Book Review: The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith
See, this is what happens when I plan on reading something and why I think I'll only get about 25 books in this year: I started reading War for the Oaks over a month ago and still am only a couple of chapters in. Every time I think about reading, I start thinking about all the other things I need to do like studying and cleaning and the reading falls by the wayside -- unless a book grabs me by the throat and forces me to read it, which is what The Servants did. Well, maybe not so graphically, but it was such a quick and interesting read that I didn't bother to stop until I was finished.
The Servants is a lovely little ghost story told from the point of view of an 11-year-old boy whose parents have gone through a divorce and remarriage over the past year. He's been forced to leave London for a cold lonely life in Brighton and fears that his mother's new husband has less than good intentions. His mother's health is failing for no reason whatsoever so this unlikable stepfather was the first big change and thus becomes the repository of all of Mark's fears. Mark's defiance leads to him visiting the old lady who lives in the basement apartment and what she shows him at first distracts him and then transports him to another world that is also falling apart before his eyes.
I read this the day I bought it over the course of about 2.5 hours. The horrors downstairs at first echo the anger upstairs but perhaps get a bit heavy-handed towards the end, then the story wraps up very quickly, bumping it from excellent to very good. Still, it was a very good read and something I will recommend to friends.
The Servants is a lovely little ghost story told from the point of view of an 11-year-old boy whose parents have gone through a divorce and remarriage over the past year. He's been forced to leave London for a cold lonely life in Brighton and fears that his mother's new husband has less than good intentions. His mother's health is failing for no reason whatsoever so this unlikable stepfather was the first big change and thus becomes the repository of all of Mark's fears. Mark's defiance leads to him visiting the old lady who lives in the basement apartment and what she shows him at first distracts him and then transports him to another world that is also falling apart before his eyes.
I read this the day I bought it over the course of about 2.5 hours. The horrors downstairs at first echo the anger upstairs but perhaps get a bit heavy-handed towards the end, then the story wraps up very quickly, bumping it from excellent to very good. Still, it was a very good read and something I will recommend to friends.