Rating: 
Summary: Solid writing of an original plot
Review: "Five Mile House", a first novel for author Karen Novak, was a very enjoyable read. She is an excellent writer, providing adequate character motivation in an original and suspenseful tale. Leslie Stone is a police detective who is found temporarily insane after she shoots and kills a suspected child killer while he is in custody. After a stint in a psychiatric facility, she and her family move to Wellington where her husband, Greg, has undertaken the task of renovating Five Mile House, a historic and derelict home with a mysterious past. Eleanor, the resident ghost of Five Mile House, helps to narrate the story, providing details of her life a century past. She slowly reveals her life of pain in the house and the reasons she haunts it. An extra ingredient in the mix is the fact that Leslie is a dead ringer for Eleanor and the citizens of Wellington, a town swarming with real life witches, take much notice of the fact. Her resemblance to Eleanor and her notoriety as a killer cop make Leslie the subject of local curiosity. Struggling to regain control of her life, she welcomes the friendship of her husband's employer, Gwen Garrett, a renegade Wiccan. When Gwen commits suicide, Leslie's suspicions and police instincts are aroused. In her search for answers surrounding Gwen's death, Leslie's life becomes entangled with Eleanor's life and the mysteries contained within Five Mile House. The book intrigued me and held my attention to the very end. If you enjoy gothic suspense, this book will satisfy you.
Rating:
Summary: Solid writing of an original plot
Review: "Five Mile House", a first novel for author Karen Novak, was a very enjoyable read. She is an excellent writer, providing adequate character motivation in an original and suspenseful tale. Leslie Stone is a police detective who is found temporarily insane after she shoots and kills a suspected child killer while he is in custody. After a stint in a psychiatric facility, she and her family move to Wellington where her husband, Greg, has undertaken the task of renovating Five Mile House, a historic and derelict home with a mysterious past. Eleanor, the resident ghost of Five Mile House, helps to narrate the story, providing details of her life a century past. She slowly reveals her life of pain in the house and the reasons she haunts it. An extra ingredient in the mix is the fact that Leslie is a dead ringer for Eleanor and the citizens of Wellington, a town swarming with real life witches, take much notice of the fact. Her resemblance to Eleanor and her notoriety as a killer cop make Leslie the subject of local curiosity. Struggling to regain control of her life, she welcomes the friendship of her husband's employer, Gwen Garrett, a renegade Wiccan. When Gwen commits suicide, Leslie's suspicions and police instincts are aroused. In her search for answers surrounding Gwen's death, Leslie's life becomes entangled with Eleanor's life and the mysteries contained within Five Mile House. The book intrigued me and held my attention to the very end. If you enjoy gothic suspense, this book will satisfy you.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a read
Review: Although I am not necessarily a huge fan of the gothic, haunted spooky house genre, I very much enjoyed Five Mile House and finished it in just a couple of sittings. It's an engaging page turner, and, if you don't mind the fact that it's narrated by a ghost, you'll probably like it. Five Mile House tells the story of two women, one in the present, one in the past, whose looks are not the only thing that tie them together. In the present, there is Leslie Stone, a former police officer who killed a child murderer in a fit of rage. Her husband moves their family to Wellington, a small New England town where he is to work on the renovations of Five Mile House. Five Mile House is where the other woman, Eleanor Bly apparently murdered all of her children. The ghost of Eleanor Bly "haunts" the house. Leslie, in her recovery, tries to get to the bottom of the mystery of Eleanor Bly, and in her search, discovers current mysteries of Wellington. As I said, this is an engaging pageturner, if you can handle the gothic elements in it.
Rating:
Summary: A Gothic Pageturner
Review: Although I am not necessarily a huge fan of the gothic, haunted spooky house genre, I very much enjoyed Five Mile House and finished it in just a couple of sittings. It's an engaging page turner, and, if you don't mind the fact that it's narrated by a ghost, you'll probably like it. Five Mile House tells the story of two women, one in the present, one in the past, whose looks are not the only thing that tie them together. In the present, there is Leslie Stone, a former police officer who killed a child murderer in a fit of rage. Her husband moves their family to Wellington, a small New England town where he is to work on the renovations of Five Mile House. Five Mile House is where the other woman, Eleanor Bly apparently murdered all of her children. The ghost of Eleanor Bly "haunts" the house. Leslie, in her recovery, tries to get to the bottom of the mystery of Eleanor Bly, and in her search, discovers current mysteries of Wellington. As I said, this is an engaging pageturner, if you can handle the gothic elements in it.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT story...
Review: Another page turner that kept me up all night, even after I'd finished the book. Excellent first novel, can't wait to read more from the author. Her characters are well-developed and interesting. There's a lot I loved about this story but I don't want to give it away in my review. Trust me on this one, you'll want to be surprised and kept on the edge of your seat.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice cover.
Review: But don't judge the book by it. I loved the general storyline, but the author wasn't able to develop it much beyond the book jacket. Unfortunately, this novel's heroine is so holier-than-thou and small-minded that the reader has to be a Mother Theresa to sympathize or even tolerate her. Couldn't wait to put this one down!!
Rating:
Summary: A Chilling, Haunted House Mystery Thriller!
