Aine Cahill, a doctoral candidate, rents a cabin in Concord, MA, to write her dissertation on Thoreau. However, she quickly encounters mysterious events and ghostly appearances, which relate not only to her research but to a family curse she has long sought to escape. As events spiral out of control, and people around her start dying, Aine is pulled further and further into a haunting madness—is she going insane, or is there really a vindictive spirit intent on destroying her life?This was a taut thriller that I read in about a day and half. The main character is complex and well-conceived, the atmospheric setting is palpable, and the plot continues to draw in the reader like a fisherman reeling in a prize catch—not a scene is wasted. Even the writing itself is beautiful and complex, and fits well Aine’s first-person voice. The only mark against this book is the shockingly abrupt ending, which may suggest an intended sequel (a practice I detest), but which was so abrupt that I felt the author owed us some explanation. Is there a sequel planned, or does the story just end in climax without dénouement? The end of the book gives no indication; hence my withholding of the fifth star. The ending aside, however, this is a book well worth a read. Aine Cahill, the narrator of R. B. Chesterton's (a pseudonym for Carolyn Haines)"The Seeker," may not be all that reliable, either. She tells us she's a Brandeis graduate student working on a doctoral dissertation based on a journal that mysteriously came to her in the mail. It was written by her great-great-great-great aunt who claims to have lived at Walden Pond with Henry David Thoreau and been his lover. If Aine can verify the journal's contents, it will upend Thoreau's reputation as a celibate recluse. Aine moves into a tiny, unheated cottage behind an inn near Walden Pond to write and look for traces of her ancestor in the town's archives. But the pages of the ancient journal seem to keep rewriting themselves, someone keeps leaving creepy dolls in her cottage, and a mysterious blond, ringletted girl in a red coat appears and vanishes regularly in the nearby woods. At first Aine thinks the girl a benevolent spirit -- Aine inherited "The Cahill Curse" and she's a "seer" of souls caught in the spirit world. This is a ghost story, with more than a few echoes of The Turn of the Screw and plenty of repressed sexuality. While evidence of Rose's lusty ancestor's existence proves elusive, there's no shortage of men in Aine's bed. But readers may lose patience with her as she saunters off into the woods in snowstorms, enters abandoned shacks, and refuses to call the police after she's had her life threatened.(Review originally published in the Boston Globe)
What do You think about The Seeker (2014)?
No real ending, good but felt like the author did not know how to complete it.
—Kar
Great plot. Three stars for such a horrible let down of a ending.
—dee
