It’s taken a while for me to get to this latest instalment in the Myron Bolitar series – one of my favourites and one of those series where it feels more like revisiting old friends than reading a novel. As usual, Coben didn’t disappoint.
The Heretic’s Daughter – Kathleen Kent
The story of the Salem Witch Trials, told from the perspective of one family caught up in those terrible events, and in particular from 7YO Sarah Carrier. The novel vividly brings to life the terror and insanity of that short period of time when spite and malice brought death and misery to so many innocent lives. It poignantly invokes just how little evidence condemned so many to a brutal death and the absolute lunacy of the logic used against them.
But it’s much more than just the story of the trials. It’s also interwoven with the story of a mother and daughter and the effects the trials have on their relationship.
I didn’t learn until I’d finished this one that the author is a direct descendent of the Carrier family. In fact, I’d assumed throughout reading that Sarah, Martha and the Carrier family were fictional inventions thrust into the real history of the times. This was Kent’s first novel and I see that she’s written a prequel to this. I’d be very interested to read that and revisit such compelling characters.
LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly. Aramis: Yes, sorry. Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