Review: Eleanor Bly is the narrator of "Five Mile House" and our tour guide through the macabre. A 19th century gentlewoman, she was the wife of Joshua Bly, mother to eight children, and perhaps the most knowledgeable about the chilling history of the house, and of certain bizarre occurrences which took place in the late 1890s in the small lakeside town of Wellington, New England. The house is still located there, on Five Mile Hill, a landmark site. Eleanor has been dead now for a very long time. She has been waiting, alone, for someone to tell her story to. As a suicide, her soul is not at rest. She is bound to the earth until the truth about the nature of her death is brought to light. And so she describes to the reader, her only audience, the events and subsequent scandals which brought down her family...and herself. She waits in the tower, the highest room in the house, the one which had been hers. She awaits the convergence of past and future, and perhaps, for her salvation.
In a busy New England city, far from Wellington and Five Mile House, Leslie Stone, her husband Greg, and their two adorable daughters, 4 year-old Emma, and Molly, age 10, get ready for another day at work, and, since it is the dog days of summer, daycare. Leslie is a police detective - a darn good one. Because of budget cutbacks, she had been assigned from her position on the Domestic Violence Task Force to the Homicide Division. The new assignment is tearing her apart. Most of the murder victims she has been dealing with have been small children. On this steamy summer morning, Leslie and her partner receive yet another homicide call. The victim is a tiny four-year-old girl, the same age as her daughter Emma. Leslie finds the child's bloodied, broken body. She had been viciously molested. Later that same morning Leslie, who has been on edge and under severe pressure for some time, totally snaps. She takes her gun into the holding cage where the murder suspect waits, and she shoots him dead. Detective Stone is tried, and found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. The judge, concerned for her safety and that of others, has her committed to an appropriate institution until her doctors determine she is no longer a risk.
So, former detective Stone, in a severe post trauma depression, is temporarily institutionalized. When she is released from the hospital, her husband, in an effort to change their environment, takes his family to a small New England town to work on a mysterious project, the restoration of Five Mile House. Greg is a building contractor and has been hired under strange circumstances. He is extremely under qualified for this visible and high paying job. It doesn't take long for the Stones to hear about Eleanor Bly, a 19th century madwoman who murdered her seven children in Five Mile House and then killed herself. Leslie becomes obsessed with Eleanor's story, suspecting that the truth may be different from the accepted myth.
Wellington, locally known for its coven of Wiccan followers, has many secrets of its own. It is here in Wellington, with Five Mile House as a backdrop, that an intense and disturbing drama plays out, involving those working on the restoration project, their families, and many town citizens.
The stories of both Eleanor and Leslie are told in parallel narratives until they come together at the very end. As frightening as it is suspenseful, "Five Mile House" is as much a mystery as a ghost story. Karen Novak's prose is beautiful. Her lyrical, descriptive narrative and her seemingly innate storytelling ability, make this novel a compelling read. Her characters draw the reader in - they are rivetingly real. I find it difficult to believe this is a first novel. At the conclusion I was literally left breathless. How much more haunted can a house be??? Highly recommended!
JANA
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and spooky!
Review: Entertaining novel about a female police officer, Leslie, who snaps one day at work and shoots a man accused of murdering a child. After a brief stay in a psychiatric hospital, she, her husband, and her two small children decide to move to a small town in New England, where her husband has been offered a job renovating an old mansion. The mansion has a history -- it's said that Eleanor Bly murdered her children and then committed suicide there over 100 years ago. Leslie is shocked to discover she looks just like Eleanor and even more shocked when she begins to discover the truth about why her family was asked to move there. The truth about what happened at the Bly house starts to come out, bit by bit. The story is narrated by the ghost of Eleanor Bly, who has known Leslie was coming and is desperate to help her avoid the same fate. This was a spooky novel, well-written and very engrossing. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Worth a read
Review: Five mile house, while a little slow getting started, was an increadible story. A true emotional roller coaster that won't soon be forgotten. Suspensful and brilliantly written, It will keep you on your toes until the very last words. The author put a great deal of thought into the creadibility of the story and makes it come alive. The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is becasue it was well into 1/3 of the book before I really became interested and wrapped up in the story. I would definitly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A tremendous page-turner
Review: How far would you go to protect your children? Would you kill for them? That's the question that I was left with after zipping through this intelligent, well-written, spooky, thrill ride of a book. Karen Novak has sent her main character, Leslie Stone, on a hero's quest involving a search for a sacred manuscript. The biggest part of the quest is Leslie's attempt to come to terms with her who she is and what she has done. You see, Leslie Stone is a detective, and, as the book opens, she has been sent to investigate the murder of yet another child, a four-year old girl who reminds her way too much of her own four-year old daughter. Before the end of the day, the suspect in this awful crime will be dead at Leslie's hands. Her life in shambles after serving her sentence, Leslie and her family move out to the country where her husband has gotten a job restoring an old mansion. This mansion, is, of course, haunted. But this is no ordinary ghost; Five Mile House is inhabited by a spirit who is as troubled as Leslie. This spirit, a woman, supposedly killed all of her children and then killed herself. Ever the detective, Leslie wonders if the legend covers up a grisly crime, and she sets out to investigate. There is a ton of stuff to talk about in this book, but I'm afraid I've come close to revealing too much already. I would highly recommend it.
|
