Beth Hahn
Regan Arts
Published March 1st, 2016
ISBN: 1942872569 (ISBN13: 9781942872566)
Alice Pearson lived through a nightmare 20 years ago. Now, she’s changed her name to Alice Wood, and is an unremarkable professor of folklore. She’s been studying a ballad about two sisters, a miller, and a murder. In every version, a piece of the murdered sister sings out about her killer. Usually a bone. In some versions of the song, the miller is the killer–in others, she’s killed by her sister.
Alice’s 20 year old horror is coming back to visit her in the form of a documentarian named Hans Loomis. He’s dredging up old memories for a documentary on a cult leader named Jack Wyck, who’s parole hearing is coming up soon. New evidence was found in the case, and Wyck’s lawyer is certain it will exonerate him.
The story echoes many details of the Manson family; charismatic leader gathers young and impressionable people around them, feeds them on a steady diet of sex, drugs, and strange new age theory. After a scam that was netting them steady money fails, he directs them to kill. Alice loses her mind.
An interesting story told in flashbacks while Loomis talks to involved parties, the reader slowly gets the idea of what’s happening, and sees Alice start to unravel. While you get an accounting of what’s happening with a feeling you’re seeing some of it from a disconnected perspective in some cases, you’re left wishing for a more in-depth look at some of the characters. Some however, are left more enigmatic to enhance the strangeness of their character, I think. Wyck is strange to the reader because no one really knows him. There’s an oddness because we don’t know if he’s a simple charlatan or full blown psychopath.
JL Jamieson is a strange book nerd who writes technical documents by day, and book news, reviews, and other assorted opinions for you by night. She is working on her own fiction, and spends time making jewelry to sell at local conventions, as well as stalking the social media accounts of all your favorite writers.