My Review and Thoughts:
The House on Foster Hill is a wonderful read. A thick
mystery suspense. An inspirational novel that truly knows how to grab the
reader, take them on a journey, adventure of imaginative story telling.
The characters in the book are fleshed out in vivid detail
and the reader can’t help but fall in love with Ivy, Joel, Kaine, Grant, Joy
Megan, and we can’t forget the dogs Olive and Sophie. Each character comes to life on the page. You
as the reader can’t help but become a part of them, become a part of the story.
It’s a cliché to say that while reviewing a book but in this case, I can’t help
but feel that these characters were a part of my family. Part of my lineage.
Part of my historical make up of life.
The book is so well written that it’s two different time
periods. You flash back-and-forth in one family’s ordeal as the mystery is
thick and slowly unfolds. You want to turn the page. you want to get to the
end. You want to find the conclusion so that the mystery can be solved, because
your brain is in high gear with anticipation on what is going to happen.
The writing is so structured and thought out that everything
comes to life. The small town feels. The fear. The dread. The emotional
baggage.
You have two story lines one taking place in 1906. A murder
has taken place of a young woman. She is found dead at Foster Hill House. So,
begins the mystery of why she was murdered of who she was and what transpired.
Your introduced to your main character of Ivy during this time. Ivy works for
her father; her father is the medical examiner doctor and so she gets firsthand
knowledge of the murder. She wants to find out who killed this girl by any
means and she will go about putting her life in danger to find out that
situation.
Then you are introduced in the present day relative of the
character of Ivy. Kaine has come to Oakwood Wisconsin to trace her family roots
after purchasing an old rundown house known as Foster Hill House the same spot
where the murder transpired in 1906. Kaine has baggage. She believes her
boyfriend was murdered two years ago. The police don’t take her serious. She is
also being stalked in San Diego California where she’s from. Things in her
apartment gone through, changed, altered. She wanted to move from San Diego to
get away from it, to hide away from whoever is stalking her. So, she tracers
her family history back to Oakland Wisconsin were her relatives are from.
But as she arrives everything starts to change. As the
stalker seems to have made it to Oakland Wisconsin to terrorize her just the
way he was doing in San Diego. Soon she will meet characters from the small
town as she slowly unravels the secrets of her family’s past and the secrets of
Foster Hill House.
something I love about this book is the added wonderful
inspirational Christian side of the novel, the aspects of God, hope, and faith.
It’s wonderful to pick up a suspenseful mystery novel and not have to be
bombarded with blatant foul language, disgusting sexual content. This is a
clean book.
The whodunit. The cat and mouse game. The thick suspense.
The edge of your seat drama creates a wonderful thick book that grabs a hold of
the reader that never lets them go. The book creates a personal side that
creates a thinking process. That creates a wonderment for the reader as they
turn page after page. You fall in love with this town. You fall in love with
the characters. You fall in love with the old rundown house. You also fall in
love with the budding romantic relationship between your main female character
Kaine and the main male character Grant. There is a wonderful flirtation. A
wonderful growing tension. An innocent growing love.
Jaime Jo Wright’s debut novel is a splendid read. It’s a
read that anyone can become a part of. To be thrilled with. To be thoroughly
entertained by. It’s a mystery that unfolds in imaginative writing. The past
comes to haunt the future, the future goes back to haunt the past. As both
story lines come together to complete one complete story two separate
telling’s, two separate time periods. Several different characters, all of them
attached in one way or another.
Would I Return to Again: Absolutely. It is one of those books your can reread and enjoy all over again. Became an instant fan of Jaime Jo Wrights writing style. She creates a perfect setting in written word.
Would I Recommend: Absolutely. This is one book that anyone should read. It has all the touches of many styles of books from mystery and suspense to Historical mela-drama, to romantic notions, all twisting around a deep dark subject and yet also a very inspiring read.
Four Final Words: Awesome, Mysterious, Inspiring, Deep.
My Rating: 4 out of 5