Lena Gereghty, a medical school dropout, returns to New York and her family after spending two wonderful years in Italy with her aunt, a medieval botanist. Lena’s family is on the verge of bankruptcy because of her father’s accident after being laid off. She must immediately got a job to cover not only her student loans, but to help the family survive.
Lena lands a job with the Verdeaux family, one of the richest in the city. Her duties involve being assistant to the family physician whose main job is to care for the sickly son, Jonathan, who also drinks copious amounts of red wine. She begins to suspect that things are not what they seem. Jonathan takes small black pills that look suspicious. There’s also Jonathan’s intriguing sister, who manages to distance herself from many of the goings-on in the mansion. Then there are the exotic parties at the family’s estate which show a dark side of the family and their friends.
If you enjoy dark, rather creepy Gothic set against a luxurious background, this is your book. The setting drips with wealth, over-the-top parties, and mystery. I thought the author did an excellent job creating the atmosphere.
The characters are not as well drawn as I would have liked. Lena is naive. She moves from courageously asserting herself get the job, to falling back into poor decisions. I thought her mother was a caricature. However, the story is plot driven and enough happens that you don’t get too involved with the characters. It’s a good read if you enjoy the genre.
I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.
No comments:
Post a Comment