"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was pretending he didn't exist."
Reverend Jack Brooks, single mum to 15-year-old Flo, is asked to serve as an interim vicar in Chapel Croft after an event at her Nottingham church leaves her reputation in doubt. Jack (really?? why??) and Flo arrive in the small village and move into the worn cottage next to the old church. The church has a history of being the site where 5 Protestant martyrs were burned during Queen Mary's purge in 1538. Two of those victims were young girls. Known as the Sussex Martyrs, the town is proud of this heritage and host a ceremony every year to commemorate the "Burning Girls" as twig dolls are tossed into a fire. As creepy as that is, there is also another strange story because 2 teenage girls disappeared over 30 years ago and were never heard from again. In addition, Jack's appointment to this post is the result of the previous vicar committing suicide in the church. So, Jack and Flo have a very awkward introduction to the village but they start meeting the townspeople and begin to settle in. Almost immediately weird things start happening and the secrets and lies are eventually revealed. NO SPOILERS.
I read this in a couple of hours today and I thought, from reading other reviews, that I would like it much more than I did. I had a very hard time relating to any of the characters and the whole plot eventually seemed a bit over the top. I kept waiting for tension and suspense, a gothic menace, some sort of supernatural event, an exorcism -- something to take this to the next level. But, I was disappointed and the themes I was expecting didn't play out. I've read a couple of other titles by this author and I usually like her writing style, so I will give another chance to a future book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - mystery, thriller
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