Erin Kelly (1) (1976–)

The House of Mirrors is a follow-up to Erin Kelly's debut novel, The Poison Tree. I read The Poison Tree when it came out in 2009, but in all honesty I couldn't remember anything except the bare bones. In an ideal world I would have reread it before reading The House of Mirrors (just because I would have liked to) but I'm happy to say that it works perfectly well as a standalone and everything is explained that needs to be.

So, The House of Mirrors takes us back to Rex and Karen, their daughter Alice, and the spectres of the past including Rex's sister, bohemian Biba. What happened in 1997 has been kept hidden as much as possible but like many family secrets, the truth might be about to blow everything wide open. Alice is now grown up and when notes arrive at her shop, followed by the appearance of a mysterious woman and weird phone calls, it sends her down a rabbit warren of discovery.

I loved Alice's character. I loved her quirky shop, the vintage clothes she sold and her daily #OOTD. I found her volatility fascinating to witness. The story is told either from the point of view of Alice or Karen and there was an element of reading through my fingers as Karen became increasingly concerned at the past coming back to haunt her. This is such an intricately plotted story which never felt like a forced sequel but one that effortlessly seemed to link with the previous book.

Erin Kelly writes such skilfully executed literary psychological thrillers. They remind me of Barbara Vine's books, intense and twisty stories of dysfunctional families. I didn't find The House of Mirrors to be a particularly quick read, rather one that I savoured slowly, devouring every nugget of new information and waiting to see if it would implode or not.

I loved everything about this book: the investigative feel of Alice's viewpoint, the worried vibes of Karen's, the settings, the characters, the stifling summer heat, and the chapters that fill in the blanks. Oh, and the ending! Who opened that new can of worms? The whole package is just brilliant and I highly recommend.… (altro)

We know you know by Erin Kelly covers a lifespan of 60 years from different view points. Part 1 starts with Marianne who moves into a flat her husband surprised her with in a building, which used to be a mental hospital in her hometown. This forces her to confront her past. Part 2 covers her time as a teenager and explains her connection to the asylum. The author switches then to "evil" Helen in part 3 and 4, describing her youth and her life in old age.

Although the story is unpredictable, if found it difficult to get into. The "secret" was mentioned and how guilty Marianne feels about the past, but the story kept skidding around without revealing what happened for so long (especially in part 1 of the book) that I lost interest.

I enjoyed reading it more halfway through as my sympathy really changed when hearing the story from Helen's perspective.

This was the first novel I read from Erin Kelly, I would definitely read more from her.… (altro)

Three stars are for the book, with maybe one of those stars born of a gravity effect from the five-star drama - of the same name and similar pedigree - pulling up the score of this lackluster adaptation. Hidden within the BBC show are depths unspoken. Unfortunately, that depth is of an elusive, almost silent variety. A better novelist could have listened, through the silence, and found the truly literary amongst the dramatic. Instead, we have a thinly disguised, reformatted teleplay. Even the tense carried over, as if the author couldn't be bothered to transform the most surely present-tense script (scripts are almost universally written in the present-tense) into a more traditional, past-tense novel. Simply set the writing application for stun - reformatting the script - and insert the odd detail, a bit of inner-dialogue, a novelistic touch. I exaggerate, but by how much I'm not sure.

But do catch the BBC program.… (altro)

Eleanor Churcher has spent her whole life trying to outrun the bone hunt that her parents had written into a book "The Golden Bones" which features a woman named Elinore whose bones were scattered and must be put back together again in order to return to her true love. Gold bones were indeed scattered around by her parents with clues hidden in the book. However, the Bonehunter community eventually turned to the real Eleanor and believed the last bone was the one in her body. Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of "The Golden Bones" Nell has returned home with her family for an anniversary celebration where her father is going to reveal the final missing golden bone to put together the fictional Elinore. However, when it's time for the reveal, a very real human bone appears instead of the golden bone. The Churcher family is sent into a frenzy with a real skeleton in the closet, a missing gold bone and decades of family secrets revealed.

The Skeleton Key is a complex mystery with interesting characters and a plot that keeps building. With a storyline that moves back and forth through time and from the points of view of many different characters, I was kept on my toes with the mystery of the missing golden bone, the Churcher's history and the potential suspects. I was entranced by the entire Churcher family and how their life seemed like a fairy tale from the outside, but was cracked and tearing the family apart from the inside. It was interesting to see how the different family members dealt with living in such a prominent and sought after family, as well as how they dealt with the renewed interest and investigation surrounding the real skeleton. With an interesting twist and unexpected ending, The Skeleton Key offers a mystery wrapped in a mystery with a cast of amazing characters.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (altro)