnished the book in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
February 1, 2017
I'm not even sure what I just read. This book was nothing like the synopsis, which would have been okay except it wasn't even a good story. There were some good ideas and a lot of potential, but none of the ideas were developed or given a conclusion. Everything in the book seemed random and disjointed.
July 16, 2016
(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I thought that this book was an interesting concept. I liked the atmosphere and how the historical aspect of the world seemed very authentic. While the writing out of the accents was sometimes hard to read, as it was difficult to figure out what the characters were saying, it was a good way of allowing me to hear the way they talked.
I did find the book a bit jarring and awkward to read. The blurb implied that the death of one character was connected to the downfall of another... but by the end of the book, I had no idea how they were apart from by a very thin strand of a thread.
The book was a very short one and I felt it could have been expanded upon a lot more. It didn't seem like that much time had passed between Seth and Enoch being childhood friends and then being married with children themselves.
There was a lot of potential in this book in regards to the downward spiral Enoch took, but it was very difficult to understand how he got to that point. While the first bad actions made a little bit of sense, by the end of the book, the Enoch whose perspective was shown seemed entirely different to the Enoch other characters saw.
I think the book would have been easier to read with more development in the secondary characters. A lot of them were just mentioned once or twice, so when they had something bad happen to them, it was much harder to care.
While there were some interesting aspects to how some of the characters were connected to each other, those connections didn't really seem to add anything to the story... and there was too much glossing over in the way of interactions between characters.
A lot of the book did have potential when it came to tensions between the different people regarding slavery and although some of the attitudes were completely and dangerously wrong, I felt they made a certain kind of sense for that time period. However, I couldn't really figure out why Enoch and Seth wound up being so vehemently opposed to each other, even though neither had seemed to have a stance earlier on in the book.
I don't think I'd read this book again, but I wouldn't be averse to reading other books by this author in the future.
(This review may contain spoilers).
I thought that this book was an interesting concept. I liked the atmosphere and how the historical aspect of the world seemed very authentic. While the writing out of the accents was sometimes hard to read, as it was difficult to figure out what the characters were saying, it was a good way of allowing me to hear the way they talked.
I did find the book a bit jarring and awkward to read. The blurb implied that the death of one character was connected to the downfall of another... but by the end of the book, I had no idea how they were apart from by a very thin strand of a thread.
The book was a very short one and I felt it could have been expanded upon a lot more. It didn't seem like that much time had passed between Seth and Enoch being childhood friends and then being married with children themselves.
There was a lot of potential in this book in regards to the downward spiral Enoch took, but it was very difficult to understand how he got to that point. While the first bad actions made a little bit of sense, by the end of the book, the Enoch whose perspective was shown seemed entirely different to the Enoch other characters saw.
I think the book would have been easier to read with more development in the secondary characters. A lot of them were just mentioned once or twice, so when they had something bad happen to them, it was much harder to care.
While there were some interesting aspects to how some of the characters were connected to each other, those connections didn't really seem to add anything to the story... and there was too much glossing over in the way of interactions between characters.
A lot of the book did have potential when it came to tensions between the different people regarding slavery and although some of the attitudes were completely and dangerously wrong, I felt they made a certain kind of sense for that time period. However, I couldn't really figure out why Enoch and Seth wound up being so vehemently opposed to each other, even though neither had seemed to have a stance earlier on in the book.
I don't think I'd read this book again, but I wouldn't be averse to reading other books by this author in the future.
June 24, 2016
Note: I won a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.
Ok, rating this at 3 stars feels really stingy, it's closer to a 3.5.
This is not my usual type of book really, I know next to nothing about America in this time-period and all my previous knowledge about feudists comes from a Disney cartoon, but it sounded intriguing enough to give a go. And I have to say, it wasn't what I was expecting and it took me a while to get into, the first sixty pages I was a little confused by the jumping around in time, and a lot of it was just going over my head a little as it felt more like non-fiction about a subject I'm not really interested in, and we only learnt of the first death mentioned in the blurb second-hand which was a little odd. But then the story switched up a little and stayed in one time, following the lives of Seth Waller and Enoch Slone, and suddenly my interest level jumped enormously and I ended up really quite enjoying the rest of the book. The slow decline of Enoch Slone from the wannabe preacher boy to a figure of legend and nightmares as his relationships, and seemingly his sanity, deteriorate, was rather fascinating and a little heartbreaking. The world and community around him were richly realised also, somewhat mirroring his path as it goes from idyllic and peaceful to torn apart by feuding families and a string of violent retaliations. There's also a lot of detail included that, along with the distinctive way the characters speak, adds a level of authenticity to the whole thing, and Todd Cook clearly knows a lot about what he's writing about. I'm still not sure what the connection between the two deaths mentioned in the blurb is but it is quite possible that I'm missing the obvious, it has been known to happen, and actually in the end I kind of don't care, Enoch's story is what drew me in and that story was fully satisfying.
