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Friday, November 08, 2013

The Murder Tree by Alan Veale

The Murder Tree was inspired by a historic murder in Glasgow .  Veale employs the concept of both genealogical research and some psychic experiences that affect descendants of the victim/murderer.

The theory works well, but the rather convoluted and supernatural way that Chrissy Fersen is drawn into genealogical research failed to allow me to enter the story thoroughly.  You know the feeling of reading and following a narrative from a great distance, processing, but unable to truly make connection?  

The David Abram influence resulted in my being unable to jump into the story with both feet, even though it takes a while for his influence on events to be revealed.

Although the concept of researching the family tree only to find that an ancestor was either a murderer or a victim is intriguing, the lack of character development and the inability to suspend disbelief kept me from becoming genuinely involved in this novel.

NetGalley/Troubador Publishing.

Supernatural.  Oct. 2013.  Print version:  238 pages.

2 comments:

  1. You've been reading some interesting books! Too bad it wasn't as good a read as it could have been.

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  2. Iliana - I really liked the idea of researching the family tree to find a mystery and the idea of incorporating an actual event from the past, but yes, the book was a disappointment.

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