Lots of my friends on Goodreads have marked this book To-Read. And while I think they should give it a chance, I wouldn't necessarily say that this book is the greatest thing to hit bookstores in a few good years. If anything this book had potential that it failed to live up to.
The blurb on the back cover leads you to believe that this novel will be a ghost-story-mystery for book lovers. That's not exactly true. It flows quickly but it has a very meta feel to it. It is a book about the writing of a book. A biography, actually. And there in lies the "ghost-story" aspect of it. All histories can be considered ghost-stories in some way, and this book is the history of a family. A dysfunctional yet wealthy family, but really, aren't they all?
There are some interesting plot twists, but the ending feels a little contrived. Instead of the ending you were expecting, the author throws in a "Just Kidding! This is what REALLY happened because I forgot to reveal some things to you along the way." That really irritated me. Or maybe I'm honestly just not a close enough reader to have caught all the little hints. I don't know. It feels like I'm being underestimated as a reader though. And I don't like that.
Despite my inability to catch everything during a first read through, the story is set up to grab your attention and keep you trapped. I didn't really care for the story but I couldn't stop reading. I needed to know what happened. It's on that same level of interest that Soap Operas have to me. I don't know why I'm watching it but I can't stop looking.
All in all, not a terrible book but not great either.
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