The Legend og Rachel Petersen - J.T. Baroni

Description

Outraged when The Post Gazette overlooks him for a promotion, 39 years old Sports Writer Christian Kane quits and moves to the country to write fiction. Inspiration flows from a grave he stumbles upon in the woods. He compiles The Legend of Rachel Petersen, a fascinating story revolving around the dead twelve-year-old girl lying beneath the weathered tombstone. His book becomes a Best Seller; then Hollywood makes it in to a blockbuster movie. Kane becomes rich and famous, but only to have Rachel rise from the grave to seek revenge on him for slandering her name! Or does she?

My Opinion

When I read the description for this book it intrigued me greatly. The book sounded like it was going to be a nail biting thriller and in parts it was. The book follows a few different characters in different time period, which sometimes confused me slightly as it jumped from one time period to the other quite drastically. However this was helpful to understand the background and details of Rachel's death.

I loved the initial concept and the book reminded me of “My Sword Hand is Singing” by Marcus Sedgwick (one of my favourite books). It was exciting, kept me hooked and I found myself not wanting to read it in the dark as I have an over active imagination.

I must say though, I found some parts of the story quite predictable and I struggled with some of the language, especially in the civil war sections as I was unfamiliar with the names and some language (e.g guns, hunting related words). This didn't stop me reading though, it just meant I had to google a few things to help me visualise the story. I was really enjoying the book until I got towards the end. I knew from the request that there was a double twist and as I uncovered one it became obvious what the second twist would be, and sadly I knew I wasn't going to like it. I won't tell you what happens as I don't want to ruin the book but for me the ending didn't satisfy me. It seemed to conclude a well written, enthralling book on a bad note and I came away feeling a bit disappointed.

However, overall the main body of this book is great. Once you've wrapped you're head around which character belongs to which time period it is quite simple to follow and the story keeps you hooked. The story had me on edge and it was certainly a thriller. It unfortunate about the ending but I would recommend this for anyone interested in this genre.