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The Blood Dimmed Tide by Anthony Quinn

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Vanessa
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4378
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

The Blood Dimmed Tide by Anthony Quinn

Post by Vanessa » Mon July 21st, 2014, 6:56 am

The Blood Dimmed Tide by Anthony Quinn

London at the dawn of 1918 and Ireland's most famous literary figure, WB Yeats, is immersed in supernatural investigations at his Bloomsbury rooms. Haunted by the restless spirit of an Irish girl whose body is mysteriously washed ashore in a coffin, Yeats undertakes a perilous journey back to Ireland with his apprentice ghost-catcher Charles Adams to piece together the killer's identity. Surrounded by spies, occultists and diehard female rebels, the two are led on a gripping journey along Ireland's wild Atlantic coast.

My Review:

I thought this was an unusual book, dealing with the occult. Each chapter begins with a tarot card and the story starts in 1918 in London, two years after the Easter Rising in Ireland. When a young woman's body is found floating in the sea in a coffin just off the coast of Sligo, poet W B Yeats and his apprentice ghost catcher decide to use their skills to identify the killer. It's part espionage thriller, part ghost story and part historical novel.

It took a little while for the tale to grab me, but once it did, I found it fascinating and absorbing. It's quite gripping in its way and I thought the historical aspect interesting. The mystery side is unconventional as it touches on dark forces and the paranormal. The writing is expressive and evocative. It's an intriguing story, combining fact with fiction and real people with invented but realistic characters.

If you can suspend disbelief, this is an imaginative and entertaining thriller with a supernatural element and a smattering of fairy dust!

Reviewed for Real Readers.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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