Christy Award winning author Jamie Jo Wright presents a story full of mystery and things that go bump in the night. This story has three distinct timelines that all revolve around the mysterious Castle Moreau in Wisconsin. In the early 1800s, when the castle was still new, a six-year-old girl who has lost her mother is visited in the night by the ghostly appearance of a woman with a crooked hand. In the 1870s, another young girl, Daisy Francios, an orphan with a troubled past, comes to work at Castle Moreau as a maid. She is introduced to the owner, an 86-year-old reclusive author of horror stories, featuring a woman with a crooked hand. She is also introduced to the author's grandson - the only other occupant - and is warned that there are places in the castle that are off-limits. In town, she learns of the rumors surrounding Castle Moreau and its grounds and the young women who have vanished there. In the present day, Cleo, who is hiding from her past in order to protect her sister, takes an off-the-books job at Castle Moreau to help the current owner, who is a hoarder, declutter and organize the house. Deacon Tremblay, the handsome and wealthy grandson of the woman Cleo will be helping, has hired her and warns her that his grandmother may not be too cooperative. Cleo meets some people in town who are all too aware of the rumors of vanishings that have swirled around Castle Moreau for decades... and then someone leaves a tape recording involving the mysterious disappearance of one the girls who disappeared and was last seen on the Castle grounds...
This is not a coming to faith story, but elements of Christianity are present throughout. The main focus, however, is on the mystery. It is an intriguing read and I enjoyed it - including the ending, which I will not give away!!
From the back cover: A haunting legend. An ominous curse. A search for a secret buried deep within the castle walls.

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Wow! Jamie's best book yet! So intriguing and full of mystery! I absolutely loved the ending and the surprises that unfolded! The characters are wonderful- relatable and genuine. I love the faith aspect that is prevalent throughout the book! A definite must read! ( )

This book gave me plenty of reasons to DNF it, but I paid full price for it just a week ago and felt guilty for not finishing… so I did.

After reading all the way through to the end, I felt guilty for all the harsh notes I was keeping throughout. This story was on the heart of its author and I know what that's like. Because I care about the story being told, I'm considering bumping my originally planned 2 stars up to 3. The story is important --- its execution was not well done.

My notes at pg 108: I've never read a "Christian" suspense before but this seems kind of silly. Not really feeling the shivers I think I’m supposed to be feeling. Daisy definitely has Catherine Morland beat in the drama department. If Jane were here, she’d give this story a good roasting.

pg. 138-- I love this quote: "It is in the dark corners, in the places we avert our eyes from, where truth lingers."

Pg 262: Lots of repetition of thoughts and emotions but nothing really moving this story forward. Very little has happened—-not much story development. I lost interest a long time ago. Would have abandoned this 20 pages in, but I bought it at full price. Some books you spend the afternoon devouring because they’re fine chocolates and you can’t get enough. Others you force down like liver and onions so mom will finally let you leave the table.

Cleo’s story comes out about 80% of the way in, and her reason for running is so lame that it’s laughable. I was imagining she'd committed some kind of horrific atrocity. I literally threw the book down and ranted to my family about the nonsensical behavior of changing her name and fleeing her family, vowing never to return, over the ridiculous reason given. Part of the problem here is that nothing was done to develop this character to a place where her whole internal struggle finally coming out doesn’t just seem like a crazy drama train.

The last maybe 50 pages were actually interesting, but the author’s attempt to compare Virgie’s mission and Cleo’s mission was very difficult to believe since we knew almost nothing of Cleo’s until the book was almost over. The planning of this story is all out of whack.

But the real thing that has me most frustrated about all of this is that this is a story about escaping abuse, yet the two main men in this story are grossly manipulative yet supposedly irresistible. The women set out to make a decision and the men easily change their minds with affection and phrases like, "Don't leave. You can't leave. I need you." So we have women who are compelled to stay in situations that, while they might turn out for good in the long run, cause them to see red flags in the moment. They try to assert their own autonomy and critical thinking skills, they try to put some distance between themselves and these men as they're trying to sort out what they believe about the situation they're in, but the men are never called out for manipulating their emotions? Sorry to break it to you honey, but you can't write a believable story about getting out of abusive situations, while also making romantic some of the very behaviors that lead to them in the first place.

And dang it, I just can't bring myself to give this three stars after all.
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"I DO believe in spooks! I DO believe in spooks! I DO, I DO, I DO believe in spooks!" It is a terrific story with a great message that will have you guessing until the end what is real and what is not. Jaime Jo Wright is an excellent writer. She never disappoints. ( )

First I just want to say that this is one of the most gorgeous covers that I have seen. It captures the gothic theme of this novel wonderfully. I really enjoyed this book but it was a tad dark at times for my taste. It takes place mainly in two timelines, present day and 1870 with a few short chapters beginning in 1801. In the present day Cleo is running from her past and accepts a job at Castle Moreau helping with a woman who is a hoarder. In the 1870 timeline Daisy takes a position as a maid working for the Gothic authoress who lives there.
In both timelines there are rumors about women disappearing around the castle and they are never seen again. I don't want to say much more about the plot as I don't want to give anything away. I really enjoyed the mystery and I really liked the ending. It was a page turner but not one that I should have read before bed. I really like suspense without any graphic details. For example at one point a woman talks about having her husbands heart in a box on her desk. Those kind of details I could do without and that's why I rated it 4 instead of 5. But as long as you're not sensitive to that I would highly recommend this book. Other than those types of details it was very clean.
One quote from the book that I thought was interesting talks about crime TV preparing you for real life - "If you're like me, then you assume every stranger you meet is planning to kill you. That way you won't be taken by surprise." An interesting way to go through life!

This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast Season 2 episode 21
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185 ( )