A NIGHT OWL REVIEWS BOOK REVIEW | Reviewed by: Josie
Andy Bentley is a photographer and failed writer who works in the family-owned photography business. Claire, his wife, is a social worker. Andy and Claire are incredibly close but are struggling to start a family. After going through fertility testing, doctors have concluded they can't find anything wrong. Then Andy receives a sinister email from an unknown source. The email alludes to previous and planned murders. Andy is somehow tied to this group of people, how he knows them and why he is receiving emails is a mystery. Then Max Beyer, an eccentric writer contacts Andy and asks him for a photo shoot. Max is cryptic in what he wants, but promises Andy will be rewarded for his efforts by getting a lucrative contract with a well-known publisher. Meanwhile more deaths occur and the police have begun to trace activity back to Andy. Andy is eager to hide all this from his wife. She senses he is hiding something and suspects he is having an affair. His estrangement causes her to take uncharacteristic risks, like having dinner with a man who claims to be an old schoolmate. At this point the book takes a pivotal turn. Since divulging the twist would spoil the story, (kind of like telling people Bruce Willis's character is a ghost in the movie Sixth Sense) I'll stop here. But I will say, the horror aspect of the story ramps up, and Andy and Claire's relationship continues to take center stage while things get weirder. The Seven Days of Cain is part mystery, part suspense, and part horror. The horror aspect isn't gory and scary, rather it's strange and intriguing. I enjoyed the progression of the story, and found it held my interest even though I was confused by the emails and how Andy was tied to the people for the first half of the book. There are some inconsistencies in Claire's character (especially in the second half) and the ending was a bit anticlimactic. Even so, Ramsey Campbell is a great storyteller and I couldn't put the book down.
Dec 30, 2011 | 9781609286538
5 - Rare Top Pick | 4.5 - Top Pick | 4 - I Liked It | 3.5 - Enjoyable | 3 - OK | 2.5 - It just didn't click
Book Blurb for The Seven Days of Cain
Is anyone really innocent? On two continents, weeks apart, two people are brutally murdered: a Barcelona street performer and a New York playwright are each gruesomely tortured to death. In Britain, photographer Andy Bentley begins receiving mysterious emails. The messages refer to the killings and contain hints that the murderer has a personal connection to Andy. But what is it? Are the emails coming from the killer himself? And what, if anything, does Andy’s past have to do with the deaths? As the answers begin to take shape Andy will be forced to confront not only the consequences of his actions, but also the uncertainty of reality itself. Before that happens, how much that he loves will be destroyed? This book has been previously published.
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