This was one of the better horror novels I've read in the past several months, so I would recommend it more than most of the others. Unlike several I've read recently, this one actually has horror elements throughout and the plot moves along at a decent pace, although it kind of falls apart somewhat at the end, in my opinion. It's still a decent offering, however, and very much worth the read if you're into this particular genre.
The premise is that a twenty-something unexpectedly inherits her family's centuries-old winery, and returns home after having lived most of her life with her grandmother. It turns out that both of her parents died of suspected heart attacks, in bed, at the same time, which doesn't sit well with Margot. Oddly, no one seems to take much interest - even the medical examiner doesn't seem to want to investigate the inexplicable event in any depth. Even more strangely, however: her parents for some reason seem to have cut Margot completely out of their lives, never even contacting her once she is sent to live with her grandmother at about age eight... and then there are the scars she bears on her body, which she can't remember how she got, or much else about her life at Gallows Hill, for that matter.
The book is quite creepy throughout, especially as Margot begins to navigate the large, perpetually dark, labryinth-like house which her family has inhabited for centuries and where her parents were found. She meets the odd caretakers and employees of the winery, each of whom seems to be harboring a secret. The highly successful and lucrative business doesn't grow grapes, as it turns out - it just processes them into wine - in one case, a collector's vintage which can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars per bottle.
In short order, however, Margot learns that not all is what it seems, in that a longstanding family "curse" is the cause of all her ills, as well as the misfortunes which have befallen her entire family, and any who live or work on the property, as the winery was built on land where hundreds of people were reportedly hanged, from a single tree (the winery's logo, as it turns out). Inexplicably, the land itself is a glue trap, eventually ensnaring all who venture there. Things really take a turn when nooses start appearing all over the property, which longtime employees likewise chalk up to the family's curse.
Despite a promising beginning, the end got rather fantastical for me, as it essentially entails Margot running from zombies in the form of the hundreds of hanging victims, which for some reason can't be shut out with closed and locked doors, which never really made much sense to me, and it's not really adequately explained, other than "the curse." Won't provide too many spoilers here, but I think the beginning was more enjoyable than the end, which is just becomes a "chase" scenario, which doesn't hold my interest for very long. Things do resolve in the end, but there remained some unanswered questions. Overall, however, this was one of the better novels in this genre I've seen in a while, even if it becomes somewhat cumbersome at the end.
The premise is that a twenty-something unexpectedly inherits her family's centuries-old winery, and returns home after having lived most of her life with her grandmother. It turns out that both of her parents died of suspected heart attacks, in bed, at the same time, which doesn't sit well with Margot. Oddly, no one seems to take much interest - even the medical examiner doesn't seem to want to investigate the inexplicable event in any depth. Even more strangely, however: her parents for some reason seem to have cut Margot completely out of their lives, never even contacting her once she is sent to live with her grandmother at about age eight... and then there are the scars she bears on her body, which she can't remember how she got, or much else about her life at Gallows Hill, for that matter.
The book is quite creepy throughout, especially as Margot begins to navigate the large, perpetually dark, labryinth-like house which her family has inhabited for centuries and where her parents were found. She meets the odd caretakers and employees of the winery, each of whom seems to be harboring a secret. The highly successful and lucrative business doesn't grow grapes, as it turns out - it just processes them into wine - in one case, a collector's vintage which can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars per bottle.
In short order, however, Margot learns that not all is what it seems, in that a longstanding family "curse" is the cause of all her ills, as well as the misfortunes which have befallen her entire family, and any who live or work on the property, as the winery was built on land where hundreds of people were reportedly hanged, from a single tree (the winery's logo, as it turns out). Inexplicably, the land itself is a glue trap, eventually ensnaring all who venture there. Things really take a turn when nooses start appearing all over the property, which longtime employees likewise chalk up to the family's curse.
Despite a promising beginning, the end got rather fantastical for me, as it essentially entails Margot running from zombies in the form of the hundreds of hanging victims, which for some reason can't be shut out with closed and locked doors, which never really made much sense to me, and it's not really adequately explained, other than "the curse." Won't provide too many spoilers here, but I think the beginning was more enjoyable than the end, which is just becomes a "chase" scenario, which doesn't hold my interest for very long. Things do resolve in the end, but there remained some unanswered questions. Overall, however, this was one of the better novels in this genre I've seen in a while, even if it becomes somewhat cumbersome at the end.
