Book Stop Corner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


“The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in.”




Sarah Jude, an American author, pens a captivating psycho-thriller in her debut book, The May Queen Murders that is set across a farming community village where the folks still believe in superstitions and peaceful life with no electricity, among them are two teenage girls, but when one of them goes missing in their community festival, things turn quite worse, as the other teenage believes that there are secrets that she doesn't know about her missing cousin as well as about the place she calls home.



Synopsis:

Stay on the roads. Don’t enter the woods. Never go out at night.

Those are the rules in Rowan’s Glen, a remote farming community in the Missouri Ozarks where Ivy Templeton’s family has lived for centuries. It’s an old-fashioned way of life, full of superstition and traditions, and sixteen-year-old Ivy loves it. The other kids at school may think the Glen kids are weird, but Ivy doesn’t care—she has her cousin Heather as her best friend. The two girls share everything with each other—or so Ivy thinks. When Heather goes missing after a May Day celebration, Ivy discovers that both her best friend and her beloved hometown are as full of secrets as the woods that surround them.


Ivy's family is the resident of Rowan’s Glen, a farming community with their own beliefs in the Missouri Ozarks, since from the beginning of time and her ancestors play an important role in this community. Ivy, along with her cousin, Heather has grown up hearing the dark and sometimes thought-provoking folklore of their community, especially the story about the man, Birch Markle, who killed the last May Queen of the community and disappeared into the dark woods and never to be found again and it is true that his screams can be still heard. But little did Ivy knew that her cousin, the chosen May Queen, disappears on the night of their community's May Day celebration, thus forcing Ivy to ponder about her drifting friendship with her once upon a time cousin-cum-best-friend, Heather, who has her own secrets and plans.

The story line has so many dynamics, angles and layers to make the story enticing yet the author's approach of presenting the story had shortcomings thus making it bit of a dull story. The book opened with a promising approach as the author strikingly arrests the dark, eerie atmosphere through her words where the readers are bound to have that creepy sensation on their skins. But midway through the book, when the twists start unspooling, the story becomes obvious and predictable. The book cover image is really dark and beautiful and has an arresting feel to it.

The author's writing is articulate and laced with proper emotions to make the readers comprehend with it. The narrative is dark and somewhat twisted and at times will keep the readers engaged to the free-flowing dialogues. The pacing is really good and swift enough to make the readers sway with its flow. Although the mystery part lacks depth and edge and for regular crime fiction readers, the climax becomes an obvious thing. At some point in the story, I realized that I have forgotten on whether I was reading a teen fiction or adult fiction, as the author seems to lose her touch from the emotions of a vulnerable teenager, rather than portraying with bit mature emotional content.

The characters are another disappointing aspect of this story considering the fact that a teenage female protagonist, Ivy, does not sync with a real life teenager as her demeanor is vague even though she is shy and timid and believes in superstitions like her folks. In short, it becomes quite difficult for the teen readers to connect with Ivy's issues and flaws. Heather is the exact opposite of her sister, she is wild and carefree, and harbors a lot of secrets. The supporting cast is also not that well-developed.

In a nutshell, this book seems like a promising and compelling thriller, but can be easily skipped as there are far better novels out there.

Verdict: Not so much of an appealing story!

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Sarah Jude's publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
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Author Info:
Sarah Jude lives by the woods and has an owl that lands on her chimney every night. She grew up believing you had to hold your breath whenever you passed a graveyard or a bridge spanning water. Now she writes about cemeteries, murder, and ghostly apparitions. She resides in Missouri with her husband, three children, and two dogs.
Visit her here


Book Purchase Links:

• Amazon US
• Amazon India