Open the cover. Step into the mind of a Alex. You will find yourself in her skin, waking to moment when she is just about to commit suicide. “My left foot trembles as it hovers over the edge.” In the end, having gone full circle, you will find yourself at a moment before the beginning, stepping over to reach the edge, praying for mercy. I love it when the end coils over onto the beginning. What a gipping moment it is, when you straddle a decision, hoping—perhaps in vain—to find a safe place for a foothold, or failing that, to find grace. In between these two moments, which happen in the present, Alex reflects on the past, on the events that brought her to this state: the onset of insanity and the unravelling of her 10-years marriage to Greg, who tries as best he can to help her get well. “He had come come one day to find the dining room curtains in shreds because I couldn’t get them off their hooks to wash them.” It all starts with a visit to a museum.“My footsteps echoed as I trod the creaky polished floorboards in the empty room. I couldn’t overcome the feeling of being watched.” By some strange time slip, the haunting figures in the portraits come alive, at least in Alex’s mind: Jonas Devine (the museum benefactor), his bride Margarita, who died at childbirth of their second son, his second wife Agnes, who has a daughter named Grace. It is her portrait, found rolled up in a drawer, that stirs the heart. “Her hands floated next to her and her light brown hair flowed loose around her.” It is the mystery of her drowning that stirs Alex into further exploration. What price would she have to pay for daring to change her fate? Margarita becomes a shadow, a haunting hiss. “Kill him…” She wants Alex to kill someone—anyone—because then Alex’s soul would be as damned as hers. Before long Alex becomes a danger to herself, and to others. “In saving Grace Devine, I had lost myself.” If you like taunting yourself with fear of what is coming up behind you, this book is perfect for you. Five stars.
In between these two moments, which happen in the present, Alex reflects on the past, on the events that brought her to this state: the onset of insanity and the unravelling of her 10-years marriage to Greg, who tries as best he can to help her get well. “He had come come one day to find the dining room curtains in shreds because I couldn’t get them off their hooks to wash them.”
It all starts with a visit to a museum.“My footsteps echoed as I trod the creaky polished floorboards in the empty room. I couldn’t overcome the feeling of being watched.” By some strange time slip, the haunting figures in the portraits come alive, at least in Alex’s mind: Jonas Devine (the museum benefactor), his bride Margarita, who died at childbirth of their second son, his second wife Agnes, who has a daughter named Grace. It is her portrait, found rolled up in a drawer, that stirs the heart. “Her hands floated next to her and her light brown hair flowed loose around her.” It is the mystery of her drowning that stirs Alex into further exploration. What price would she have to pay for daring to change her fate?
Margarita becomes a shadow, a haunting hiss. “Kill him…” She wants Alex to kill someone—anyone—because then Alex’s soul would be as damned as hers. Before long Alex becomes a danger to herself, and to others. “In saving Grace Devine, I had lost myself.”
If you like taunting yourself with fear of what is coming up behind you, this book is perfect for you.
Five stars.