Review: Haunt Me Still (Kate Stanley #2) by Jennifer Lee Carrell

Book info:

Form: pdf e-book

Genre: historical mystery/thriller

Target audience: fans of the genre, no matter the age

Synopsis

Kate Stanley, Jennifer Lee Carrell's dauntless Shakespearean scholar-turned- director, is catapulted into a new production of Macbeth, showcasing a fabled collection of objects relating both to the play and the historical Scottish king for whom it is named.Still the Bard's witch-haunted play is famously cursed, its reputation for malevolence so strong that many actors refuse to quote or even name the play aloud unless on stage. Are they right or is it just a bit of superstition?

As rehearsals begin at the foot of Scotland's Dunsinnan Hill, a perfect location for such a play, it doesn't take long for the curse to stir. But is it really a curse?A trench atop Dunsinnan Hill is found filled with blood, and a severed human thumb turns up among the props. Kate begins sleepwalking, waking early one morning alone atop the hill, her hands smeared with blood.

She has no memory of how she got there, but later that day a local woman is found dead on the hill in circumstances that suggest not just ritual murder but ancient pagan sacrifice. With the police more focused on Kate as a suspect than as a possible future victim, she and Ben find themselves in a desperate race to discover a lost version of Macbeth, said to contain rituals of witchcraft aimed at conjuring demonic forces to gain forbidden knowledge.

What I liked:

I could sum it up this way: I liked the second novel far better because there was less Dan Brown-ish antics, more Shakespeare. Macbeth is one of my favourite plays and indeed it is a bit creepy so it worked really fine -especially when combined with the creepiness, the Scottish castles and the Edinburgh festival. I appreciated the location far more than the jumps across continents from the previous novel.

Kate Stanley, our protagonist gets sucked into a bizarre twist of events that ends up with blood on her hands…literally. She must find the lost manuscript of Macbeth which might include secret rituals of old pagan witchcraft in order to save an innocent teenage girl’s life. This manuscript was supposed to have been used in early shows of Macbeth where the mere reading of it supposedly brought real unearthly demons to the stage. Kate feels a little more human in this sequel; looking at her as a woman who essentially throws herself into a mystery as a "rebound relationship" is an interesting concept and one that works considering how intellectual Kate is supposed to be. Anyway I was really relieved that she wasn't 'an item' with Ben in this book and the fact that the author gave him another casual lover was only too natural.

Indeed the best parts of this novel were, in my opinion, the interludes around Dr John Dee, the Elizabethan polymath and occultist. The parallels between theatre and the occult were interesting: the performance as ritual; players summoning and conjuring the semblance of gods, Kings and heroes from the past; the dangerous nature of the Renaissance stage. I did love the explanation of the possible inspirations for Shakespeare's story - with the Lady of Arran and the Samhain festival - such ancient, multi-faceted backgrounds are always a welcome addition. Once again you can tell Carrell knows her stuff.Let me also tell you that the warning about crackpot academics was entertaining...particularly to someone who writes essays and has to avoid dangers of using personal websites in research.

What I didn't like

As a thriller, this book did not work: I cared little for Kate or Lady Nairn's problems so the plot held no thrill. There was no twist to surprise me. The most absurd point occurred almost exactly half the way through. Out of thin air and a propos of nothing, Lady Nairn mentions that she has an evil niece, Carrie Douglas. Ta-dah! The bunny is out of the hat and jumping around happily! Enjoy the sight while you still can, boys and girls!

Later the same good lady hands over an iPod containing a digital copy of a lost performance ofMacbeth. There's no explanation of how she got it and how it was registered. And it just happens to have a vital clue in it. Ehem...right. Paint me curious or rather I should say: "Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble."

Finally the least likeable character in the whole book: Lily. Oh Sweet Goddess give me patience. I hate it when teenagers in novels are whiny, stupid, and mostly useless at everything but getting themselves and others into trouble. Lily is all three and what she gets in the end? A REWARD. Stupidity rewarded is not what I like in my fiction or real life.

