The Vines
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Spring House, New Orleans: a plantation manor of money and influence. But something sinister lurks beneath the glamour of the old estate, awoken by blood and looking for revenge . . .
After Caitlin Chaisson tries to take her own life in her mansion's cherished gazebo, it becomes apparent that Spring House's malevolent history won't stay hidden for long. By morning her husband has vanished without a trace and his mistress has gone mad.
Nova, daughter to the groundskeeper, is determined to get to the bottom of the horrors. But she soon realises that the vengeance enacted by this sinister and otherworldly force comes at a terrible price. Some secrets are better left sleeping soundly . . .
The Vines is a creepy, addictive, supernatural read for fans of Stephen King, Anne Rice and Peter Straub
Praise for Christopher Rice:
'Christopher Rice never disappoints with his vivid people and places and masterful prose.' Patricia Cornwell
'Christopher Rice is casting his own shadows now, setting new standards for other authors. [He] has added a new wing to the Rice literary legacy' Huffington Post
'You'll think you know your destination . . . but you'll be wrong' Charlaine Harris
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Revisiting the rich, supernaturally mysterious Louisiana of 2013's The Heavens Rise, Rice stumbles with this resoundingly inferior effort. Leadenly steadfast Blake Henderson is still grieving the loss of his lover, John, killed years earlier by gay-bashers. Then Blake's best friend, Caitlin Chaisson the spoiled, unpardonably dull heir to Spring House, an antebellum mansion with a troubled history attempts to kill herself when she learns that her husband, Troy, is unfaithful. Awkwardly purple prose dampens the suspense as Caitlin unleashes a supernatural force in the form of bloodsucking vines that consume Troy; soon it's revealed that she has control over carnivorous flowers and organized insects as well as a psychic link to Virginie, an enslaved woman who had attempted to control these forces over 150 years before. Absurd similes and overwrought dialog dissolve the tension as Blake's anger over new revelations about John's death becomes a fresh source of dark power, causing plants to behave homicidally and bugs to form battering rams. A police investigation subplot peters out, and the action clatters clumsily to a bewildering conclusion, with the denouement arriving so lazily as to suggest that even the author ran out of interest.
