A soporific, soul-destroying and painfully slow burn thriller with a serious absence of plot.
After reading Lexie Elliott’s debut and being intrigued by the premise of her second effort, The Missing Years, I was sadly disappointed to find the novel unsatisfying and thoroughly frustrating. The premise had abundant potential for a creepy and claustrophobic encounter but the execution proved truly abysmal. Not only is the novel a ridiculously slow burn thriller where nothing of significance happens for over ninety percent after going round in tedious circles, it is also a messy mishmash of multiple genres. At times I struggled to make out if the story was an attempt at a psychological thriller, a gothic suspense story or simply a cold case mystery. Either way, it was a mess, with precious little character development or relationship dynamics and a serious absence of a tight plot.
Firstly however, the story gets off to a promising start with thirty-four-year-old protagonist and television news field producer, Ailsa Calder, taking stock of her inheritance upon the death of her mother when she arrives at an imposing old Scottish manor (‘the Manse’) in the remote Highlands and her early childhood home. But her inheritance is a rather more complicated matter with the house only half belonged to Ailsa and in the joint-ownership of her father, Martin, who has not been seen or heard from in the past twenty-seven years. With her hands tied as to disposing of the property and liable for all maintenance costs, Ailsa decides to undertake a last ditch search for answers and potentially confirm her father’s death and investigate the rumours that he absconded with a cache of his employers diamonds.
Austere and far from welcoming, the Manse is not quite the comfortable family home Ailsa is hoping for, with a locked off storage room and a host of secrets awaiting at every turn. Accompanied by her younger twenty-four-year-old half-sister and actress, Carrie, with whom she shares a capricious artist mother of whom they both have very different experiences of growing up with, they know little about one another. When Ailsa meets with a series of bizarre happenings within her new home from nighttime intruders, suspected prowlers, gruesome discoveries and rumours that it is haunted, it leaves her unsettled and fractious. Combined with the hostile reception from the locals who all seem to have an opinion about her father and living with a half-sister that is a virtual stranger, Ailsa is unsure of just whom she can to trust, if anyone... Populated by families who remember her father, the locals are a bizarre bunch of sketchily characterised oddballs who all seem to have their own mysterious reasons for acting evasively and doing just about everything to make Ailsa suspicious, whilst her half-sister is seamlessly accepted into the fold.
As Ailsa’s tough and capable newsroom facade turns to dust in the blink of an eyelid Lexie Elliott struggles to provide a coherent plot that provides any sign of forward momentum. So many of the strange happenings lead nowhere and the story struggles to make headway or generate any suspense with the supernatural allusions all a bit half-hearted and more a case of suggestive minds and wishful thinking. As to whether this was intended as a gothic ghost story or straightforward gaslighting, I still have no idea and like the most overused phrase repeatedly trotted out by the native characters, “A dinnea ken” and frankly by the end, I really didn’t care! Personally I also found it difficult to connect or empathise with Ailsa and felt little investment in her fate by that stage.
In contrast to The French Girl which had a decent enough plot and fleshed out its cast in greater depth, I never felt I understood enough about Ailsa, her sister or their tentative relationship after a lengthy estrangement, quite apart from the dynamic and conflicting memories of their mother. Further disappointment came by way of the completely irrelevant strands to the story; Ailsa ruminating on her crumbling relationship with a broadcaster boyfriend whom readers never meet, the references to time somehow ‘shifting’ in the Manse and every character attributing Fiona’s strange personality and behaviour to a recognised medical issue.
Overlong, under-edited and riddled with plot holes, and that was before an action packed and rushed finale that appeared out of the blue. On the strength of this showing I seriously doubt that I will consider reading more by Lexie Elliott.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Firstly however, the story gets off to a promising start with thirty-four-year-old protagonist and television news field producer, Ailsa Calder, taking stock of her inheritance upon the death of her mother when she arrives at an imposing old Scottish manor (‘the Manse’) in the remote Highlands and her early childhood home. But her inheritance is a rather more complicated matter with the house only half belonged to Ailsa and in the joint-ownership of her father, Martin, who has not been seen or heard from in the past twenty-seven years. With her hands tied as to disposing of the property and liable for all maintenance costs, Ailsa decides to undertake a last ditch search for answers and potentially confirm her father’s death and investigate the rumours that he absconded with a cache of his employers diamonds.
Austere and far from welcoming, the Manse is not quite the comfortable family home Ailsa is hoping for, with a locked off storage room and a host of secrets awaiting at every turn. Accompanied by her younger twenty-four-year-old half-sister and actress, Carrie, with whom she shares a capricious artist mother of whom they both have very different experiences of growing up with, they know little about one another. When Ailsa meets with a series of bizarre happenings within her new home from nighttime intruders, suspected prowlers, gruesome discoveries and rumours that it is haunted, it leaves her unsettled and fractious. Combined with the hostile reception from the locals who all seem to have an opinion about her father and living with a half-sister that is a virtual stranger, Ailsa is unsure of just whom she can to trust, if anyone... Populated by families who remember her father, the locals are a bizarre bunch of sketchily characterised oddballs who all seem to have their own mysterious reasons for acting evasively and doing just about everything to make Ailsa suspicious, whilst her half-sister is seamlessly accepted into the fold.
As Ailsa’s tough and capable newsroom facade turns to dust in the blink of an eyelid Lexie Elliott struggles to provide a coherent plot that provides any sign of forward momentum. So many of the strange happenings lead nowhere and the story struggles to make headway or generate any suspense with the supernatural allusions all a bit half-hearted and more a case of suggestive minds and wishful thinking. As to whether this was intended as a gothic ghost story or straightforward gaslighting, I still have no idea and like the most overused phrase repeatedly trotted out by the native characters, “A dinnea ken” and frankly by the end, I really didn’t care! Personally I also found it difficult to connect or empathise with Ailsa and felt little investment in her fate by that stage.
In contrast to The French Girl which had a decent enough plot and fleshed out its cast in greater depth, I never felt I understood enough about Ailsa, her sister or their tentative relationship after a lengthy estrangement, quite apart from the dynamic and conflicting memories of their mother. Further disappointment came by way of the completely irrelevant strands to the story; Ailsa ruminating on her crumbling relationship with a broadcaster boyfriend whom readers never meet, the references to time somehow ‘shifting’ in the Manse and every character attributing Fiona’s strange personality and behaviour to a recognised medical issue.
Overlong, under-edited and riddled with plot holes, and that was before an action packed and rushed finale that appeared out of the blue. On the strength of this showing I seriously doubt that I will consider reading more by Lexie Elliott.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.