Joel Gordonson

Confession: I chose this novel because there is a gargoyle on the cover. I am a sucker for gargoyles. Let me live inside our beloved Notre Dame, in the Cologne Cathedral, in St. Vitus in Prague with the scariest gargoyles I’ve ever seen (and honourable mention the darkly grotesque and utterly ugly gargoyles in the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona that are truly scary to look at) and I'm happy, I feel at home. When I read the blurb though, I admit I had some suspicions, because the same old "two academics make a groundbreaking discovery and find the time to fall in love, while we move back and forth in time" can be quite boring. And yet, I thought ‘let’s give it a try, you never know…’ However, this book was no exception, sadly...

The story is divided between the present time and 1532, during the turbulent era of Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the monasteries. Two academics are on a mission to restore a church in Atwelle, a small English town, where they find a series of gargoyles that seem to be connected to a series of murders. It sounds interesting, and it really is, but there were so many problems with the unfolding of the story, in my opinion, and I now consider this novel a great disappointment.

Although the writer tries to create a dark atmosphere, with the tall, naked trees and the cold in the air, and the stormy nights, there were many problems that took over the story quickly. The dialogue is problematic and at times, unnatural, frightfully wooden and a bit silly. For example, a character asks a father about his children and he replies "I've lost count of how many they are." I cannot imagine someone replying in such a way,unless he has more illegitimate children than Robert Baratheon, and here this wasn't the case. This is just one example of many strange quotations that didn't make much sense. In addition, the way the writer communicates the thoughts of the characters is confusing and a bit tacky. Think of contemporary soliloquies with uninspired humor. As you can tell, the interactions were pretty much and many times disappointing. I think the writer has very little idea of the daily speech during the times of Henry VIII. E.g. "There traditionally are..." "I can explain it entirely.", "...let's just say.." Yes, this is modern speech, nothing to do with the 16th century. My eyes are bleeding....The cherry on top were all the syntactical mistakes, the spelling and punctuation problems, so at times, this ARC was almost unreadable.

The characters are equally problematic. I was bothered by Margeaux's almost racist behaviour towards a student who favours the Gothic style of clothing. She seems superficial and too naive to occupy the seat of a professor. Don is too forward, too flirty for a man who calls himself an academic. He seems almost condescending towards Margeaux, just because she's good looking and doesn't seem to take her seriously. "Now you're sounding like an academic." Seriously? He doesn't sound like an academic himself, if I may say so. When discussing a gargoyle figure, Don says the exact following words: "Maybe the architect or the sculptor just thought this would be really cool." If this is the language of an academic, I am right in having lost all faith in humanity.

So, what to do when the writing is mediocre at best, the characters irritate you to no end, and the story is interesting but goes to waste due to a multitude of issues? The wisest choice is to abandon it altogether. Since this was an ARC, I decided to persevere. It's a pity because the story had some potential, but, in my opinion, the execution was terrible...I don't know about Mystery, but Historical Fiction and dialogue in general are certainly not the author's great strengths...I read that he wrote a book about the coming of age of Jesus. I dread to think the dialogue in that one...I am sorry but no...

Many thanks to SelectBooks and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.… (altro)

There’s something odd about St. Clements church in Atwelle, Cambridge researcher Margeaux Wood can feel it. When odd gargoyles are found carved into the eaves of the church during its restoration, her hunch seems to be confirmed. Teaming up with Don Whiby, the architect in charge of the restorations, Margeaux sets out to uncover the story behind the unique carvings. But then there is a murder, and soon another, and the pattern of the murders seems to echo the mysterious carvings in the eves. Furthermore, these murders seem to echo similar crimes committed during the reign of Henry VIII . . .

I really liked the concept of this book. The interplay between Tudor England and modern times was well done. Gordonson gives the reader a wealth of historical detail to work with, and I found the balancing act played by both church officials and highly placed citizenry during Henry VIII’s conflict with the Vatican to be truly fascinating. The mystery itself is original and interesting.

That being said, I found the execution of the book to be somewhat wanting. The characters of Margeaux and Don, and others central to the plot, feel a bit unfinished. There is little to the characters beyond the immediate needs of the story, nothing about wants, desires, or dreams beyond the gargoyles in the church. Additionally, the antagonists seem to have little motivation for being such. They are acting to foil or to harm our protagonists, yes, but why?

There are some nicely suspenseful scenes in this book, with a good creep factor to boot. But I did find that several opportunities for suspense were passed by, possibly to increase the pace of the book. The plot does move quickly, but occasionally feels like it’s stampeding along, sacrificing plot and character development in the process.

I guess my overall impression is one of haste. The plot gallops along, leaving us with quick glimpses of something fascinating. Taking the time to give the reader a bit more to work with, to flesh out the characters, the world they live in, and the (really quite interesting) central mystery would have given this book real punch.

In all, this is a fantastic idea, with a great amount of attention paid to historical detail. Gordonson is certainly able to craft a compelling story. But I feel that as written, we are seeing only the bare bones of a great story.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.… (altro)