Constantia ("Connie") Gifford, age 22, lives with her father in Blackthorn House, an older mansion in the region of Sussex, in the early 1900's. Though her father previously had some minor fame as a taxidermist in a well-known museum, he now spends many of his hours at the local bar, drinking his days away. Connie, who accidentally fell down the stairs 10 years earlier, doesn't have much memory of the events which took place in her younger years. When the body of a young woman is found near Blackthorn House, small pieces of memory begin to emerge in Connie's mind. Meanwhile, her father disappears, as does the father of a young man in town. Within the span of 2-3 days, as odd events take place and Connie begins to retrieve some of her memories, more questions than answers seem to come to the forefront.

It's been a while since I've read Kate Mosse. In general, her story descriptions pull me in, and while she is a good writer, sometimes her writing is overly detailed and more lengthy than it needs to be. This story has a Gothic, dark feeling to it, with slowly revealed details which gradually unfold the story. I liked this for the most part, and I didn't feel it was dragged out quite as long as some of her earlier novels. The biggest problem I had with this one was that I had trouble keeping track of all the male characters in this novel, and due to the plot, it was necessary to do so. Having listened to this on audio, I think that made things more difficult to track, and I suspect I could've followed things a little easier in print. Nevertheless, I mostly liked this one. It was very atmospheric, if you're into that sort of thing. ( )

I needed a reading break from more serious fare, and I decided to read this throwback gothic written in 2014 but set in 1912. The heroine, Connie, is a single woman living with her father, a too often inebriated but once successful taxidermist. Connie suffers some severe memory loss that dates from her twelfth year and an accident that injured her head and was barely survived. Of course, the plot is strung around her recovery of that memory and the events that occurred at that time but are influencing a present day mystery that involves a murder and several disappearances.

Mosse does a good job of capturing the more macabre elements of the gothic, but there is little in the way of surprise here. I certainly could have drawn a straight line from the beginning to the end of the novel and never have strayed off course for a second. I picked the love interests outcomes, the major bad guy and the motive long before the reveals. Still, it was a bit of fun and served its purpose. ( )

This is the third book I've read by Kate Mosse. I thoroughly enjoyed The Winter Ghosts, and couldn't get through Labyrinth, so with the book with the interesting title I decided to give her a third chance.

It was a good quick read, and the writing was very good, with a good fast pace and effortless flow. There were a lot of characters to remember but they were all well described and I never lost track of who was who. There were quite a few names with crow references in them (which I'm guessing was deliberate), and quite a few names beginning with C (which may also have been deliberate).

This is a gothic novel, which I didn't know to begin with but quickly became apparent as there were quite a few elements of gothic tales scattered throughout. I was a little disappointed at how unoriginal the story turned out to be, with gatherings of crows and sudden storms and suchlike, and a main character who lost memories of certain events that gradually resurfaced throughout the book, which was used as a way of introducing a sinister backstory. The story became predictable, and I had worked out the ending about half way through, but it was interesting to see it unfold nonetheless.

Going back to the characters in the book, I was a little bit disappointed in the main character, who through her memories sets the scene that leads up to the main events in the book. Unfortunately I found that was all she was really there for, and the story would have turned out the same had she not been present at all.

I gave the story three stars as I enjoyed it overall, and the writing was very good, but I wish the story had been a little more original and the characters more developed. ( )

Don't believe the blurb. The truth is that the author appears to equate wordiness with atmosphere in this book, and melodrama with plot, while the characters are as dull as the turbid waters of Fishbourne Creek. I made it to p. 65 before giving up. My time is better spent elsewhere. ( )

Wonderful, Gothic novel. Dark, mysterious characters. I oved it. The descriptions from the old taxidermy book did make me squirm a little but definitely added to the atmosphere. ( )