"A Search Beyond Mythic Truth!"
Siggy Gamble is an autistic, savant teen who disappears,
leaving behind an awful wound in his sister, Vera, one
that is about to be reopened thirteen years later as she
learns his body has been found washed up, dead and forlorn
on a Maine island. Apparently, there is much to be be
feared by Vera as she has shut out the awful experiences
she has whenever she allows herself to think too long or
dream about her long-lost brother. But love for her
sibling prevails and she leaves behind the comfort of her
accountant job in which she can lose herself in
predictable numbers in order to forget the huge weight of
unexplainable memories, visions and prophetic-style
warnings that offer nothing but horrific oblivion. The island's atmosphere in people, topography and
attitudes has a distinctly ghostly ambience, one not
offering comfort to a grieving Vera. Instead, she find her
brother's body has not aged in the thirteen years he's
been missing and he is clutching an artifact associated
with his childhood love of Vikings and mythological
figures, as well as the tag he wore at all times
announcing "I am not dangerous." At a bed and breakfast
house where Vera stays, she is warned to stay away from
the area where her brother's body was found. Indeed, the
more she searches for answers the darker the mystery
becomes. Vera's father was a faith healer and the only way Siggy
could communicate was by way of Bible verses. In the
middle of her memories and fearful search for answers
about her brother's life and death, Vera struggles as well
with her belief and unbelief in a God who called for
unquestioning faith yet seemed totally absent in so many
ways around her tortured upbringing. She meets Ethan but
is unsure whether he is friend or fiend in the haunted
atmosphere of this very unfriendly place. Winter Haven, a 2009 Christy Award finalist, is a Gothic
tale reminiscent of the Daphne DuMaurier novels this
reviewer read so many years ago. Athol Dickson is a master
at providing just enough twists and turns in the central
conflict and surrounding them with the darkest, direst
atmosphere possible to totally engulf the reader into this
strange, twisted and yet enlightened world! Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on September 6, 2009
Reviewed by Viviane Crystal
Courtesy Crystal Reviews
Posted October 10, 2009
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