Heather M. (gargirl) reviewed on 8/10/2009 + 36 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This latest and much anticipated book by Caitlin R. Kiernan is some of her best work yet. The Red Tree is presented as a journal written by the author Sarah Crowe after she rents a remote farm house, in order to have solitude to write, and discovers an old typewriter and an unfinished manuscript by the house's previous tenant; Charles L. Harvey. Mr. Harvey was putting together something of a coherent history of a huge red oak tree on the property surrounding the farm house. The history of the tree is not a pretty story and Mr. Harvey's writing suggests that he became obsessed with the tree, it quickly becomes apparent that Sarah Crowe is becoming obsessed as well as her journal becomes a repository for her researches into its background and for her nightmares as well.
Like Murder of Angels, The Red Tree meanders along the boundaries between sanity and madness, illusion and reality as we watch Ms. Crowe succumb more and more to spell woven by an ancient tree with an evil presence.

The Red Tree would make a good first read for those unfamilliar with Ms. Kiernan's writing. It seems to be a stand alone novel, not connected in any overt way to her other work and the atmousphere of the story, while not really lighter, is less dark and gritty. It was very hard to put this book down. Highly reccomended.

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