Book 46 The Lace Reader

I can't decide if I like this book, or not. The Lace Reader (by Brunonia Barry) is set in Salem Massachusetts in 1996.

Towner (aka Sophya) Whitney, a young woman from a long line of fortune tellers and mind readers, comes back to her childhood home because of the death of her beloved aunt. Towner is a self proclaimed liar and claims she's had hallucinations, which caused her to become an inpatient in a mental institution who requested shock therapy. Now "better", or at least medicated, she returns home after having just had a surgery (which readers never find out specifically what happened, though we can guess through some veiled references) to her Aunt Eva's house.

She knows her aunt didn't accidentally drown. While trying to convince a local authorities of this, based on her feelings and visions, she comes in contact with Rafferty, a police detective takes a romantic interest in Towner. He was also friends with Eva and he doesn't want to believe she drown either.

During the course of the story, Towner also meets with her mother, May, who gave Towner's twin sister away when they were babies. May gave her to her sister Emma. Emma was married to Cal, who beat her do badly she's mentally handicapped and blind now. May takes care of her. But Towner's sister suffered in a childhood tragedy. Call is now out of prison and has started his own cult like religion and causes problems for the whole Whitney family. May also takes in abused women and gives them a job as lace makers, and a safe place to stay.

Because the mystic abilities that run in the Whitney family, all the women are fortune tellers or readers of some kind, and they can all "read lace" as a way of telling a fortune. Apropos since they family fortune comes from making lace, too.

Take all these pieces together, Rafferty is trying to solve the death of Eva and to see if it ties in to the disappearance of Angela, a girl who ran away from Cal's cult, and you have The Lace Reader. I like the setting in Salem; obviously the witch history plays a part in this novel. The peripheral storyline of witches, and the tourists who visit the historical town, as well as the modern day witch who inhabit Salem are an interesting and fun part of the story.

There is a wicked, wicked (no pun intended) twist to this story. Interesting read. I also found at the beginning of each chapter interesting because of the lace reading information.

I just can't decide if I like this or not. It was sad, tragic really, and though I like a good twist, I thought this one was "twisted." Psychological thrillers often leave me feeling out of sorts. I also hate it when author's leave important details left unanswered.

Just not sure how I feel about this one...