Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Judith reviews Twilight Images by Ethel Lewis

Today we have a review from Judith, she blogs at http://judithbarrowblog.com/

Judith chose to read and review Twilight Images for the team after she had bought a copy

Twilight Images – Ethel Lewis

The story of Twilight Images begins with an intriguing puzzle; newspaper report the murder/suicide of the protagonist’s, Thad Connors,’ parents. It’s an old case, happening ten years previously and only now does he feel able to try to discover the actual details after years of nightmares.

I liked the idea of the story; the plot and the setting in which the action takes. And there are some lovely descriptive parts which give an explicit sense of place. And there are flashbacks – a particular   favourite authorial device of mine.

My problem is the pace of the book which slows drastically from Chapter Two onwards. The narrative describes the minutiae of Thad’s days; the preparing of food, eating, feeding the dog, when I only wanted to know more details of the dramatic search for the truth, flashbacks to the facts of the murder/suicide, more of the mystery of the missing lover. In other words a build-up of the tension to juxtapose the increasing tension of Thad’s nightmares. But this is only my subjective opinion, of course. Other readers might like the slow tempo of the narrative.

I also struggled with the points of view. The third person narrator relates the story from the protagonist’s point of view but every now and then jumps to small sections of the other characters; Dorothy’s, Doctor Temple’s, Lily’s viewpoint, actions and dialogue. But not enough to round these characters; to give them enough narrative for the reader, me, to get to know them.

I guessed that Lily and her mother were the answer as soon as they came into the narrative. So there is always the reader satisfaction of being proved right.

But this is where I contradict myself in a way. The ending was too abrupt for me. I don’t like to spoil the story for other readers in my reviews. So I will only say it happened and was resolved too quickly for my taste.

There is no way I wouldn’t recommend Twilight Images; other readers possibly don’t want the suspense, the complicated twists and turns that I like in a mystery. What I am saying is that with skilful editing, this book could be a more tense and powerful thriller.

My rating 3 of 5 stars

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com