Master of Shadows - Final Review

First, I must post a disclaimer. Janet and I have been exchanging friendly emails since before I started reading her book. She was also kind enough to send me an autographed copy.

MASTER OF SHADOWS by Janet Lorimer begins like this:

Once upon a time, toward the end of the 20th century . . .

With a single sentence, Lorimer establishes the mood of the entire novel. And there, she starts a familiar story--Beauty meets the Beast and goes to live with him in his enchanted castle. Or, he COULD be a beast. Since he is always shrouded in a cowl, she doesn't know for certain.

In the story, Louvel hires Ariel to categorize the books in his extensive library. Ariel has a master's degree in Liberal Arts--a proper degree for a the daughter of a wealthy man--and she is delighted to have a chance to actually use it. Also, since her father's mysterious death, she rather desperately needs the money. While she is doing the job, Louvel insists that she stay in his mansion. There is no good road to and from the mansion, and staying elsewhere just is not practical. Louvel has very specific, odd and mysterious rules that he insists she follow. However, when her curiosity gets the better of her, Louvel begins to fear that she will uncover his secrets.

In fact, the story is bursting with secrets. Everyone has them; Ariel's father, Ariel's former fiance and her future father-in-law. And some of them are left to the reader to figure out.

At times, I wished that the timeframe of the story was clearer. All I know is it is "late in the 20th century". I'm thinking early 90s. Computers were available, but their use was not yet widespread. Ariel must write letters; she cannot send emails. The setting is also unclear, with references to "the city" and "the village". I believe the author did all this on purpose, to promote a sort of fairy-tale vagueness.

Late in the book, Louvel says this:

. . . "my secrets are dark ones that would devastate you. I cannot bear the thought of your love spoiled by the hate, the disgust, the horror you would taste if . . ."

After reading this, I expected nothing short of Louvel having a demonic nature. The truth turns out to be rather less dark.

In an earlier post, I said that this story reminded me of an old Kathleen Woodiwiss story. That comparison did not hold true. However, the comparison I made to Victoria Holt proved to be close to the mark. This novel is romantic suspense written like a fairy tale, although the prince is unlike like any hero I've ever read before. (No rippling abs here!) This fairy tale has a dark and entirely modern underside. The villains in the story operate very much in the shadows. And it has two mysteries, neatly woven together.

Lorimer is a seasoned writer, with years of experience writing children's fiction under her belt. And it shows. I loved the way she adapted her metaphors to the current setting. For example, if the characters were eating, she might compare something with a golden color to melted butter. Her verbs are all active ("a stab of guilt") and her dialog effortless to follow. The novel shows solid research, some which I fact-checked and found to be true.

I can call it a fairy tale, but I hesitate to call it a fantasy. It has moments that seem like magic, like when in Silas Marner by George Eliot, Silas finds his stolen gold. In this novel, Beauty discovers just who is the true Beast. I've always loved stories like this, where the mundane seems magical. If you enjoy reading delicious little romantic suspense novels that keep you up late at night, this novel would work for you.

Master of Shadows - Channeling Victoria Holt

Today, one doesn't hear much about Gothic fiction. If they do, they immediately think vampires. Well, back in the 80s, Gothic fiction meant Victoria Holt to me. Exciting suspense novels with nary a sex scene in any of its pages. Mysterious, dangerous heroes and plots that seem thick with magic, yet ending up having entirely rational explanations.

MASTER OF SHADOWS is shaping up to be a Gothic novel in the grand tradition of Victoria Holt. An intriguing man, shrouded (literally!) in mystery. A suspicious other man, who seems to have nefarious reasons for his interest in the heroine, Ariel. A missing father. A strange set of servants for the master of the house. And best of all, a secret passage. Oh, and a hidden graveyard!

And all of this takes place in modern-day USA.

Actually, the time and place was difficult for me to pin down at first. What really threw me was when Ariel had store credit at the general store in the "village" near which she lived. As a matter of serendipity, I happened to have been researching the concept of store credit the week before I started reading this book. (Strange, huh? I research all sorts of oddball things.) Therefore, when I ran into the scene where Ariel manages to pay off some of her store credit, my thought process went something like this.

Ok, so they have cars and telephones, so it's at least the 1900s. They also have store credit, so it cannot be much later than 1950. Since they were recently financially ruined, I'm tempted to guess this takes place in the 30s. However, Ariel has a master's degree in liberal arts; when were they first available?

As it turns out, the time frame is at least 1995 or later. Not sure why that guy in the general store doesn't have a credit card machine.

This is the ONLY critique I can think of. The story has grabbed me and I have no idea where it is going to take me. I'm almost exactly halfway through the novel. The mysterious man, Louvel, has his share of unexpected blemishes on his character, and he either has a monster in his house, or he IS the monster in his house. He has some 'splaining to do about more than a few things, and he's not exactly the talkative type. The whole thing has the feel of a fairy tale, especially of Beauty and the Beast, which is probably the very first Gothic story, ever (well, maybe not).

I'm loving it. It makes me nostalgic. Maybe I need to go to the library and check out some Victoria Holt books to reread. Then again, maybe I ought to just try to get through the reading stack I've accumulated so far.

Master of Shadows - First Chapter

I started a new book and I thought it would be fun to dust off my Featured Debut feature. I didn't want to do a Featured Debut of the last two books that I've read because I wasn't sure how they would turn out, and I only do this for books that I'm reasonably certain that I will like.

MASTER OF SHADOWS by Janet Lorimer has been described to me as a fairy tale for adults. This is the second Juno Books novel that I've featured here, and both covers were done by Timothy Lantz. Lantz has done many covers for Juno Books. However, even though I like this cover, it just was not as stunning as the cover he did for Wind Follower. That cover (you can see it here) really makes you stop and take notice. Such a feat must be difficult for an artist to duplicate.

The blurb on the back of the book is brief:

Belief is a powerful charm. . .

Never go into the woods at night, especially if the moon is full.

The old woman's warning, hissed years ago in Ariel's ear, came back that night to haunt her.

They say there's a beast that lives in those woods...a beast that walks and talks like a man.

An ominous shadow blocked the pale light and a powerful hand clamped down on her shoulder.

"Do not move. Do not turn around."

The voice was male, deep and harsh in the silence. At the sound of it, Ariel uttered a startled cry.

"Ariel McPherson . . ."

A guttural whisper in the dark, but he'd made her name sound like velvet being stroked.

This pretty much sums up the action in the first chapter. Ariel meets a stranger in the woods when she goes to fetch a bottle of water from a spring that is rumored to have healing powers. From this description you might think that this is a medieval fantasy, but it's not.

Ariel must trespass onto the stranger's property to fetch the bottle of water, and he catches her in the act. The stranger will not let him see his face as he questions her. He's a bit touchy-feely for my taste, but you get the definite impression that "he's just not from 'round here." This feeling is strengthened in the second chapter, when Ariel reflects on the archaic words he uses and his unusual accent.

There's a mystery established up front, having to do with her father's disappearance. Her mother is just not coping and the 25 year-old Ariel seems to be trying to help her mother keep it together.

There is a longer blurb at Juno's website; here's the rest:

Ariel's life had been a modern fairy tale, but her father's baffling disappearance brought it all to a crashing end. She meets the enigmatic Louvel one night, but never sees his face -- even after accepting employment at his magnificent estate. When it becomes imperative to solve the mystery of what happened to her father, Louvel appears to be helping her . . . but can Ariel trust a man who lives in the shadows?

This blurb and the romance set-up reminds me of a very old romance novel called A Rose in Winter by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. Since none of the novels that I've read lately have had any good love stories, so this novel might be coming at just the right time for me.