G. K. Sihat reviews ‘Death Notes‘ by Sarah Rayne for the Blackwell’s Book Blog.
Death Notes may not be as ‘spooky’ as Sarah Rayne’s Nell West/Michael Flint series, but it does mystery and intrigue better than any of her other novels. It is a quintessential page turner, with the end of each chapter leaving the reader positive that they’ve solved the mystery, only to have another conundrum thrown into the web that Rayne has weaved. By the end, I was convinced there wasn’t any way she could answer all the questions and solve all the mysteries in the final few chapters, but she proved me wrong.
The horror author, whose career has spanned over three decades, skilfully switches between writing styles, perspectives and medium and delivers a novel that is beautifully sophisticated yet easy to understand. The chapters alternate between the five main characters: the music researcher, Phineas Fox; a recently widowed Beatrice Drury, still struggling to understand the death of her husband and daughter; a stranger suffering from amnesia; Jessica Cullen, a young teenager living with her God-fearing family; and the journal entries of Mortimer Quince, who died decades before the story begins. Each story is woven together: linked by the fictional story of Roman Volf, a Russian violinist who was hanged for the murder of Tsar Alexander II, a historical assassination in the 1980s.
I only have two criticisms about the novel: there wasn’t enough in regard to the story between Jessica’s mother, Catriona, and her Uncle Tormod (what was going on there?) nor about Phineas Fox. I’m looking forward to learning his backstory in the next instalment of the series, Chord of Evil, which was released at the end of August 2017. Not surprisingly, a third book has also been commissioned. Despite this, I enjoyed the book and it’s safe to say that Death Notes is possibly one of her greatest works to date.
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