"The Raven" by Susan McCauley.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC of "The Raven" by Susan McCauley in exchange for an honest review.

So, here's one.

This book is pretty much different from my usual read, even outlandish I shall say. Horror is not my cup of tea so I believe I won't be able to give a true judgment to the book but I certainly had a journey here. A very unexpected journey.

The novel falls under the gothic, horror with elements of psychological thriller genre.

This whole mixture gave me a pessimistic, dark, freezing cold range of emotions.

It is possible to read the book in one afternoon (I did in two) and I think it was meant to be devoured in one sitting.

It is a story about a dark period of history (you'll never want to romanticize the days of yesteryear ever again, especially XVII century, believe me), grief, unlikely events and madness that leaves a bitter aftertaste.

To be honest , I don't really know the purpose of that book. There's certainly a plot with several unexpected turns (for me) but not much to it. Does that make sense? I hope it does. Not much to discuss or think about here I shall say, just the pure facts for... entertainment. Well, this word doesn't sound right. Let's say experience. When you finish the story, it is just finished. You forget about it. That's it. And that's precisely the reason why I believe the book was ment to me read in one sitting, otherwise you'll loose the thread and it won't be as interesting anymore.

The story will be a perfect read for a gloomy autumn day. Don't read it at night though.

Little about the plot.

It is the year 1665. The time of the plague in England. The situation is hard enough but when Martin accidentally kills a raven, which he takes as bad luck but hopes it is not, it might get even worse. And it is the former as the accident started a very unfortunate chain of events (I assume it could happen in any case so don't know if the raven is at fault but anyways).

First the raven, then the orphans arriving at Martin's place in York from London, who are the survivors of a disastrous plague in the city. Martin accepts them as his wife insists (the couple had only son and couldn't have any more children, so she saw it as an opportunity to be a parent to more kids, while he took it as a bad sign). Turns out, Martin was right and the kids bring even more misfortune.

Along the way we discover the drama that surrounds Martin's family and it is truly a bitter story.

Above all else Martin feels like he's been followed by the raven, that drives him mad (along with other events, of course).

There was a happy ending. Can I call it a happy end? Not sure. More like a sad but deeply satisfying ending. Plus, until the end we, as readers, won't be sure if the ravens were really there. Were they at fault?

As I said at the beginning I'm not a horror master but I had chills running down my spine so I'd say it is a solid read.

From the author's note I learned that the story has been in different stages of its creation and that it will be a future film! When I was reading I thought that it would fit for a gothic movie that I would be absolutely terrified to watch. Nonetheless, I'm excited for the movie.

The book was recently published, so you can read it on any platforms you like.

My rating 3/5⭐

Love always, M 💕