So overall, a good solid story with a slightly shaky start for me, but well worth checking out if it sounds like your kind of book.
Ok, rating this at 3 stars feels really stingy, it's closer to a 3.5.
This is not my usual type of book really, I know next to nothing about America in this time-period and all my previous knowledge about feudists comes from a Disney cartoon, but it sounded intriguing enough to give a go. And I have to say, it wasn't what I was expecting and it took me a while to get into, the first sixty pages I was a little confused by the jumping around in time, and a lot of it was just going over my head a little as it felt more like non-fiction about a subject I'm not really interested in, and we only learnt of the first death mentioned in the blurb second-hand which was a little odd. But then the story switched up a little and stayed in one time, following the lives of Seth Waller and Enoch Slone, and suddenly my interest level jumped enormously and I ended up really quite enjoying the rest of the book. The slow decline of Enoch Slone from the wannabe preacher boy to a figure of legend and nightmares as his relationships, and seemingly his sanity, deteriorate, was rather fascinating and a little heartbreaking. The world and community around him were richly realised also, somewhat mirroring his path as it goes from idyllic and peaceful to torn apart by feuding families and a string of violent retaliations. There's also a lot of detail included that, along with the distinctive way the characters speak, adds a level of authenticity to the whole thing, and Todd Cook clearly knows a lot about what he's writing about. I'm still not sure what the connection between the two deaths mentioned in the blurb is but it is quite possible that I'm missing the obvious, it has been known to happen, and actually in the end I kind of don't care, Enoch's story is what drew me in and that story was fully satisfying.
So overall, a good solid story with a slightly shaky start for me, but well worth checking out if it sounds like your kind of book.
October 16, 2015
I received this book from Goodread and at first I was like oh this is not something I would enjoy. Boy was I wrong I was drawn into the story line of a few mysteries but a lot of what life was like in the Appalachia starting back in 1799. I found myself growing very fond of the people and families in this book and felt more like it was a true story then fiction. I ended up totally enjoying this book and would recommend it to my friends
February 1, 2017
This book was too disjointed to enjoy. The book has several interesting chapters but then no answers or follow through. I felt like the book should have been broken up into several short stories. Will not recommend.
May 9, 2016
A fictionalized and renamed version of the Hatfield/McCoy feuds. Read my full review here:
http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/...
http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/...
December 31, 2018
I'm not sure what to make of this book. The blurb promised to connect the death of a teenage boy in Methodist school to the death of a feudist 70 years later. No, it doesn't. I don't know why the school or the murder is brought up at all because they don't seem to be part of the story. But then a lot doesn't.
The first part of the story seems to be a history of the Methodist Church in territorial Kentucky. The author jumps from different time periods and different people making the book confusing. I often got lost in the timeline and I often found myself wondering if I should know who this or that person was. The Bethel Academy seems to be important thought the school closes and never reopens and if it's supposed to have some deeper meaning it was lost on me. The murder is brought up on passing but it is never solved and it isn't the reason the school closes and the victim didn't seem to be related to anyone.
The real story begins after all this. Enoch Slone and Seth Waller are the best of friends despite being from different social classes. They hunt together, find Jesus together and plan on having their own church where they both can be preachers together. Until they find themselves on different sides of the Civil War. Enoch fights for the Union and Seth enlists in the Confederate Army. At home it's more of the differences between the haves or have nots. The have decide to get rid those they don't like, the have nots retaliate and the haves use the law to do their dirty work. No wonder there was a feud. The author does a good job of relating how two friends as close as brothers turns into total hatred. If this had been the entire book I would have given it more stars.
The ending jumps into the more recent past and introduces even more characters like the story was ending a family saga. I think we were supposed to get the feeling of everything being well and good but I just had a lot of questions, most being but 'why was this part of the book?'
The first part of the story seems to be a history of the Methodist Church in territorial Kentucky. The author jumps from different time periods and different people making the book confusing. I often got lost in the timeline and I often found myself wondering if I should know who this or that person was. The Bethel Academy seems to be important thought the school closes and never reopens and if it's supposed to have some deeper meaning it was lost on me. The murder is brought up on passing but it is never solved and it isn't the reason the school closes and the victim didn't seem to be related to anyone.
The real story begins after all this. Enoch Slone and Seth Waller are the best of friends despite being from different social classes. They hunt together, find Jesus together and plan on having their own church where they both can be preachers together. Until they find themselves on different sides of the Civil War. Enoch fights for the Union and Seth enlists in the Confederate Army. At home it's more of the differences between the haves or have nots. The have decide to get rid those they don't like, the have nots retaliate and the haves use the law to do their dirty work. No wonder there was a feud. The author does a good job of relating how two friends as close as brothers turns into total hatred. If this had been the entire book I would have given it more stars.
The ending jumps into the more recent past and introduces even more characters like the story was ending a family saga. I think we were supposed to get the feeling of everything being well and good but I just had a lot of questions, most being but 'why was this part of the book?'
December 20, 2016
I liked the historical mystery aspect of this book. I got a very good picture of how life was like in the appalachian mountains before, during and after the civil war era for the folks that really lived there. The characters were believable enough for me. The story line of how Enoch and Seth were childhood friends and their friendship became strained as they grew older because one sympathized with the north and the other the south gave me a glimpse into the turmoil of the lives of those that lived during this era. The feud between families in the mountains also gave a glimpse of mountain justice at that time and some of the fears and challenges that faced these families. The accent dialect could be difficult to grasp, but since I have heard some deep south accents before, it was a little easier for me to visualize the conversation as I read along.
The promise of how the brutal death of one teenage boy years earlier would be tied to the death of another in the millhouse later was not realized for me. The teenaged boy was found dead, in his bed back when the building was a school house. Fine. The death of Enoch in what is now the millhouse building was not a mystery...and as far as I could tell not related at all. I didn't get nor understand that connection. Put that aside though, and the story itself was quite immersing. I found myself on edge several times and holding my breath...rushing to read to find out what was going to happen.
***I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway***
The promise of how the brutal death of one teenage boy years earlier would be tied to the death of another in the millhouse later was not realized for me. The teenaged boy was found dead, in his bed back when the building was a school house. Fine. The death of Enoch in what is now the millhouse building was not a mystery...and as far as I could tell not related at all. I didn't get nor understand that connection. Put that aside though, and the story itself was quite immersing. I found myself on edge several times and holding my breath...rushing to read to find out what was going to happen.
***I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway***
June 23, 2016
When I first started reading this book I have to admit I was a bit leery! The way each chapter jumped around from one time period to the next I felt a bit mystified. However, I stayed with it and am I ever glad that I did!
You won't get a book report and have it all told to you, I think there is enough on the back to draw anyone in. Just what I read here on Goodreads was enough for me and I knew that I was either going to become enthralled or be upset. I loved it and that I cried and became upset and not at the writing, but actions that took place. Good grief I wanted to shake someone!! Being an avid reader and this I am, just ask anyone who knows me!
The research was great as far as I could tell. The slang I really can't say, but probably mostly correct. Be assured that if you get this book, you will love it if you enjoy historical type reads. Just don't expect a sweet loving hand holding novel. You won't find it here. Struggles with family and faith and the times are featured. Get a tissue box and hold your temper!
You won't get a book report and have it all told to you, I think there is enough on the back to draw anyone in. Just what I read here on Goodreads was enough for me and I knew that I was either going to become enthralled or be upset. I loved it and that I cried and became upset and not at the writing, but actions that took place. Good grief I wanted to shake someone!! Being an avid reader and this I am, just ask anyone who knows me!
The research was great as far as I could tell. The slang I really can't say, but probably mostly correct. Be assured that if you get this book, you will love it if you enjoy historical type reads. Just don't expect a sweet loving hand holding novel. You won't find it here. Struggles with family and faith and the times are featured. Get a tissue box and hold your temper!
November 8, 2015
I cant say I loved this book. It had its good aspects as well as its bad. It was full of history and was well written in the time of the era. It was more like being there and hearing exactly how they talk.
At times though it was hard to know what you were reading. It was back and forth between past and present and it gave the book a bit of a jumbled feel and it made it hard to understand. I hate to say it, but this book wasn't for me....Stormi
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At times though it was hard to know what you were reading. It was back and forth between past and present and it gave the book a bit of a jumbled feel and it made it hard to understand. I hate to say it, but this book wasn't for me....Stormi
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January 23, 2017
Was disappointed. To much back and forth, the dialect was off. I skipped several pages just to get finished.
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