The Suspense is Killing You, Right?

Well, I've given you enough time to complete the book before I spill the magic beans. (See my last posting.)  Actually, I finished The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane a day after my last blog because I just had to see how clairvoyant I really am.  Awesome! So how come I cannot predict lottery numbers?  Maybe it only works with book plots.  I also guessed the mystery behind The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but that's another story.

This book ultimately disappointed me, but I will give the author a break because this is her first stab at it.  I also give her props for using her family history while not making it the centerpiece of the story.  Her ancestor was one of the victims of the Salem witch trials, and she is included as a character briefly.  What started out as a potentially good book veered off into a mild-mannered love story and a rather wacky academic horror show.  Katherine Howe did employ a neat trick with the search for Deliverance Dane's book, and I thought the hanging scene from the witch trials was well done and affecting.  The climax reminded me a bit of the filmed version of The Witches of Eastwick, so I had a silly picture in my mind of Jack Nicholson, wax figures, and desperate dames. For someone so brave and sure of her powers with a witch's pot and a fireplace, Connie turned back into a wimpy female at the end, all too happy to watch fireworks with her boyfriend rather than to make them.