This was a fantastic book! My goal was to read Orkney:: Romance, Magic and Murder on the Scottish Isles within a week, but really it only took me two days. This book by Yaakov C Lui-Hyden pulls you in and won’t really release its talons until long after you have finished reading. This book is abrasive and filled with adult language and themes, but so very enjoyable.
This is one of those books that immerses you in each strand of the story, like the lonely school teacher, or the older couple who have a whole hydroponic grow room in their secret basement. The reader becomes comfortable and familiar with each strand and can easily see the parallels as they live together in this rural coastal area. A little magic, myth, and superstition are the loose loom on which all these strands are held together. Then suddenly all the strands are pulled together in a twisted knot. Your heartbeat races and adrenaline carries you through the next bit.
The author has a masterful style of description. Quickly the reader is immersed in each scene, as if right there watching and feeling along with the main character. However, this is achieved as much with inference as direct information so the brain is quickly hopping not bogged down in details. Then on the flip side, the gore, torture, and death is described just enough for the reader to imagine teh scene without being grossed out or repulsed. For example,it is enough for me to read that the man has black rimmed, puckered holes where his eyes had been (after he had already told her not to look at him) and when she saw, she screamed and screamed. I can picture the scene completely, but I have no need for further gore-filled description.
I would certainly recommend this book to many mature readers, however, due mostly to the language, I would not recommend it for schools nor the YA section of public libraries. Rather, I would recommend it for the adult fiction section of the public libraries and to my friend who enjoys reading Koontz with his mix of supernatural suspense.
For anyone who enjoys a touch of supernatural with their mystery and isn’t offended by rough language, I happily recommend this book for its intrigue and masterful weave of the local mythology.
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