Title: Porcelain (Shadows of Hysteria)
Author: Jesse
Sprague
Publisher: Cursed
Dragon Ship Publishing
Pages: 344
My GoodReads
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Gabrielle Cross is under therapy and
medication to help her cope with the aftermath of a tragedy in the past. She
has also previously been institutionalized. Ten years ago, when she was only
nine, her parents were found brutally murdered, and she was found covered in
their blood. She believed then that it was her porcelain doll, a family
antique, that had killed them in order to protect her.
Now Gabrielle is trying to live a
normal life, go to college, date. How long will it be before her past catches
up with her?
When her date, Joe, takes her home on
the very first date and pressures her for sex, she blacks out. When she wakes
up, he is dead with stab wounds and noticeable strangulation marks, causing
Gabrielle’s past to be brought to the fore again. She is filled with doubts and
fears and the only two people who trust her are her half-brother, Michael, and
her friend, Peter.
Meanwhile, Michael has begun a
relationship with Cole Montez, a bisexual, divorced cop who is going through a
bitter legal battle with ex-wife Joan for the custody of their 4-year-old
daughter, Isa, while the banks threaten to foreclose on his house.
Then Cole is assigned the case. Will
he be able to ensure justice for everyone?
As a child, Gabrielle believed that
her doll had committed the murders. Now she is anxious to find answers. Is she really
a murderer or could the doll be possessed by an evil spirit?
The book shines a spotlight on mental
illness and schizophrenia. Peter is schizophrenic but has sought help and is
doing well. Issues of mental health are written about in this book from a place
of sensitivity and understanding.
The story is written in the 3rd
person past tense PoV of Gabrielle and Cole. For the greater part of the novel,
the story shifted between the two PoVs in regularly alternating chapters. At
the 38th chapter, we get six consecutive chapters in Gabrielle’s
PoV, causing the pace to flag a little bit.
The 3rd person PoV of
Gabrielle, with which the story began, drew me into the story. Unfortunately,
the second chapter, where we get to know Gabrielle’s half-brother, Michael,
through the eyes of his boyfriend, Cole, was completely unnecessary. This
chapter appeared to have been put in just to bring us up to speed on the past.
Michael tells his new boyfriend (and us) the story of their lives. This chapter
nearly put me off reading the rest of the book.
Also Cole’s utter infatuation with
Michael was something I found annoying. I almost gave up reading because of
this thread in the story. Cole kept thinking that Michael was gorgeous which
took away from the main story. Thankfully, the pace improved after the second
chapter, and Cole kept his infatuation under wraps.
I found the two men, Michael and
Cole, very boring and annoying. Lucinda ‘Cinder’, Gabrielle’s roommate and
friend, was a minor character I liked straightaway for her loyalty and sense of
friendship.
The author has a good style. The
characterization, description, conflict and action are handled well. The
description of Peter and Gabrielle standing atop the unfinished building had me
feeling queasy. But the horror and supernatural elements were weak.
The book needed to be proofed better.
Modicum is a noun, not an adverb as is used here.
After a few chapters, Gabrielle
didn’t stay in ‘character’. She stopped mentioning her meds or repeating her
affirmations.
Cole’s bisexuality was token, having
no bearing on the main plot. Why didn’t the author just make him gay? The
romance between Cole and Michael took up too much space.
Also, the doll could have been a lot
more menacing. Once the investigation started, we didn’t see any evidence of
the horror of the doll for ourselves. It was all in Gabrielle’s flashbacks. The
doll on the cover of the book was quite creepy but we don’t get to see her
inherently evil nature.
The doll’s relationship with
Gabrielle is downplayed. Instead we get to see more of Cole and Michael, Cole
and Joan, Gabrielle and Cinder, and Cole and Isa. Even Yolanda, Cole’s nanny,
the most minor of the characters, gets more space here.
The dialogue and Gabrielle’s internal
monologue get repetitive, with Gabrielle repeatedly wishing herself dead, and
wondering if the doll is a part of her or external to her.
Despite the accusation of murder that
hangs over her, Gabrielle isn’t put under surveillance. Additionally,
Gabrielle’s extended conversation with Peter wasn’t as revelatory as she seemed
to think it would be.
Isa is supposed to be 4, but I
couldn’t sense her innocence. She appeared too grown up.
The resolution was weak. By the 82
percent mark, I had stopped caring about any of the characters. There were a
number of questions that remained unanswered. Why was Joe killed a day after
the horrible date? How did his death come about?
(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)
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