What do you think?
Rate this book
The Death Mask
Amber wants to meet her soulmate, fall in love, marry and live happily ever after. Luckily, she has a special gift which makes all her wishes for come true. But this gift comes with a price. What seems like a dream come true for Amber and her newfound love Michael soon morphs into a nightmare of obsession and betrayal. A mystical relic gives Michael and his daughter supernatural powers, tormenting Amber through their marriage. Will Amber's happily ever after come true... or will the family be claimed by the Death Mask? This is the large print edition of The Death Mask, with a larger font / typeface for easier reading.
Paperback
First published August 17, 2015
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 22, 2016
The Death Mask is an intensely creepy story that doesn't let up. It’s a story I am glad to have read and I can’t wait to read the sequel. Actually right now I just wish I knew exactly what the sequel was about.
I will say the book does start a bit slow, but understandably so. Mr. Raimbault takes the time to weave separate lives into a full picture, giving piece after piece building the tension and stimulating your curiosity. What is happening, where is this leading? The only thing you know is nothing good can possibly come from what he is telling us, and there is no doubt he is the one telling us this story. His voice is distinctly heard throughout it in a way that was quirky, but enjoyable. It definitely made this book stand out for me, though it took me a moment to adjust to.
The Dickly family has more than their share of tragedies, ones that even their immense wealth couldn't fix. Micheal Dickly first watched his daughter permanently handicapped in a horrible accident then watched as the woman he loved dearly (a little too dearly) slowly succumb to an autoimmune disease that no one could quite name. Amber is a girl who is strangely innocent even she uses the strange abilities she seems to have for morally questionable things. She longs for a 'forever' love and sees the recently widowed, and much older, Michael as the man to give her that. She wastes no time in setting out with purpose to make that happen.
The characters are creepily bizarre, yet oddly sure and comfortable with who they are. Many of the things they did had me going, really? That’s just wrong. The things they thought were normal, the things they did were just…weird, but I couldn’t stop ‘watching’. With Amber I couldn’t help but think of the subjectivity of right and wrong. In my world I am usually the good guy and I often think that what I am doing is what’s best for others. Yet right is a line far too easily crossed as we justify what we want and need to make it okay. Amber is scary in her image of herself versus the reality. Yet oddly I found myself rooting for her at times while others she was just wrong.
Michael is a character that seems almost insane, in a very functional way, whether it’s from events that happen in the story, he always was, or he was simply leaning that way till events pushed him over I am not sure. I’m not even totally sure if he was crazy. However, he was normal, then would do something that made you go, huh? What is wrong with him? Then I would just scratch my head. I just know both he and Amber are uncomfortably abnormal.
I won’t tell details of the storyline, it’s a journey everyone should take on their own, but it’s not always an easy one and quite often uncomfortable, but it’s definitely a journey worth taking. The Death Mask is filled with strange people in strange circumstances and most are hard to completely like, but that makes their story no less engaging. However it’s engaging in a ‘The Shining’, ‘can’t look away from the train crash’ kinda way.
This story left me thinking more than I expected. The end of this tale left me in a weird place, and I’m still unsure whether it’s a good or a bad thing. Which makes me think it’s probably a good one. I love a book to make me think, to engage me, even to challenge me in some uncomfortable way. I want to know where it’s going only to find out I’m wrong. Which also can leave me wondering if the ending delivered. In this case I KNEW what was coming, I just saw the ending so clearly. And it didn't happen that way. Which left me feeling like there was more story to tell even as it gave me a valid, makes crazy sense ending. Bottom line was this book made me feel, even if it was not a pleasant feeling, just as this type of book should.
Mr. Raimbault did have some grammatical issues, towards the beginning of the story liked his exclamation points a little too much and had some awkwardness to his writing from time to time but it does improve and was nothing too hard to overlook. I look forward to his next book and to seeing his writing as it's improves with experience. While I assume the next book in this series will be a different story within the same world I can’t help but hope for a peek into “what happens next” with this one. If you like eerie tales that make you uncomfortable in the best possible way pick this book up and give it a try, you’re sure to have no regrets.
I will say the book does start a bit slow, but understandably so. Mr. Raimbault takes the time to weave separate lives into a full picture, giving piece after piece building the tension and stimulating your curiosity. What is happening, where is this leading? The only thing you know is nothing good can possibly come from what he is telling us, and there is no doubt he is the one telling us this story. His voice is distinctly heard throughout it in a way that was quirky, but enjoyable. It definitely made this book stand out for me, though it took me a moment to adjust to.