Final verdict

I liked this one far better than the first part.No, it wasn't a perfect novel, far from it but, overall, the Macbeth outweighed the predictability for me. If you like Shakespeare and find the superstitions of the theatre fascinating this book might be right for you.

Review: Interred With Their Bones (Kate Stanley 01) by Jennifer Lee Carrell

Book info:
Form: pdf file
Genre: Shakespeare thriller(?)
Target audience: library and Shakespeare fans of all age

Synopsis

On the eve of the Globe’s production of Hamlet, Shakespeare scholar and theater director, Kate Stanley, gets a visitor. Her former eccentric mentor Rosalind 'Roz' Howard gives her a mysterious box, claiming to have made a groundbreaking discovery and now she needs Kate's help. Then the theatre catches fire, on the same date, June 29th, that the original Globe burned, and Roz is found dead. This begins a huge chase across England, the US and Spain to find a missing Shakespearean manuscript of one of his less known plays which might contain the information about the real identity of its author.

What I like:

Firstly and foremostly  I loved the fact that Jennifer Lee Carrell really knew what she was writing about. She is not one of these authors which make factual mistakes, leading their characters on a wild goose chase to places which don't exist. When she describes a library or a cave you can feel she was and worked there herself. After just a page or two It became obvious that her research and love of the subject is phenomenal. I found myself literally sucked into the various debates that I’ve been aware of through the years but never in detail:  the idea that Shakespeare didn’t actually write the books, that there are others who might be better contenders, that there are people who are adamant that only Shakespeare himself could create such magnificent work.

By and large the mystery surrounding the identity and works of William Shakespeare was something that completely captivated my mind because, in itself, it is a topic which has it all: love, murders, conspiracies, betrayal, theatre and history. I admit I never had enough of it, no matter whether it was presented as a lecture, delivered by one of the contemporary characters or as a blast from the past scene. In fact the chapters set at the time of Shakespeare, retelling the story of the Granvilles and Sheltons were superb -far better than the rest of the novel. I certainly learned a lot - about the code of Bacon and the writing of the King James Bible. But I did feel there were times when the history overwhelmed the story.

What I didn't like:

First let me remind my dear readers that I am a huge anti-fan of Dan Brown. Yes I love to hate all his books for a lot of different reasons, some of them good, some of them just visceral. The fact that the blurb of this one mentions The Da Vinci Code really put me off for some time. Still as Heidenkind recommended "Interred..." on her excellent blog I decided to give it a chance. I suppose a small part of me kept hoping that it would be better than any Brown production. Let's face it, few novels are worse than Dan Brown 'bestsellers', right?

Fortunately this one wasn't worse.

BUT.

If you took away the literary and historical mystery part I am sure my assessment would be a lot harsher.

Let me warn you: I found the adventure aspects of the book formulaic and  boring from time to time. The final outcome was highly predictable as I was able to guess the identity of one of the baddies very early on and it was one of those novels which make you sure that no matter what happens to the main protagonists they will survive in one piece because survive they must - there is a sequel on the shelves, winking at you.

Indeed, the outlandish way in which the author allowed the main characters to jump between the UK, America and Spain with ease (initially without any passports! why does the author never discuss how jetlagged they must have been by the end of this! ) and then they carry weapons around and successfully fool passport control as Kate goes on a journey between continents dressed up as a man on a forged document ...highly unbelievable! Added to this, the completely unreal simplicity with which British Law Enforcement operated within the USA was ridiculous.

 After a while the  characters started acting without any sense and the reasoning behind it was a kind of cop-out. The character development was uneven especially when it came to Ben Pearl, . The climax was unfortunately the choppiest part, full of "It wasn't me! I was working with her! Ok, just kidding, he was with me and I am not working with her! I was dead! Now she's dead!"

Final verdict:

Concept: great. Execution...it could have been better.This is definitely a light read for those who love theatre, literature, Shakespeare in particular, books and libraries. There are wonderful descriptions of library stacks and rare folios. I hate to say it but this novel is indeed close to being the “Da Vinci Code” for Shakespeare aficionados. Others would probably find it fairly boring. I blame, as always, Dan Brown, let him burn in hell.