Book Synopsis:
Three women
Three eras
One extraordinary mystery…
1899, Belle Époque Paris. Lucienne’s two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them.
1949, Post-War Québec. Teenager Lina’s father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina’s life in the darkest way imaginable.
2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband – a famous university professor – to death. Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation.
Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism … and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love…
My Review:
The Bleeding is an intriguing, dark book that manages to be both historical fiction and gothic thriller.
Firstly i must admit I was a little nervous about there being three different time lines to follow but the author does such a great job of describing the setting that I never felt muddled between them. All three were vividly described so that I felt I was actually there experiencing everything alongside the characters.
The multi layered plot was very intriguing with moments of great excitement but also some quieter, reflective moments which I thought was clever. There were some very chilling, disturbing scenes in the book which made my hair stand on end and the supernatural elements made it unpredictable as you never knew which way the story was going to go. What first appears to be a simple murder case soon turns into something much more darker and chilling which made the book very hard to put down. I would think that I’d finally worked things out and then something would happen to move the story in a completely different direction.
The last third of the book the atmosphere and tension really increases with lots of twists that made me read faster and faster until the final brilliant reveal. If you like dark historical thrillers I really recommend this one!
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series (Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song) has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in twenty-three countries. The third in the series, Blood Song, was longlisted for the CWA International Dagger. A TV adaptation is currently underway in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. Johana lives in London with her Swedish husband, and three young sons, and is currently working on the book four in the Roy & Castells series. Follow Johana on Twitter @JoGustawsson.
Over The Rainbow Blog 