The Dickly family has more than their share of tragedies, ones that even their immense wealth couldn't fix. Micheal Dickly first watched his daughter permanently handicapped in a horrible accident then watched as the woman he loved dearly (a little too dearly) slowly succumb to an autoimmune disease that no one could quite name. Amber is a girl who is strangely innocent even she uses the strange abilities she seems to have for morally questionable things. She longs for a 'forever' love and sees the recently widowed, and much older, Michael as the man to give her that. She wastes no time in setting out with purpose to make that happen.
The characters are creepily bizarre, yet oddly sure and comfortable with who they are. Many of the things they did had me going, really? That’s just wrong. The things they thought were normal, the things they did were just…weird, but I couldn’t stop ‘watching’. With Amber I couldn’t help but think of the subjectivity of right and wrong. In my world I am usually the good guy and I often think that what I am doing is what’s best for others. Yet right is a line far too easily crossed as we justify what we want and need to make it okay. Amber is scary in her image of herself versus the reality. Yet oddly I found myself rooting for her at times while others she was just wrong.
Michael is a character that seems almost insane, in a very functional way, whether it’s from events that happen in the story, he always was, or he was simply leaning that way till events pushed him over I am not sure. I’m not even totally sure if he was crazy. However, he was normal, then would do something that made you go, huh? What is wrong with him? Then I would just scratch my head. I just know both he and Amber are uncomfortably abnormal.
I won’t tell details of the storyline, it’s a journey everyone should take on their own, but it’s not always an easy one and quite often uncomfortable, but it’s definitely a journey worth taking. The Death Mask is filled with strange people in strange circumstances and most are hard to completely like, but that makes their story no less engaging. However it’s engaging in a ‘The Shining’, ‘can’t look away from the train crash’ kinda way.
This story left me thinking more than I expected. The end of this tale left me in a weird place, and I’m still unsure whether it’s a good or a bad thing. Which makes me think it’s probably a good one. I love a book to make me think, to engage me, even to challenge me in some uncomfortable way. I want to know where it’s going only to find out I’m wrong. Which also can leave me wondering if the ending delivered. In this case I KNEW what was coming, I just saw the ending so clearly. And it didn't happen that way. Which left me feeling like there was more story to tell even as it gave me a valid, makes crazy sense ending. Bottom line was this book made me feel, even if it was not a pleasant feeling, just as this type of book should.
Mr. Raimbault did have some grammatical issues, towards the beginning of the story liked his exclamation points a little too much and had some awkwardness to his writing from time to time but it does improve and was nothing too hard to overlook. I look forward to his next book and to seeing his writing as it's improves with experience. While I assume the next book in this series will be a different story within the same world I can’t help but hope for a peek into “what happens next” with this one. If you like eerie tales that make you uncomfortable in the best possible way pick this book up and give it a try, you’re sure to have no regrets.
February 4, 2016
The Dickly family has more than their share of tragedies. At a young age, their daughter, Paulette, was in a horrible accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down and unable to speak. A few years, later, Linsey Dickly falls ill and passes away at a young age from an incurable autoimmune disease. Michael Dickly makes a Death Mask of his late wife, even though she said she didn’t want one. Michael has tea with the mask, sits it at the dinner table, and talks to it every night.
Enter Amber. She is a young woman who has a special power – she gets everything she wants by wishing for it. She has wished for a man to love and believes that Michael is that man. She attends the funeral and then visits the Dickly home the next day with dinner. Michael hires her to care for his daughter while he works. Amber realizes this is the perfect opportunity to get closer to Michael and eventually become the next Mrs. Dickly. But, things don’t always go as planned.
The author tells this morbid tale in such a way that I could not help but feel pulled into the story. He has a unique way of narrating the story, which I found interesting. His character building is amazing! Michael’s obsession with is dead wife’s mask was morbid, but intriguing. Paulette plays an important part of the story, even though she can’t communicate with words. It really is a captivating tale that could have gone wrong, but Mr. Raimbault pulled it off and did so very well! Definitely grab this one if you enjoy a good mysterious and suspenseful tale.
*Copy provided for review.
Enter Amber. She is a young woman who has a special power – she gets everything she wants by wishing for it. She has wished for a man to love and believes that Michael is that man. She attends the funeral and then visits the Dickly home the next day with dinner. Michael hires her to care for his daughter while he works. Amber realizes this is the perfect opportunity to get closer to Michael and eventually become the next Mrs. Dickly. But, things don’t always go as planned.
The author tells this morbid tale in such a way that I could not help but feel pulled into the story. He has a unique way of narrating the story, which I found interesting. His character building is amazing! Michael’s obsession with is dead wife’s mask was morbid, but intriguing. Paulette plays an important part of the story, even though she can’t communicate with words. It really is a captivating tale that could have gone wrong, but Mr. Raimbault pulled it off and did so very well! Definitely grab this one if you enjoy a good mysterious and suspenseful tale.
*Copy provided for review.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews