The Lighthouse
Author: Fran Dorricott
Published by: Avon Books
Pages: 359
Format: Paperback
My Rating: ★★★
Published by: Avon Books
Pages: 359
Format: Paperback
My Rating: ★★★
Six friends travel to a remote island north of the Scottish Highlands for an old school reunion. They've rented The Lighthouse - a stunning, now abandoned building that was once notorious for deaths at sea.
On the first evening, someone goes missing. The group search all through the night to no avail. But when the five remaining friends return to the lighthouse early the next morning, they are shocked to find James inside. He's looks terrified - but won't say a word about where he's been.
The party vow to put the strange night behind them and enjoy the rest of their stay, but when more unexplained things begin to occur, tensions escalate. It's clear James knows something, but nothing will persuade him to give up the secrets of the island. Is he protecting his friends from a terrible truth, or leading them into more danger?
On the first evening, someone goes missing. The group search all through the night to no avail. But when the five remaining friends return to the lighthouse early the next morning, they are shocked to find James inside. He's looks terrified - but won't say a word about where he's been.
The party vow to put the strange night behind them and enjoy the rest of their stay, but when more unexplained things begin to occur, tensions escalate. It's clear James knows something, but nothing will persuade him to give up the secrets of the island. Is he protecting his friends from a terrible truth, or leading them into more danger?
My thoughts
I liked the premise of The Lighthouse. Five friends in their thirties travel to an uninhabited island in Scotland for a ten-year reunion, having known each other since school. Two of them are married now, two were a couple but not anymore. And one of them brings his new girlfriend. It started well and initially the group has a good time. They talk, they eat and they drink. But one of them goes missing during the evening and when he returns a few hours later he is unable and unwilling to tell what happened. He says he was too drunk and can’t remember where he walked off to. But from then on nothing is as easy as it started.
The characters felt quite flat throughout the story, and I found it tough to route for any of them. Oddly, they were supposed to be old friends from college, but there wasn't any real sense of comradery, and their shared history was murky at best and mostly glossed over. You never got a real sense of why they stayed friends or why they became friends in the first place. My main issue was that every character's voice in this sounded almost exactly the same. I often had to flip back to find out whose point of view I was reading because they sounded identical and this made it hard to differentiate the characters from one another.
The setting was the highlight for me. The chilling location is on a lonely, windswept island off the coast of Scotland. The unpredictable weather, the mist, the cold, and the lighthouse perched on a cliff overlooking the churning sea are vividly described and very atmospheric. The isolation of the island is emphasised as the group's relationships begin to crumble under the weight of disbelief and suspicion. However, in terms of plot the middle section of the book seemed to drag quite a bit and then the ending felt rushed and implausible.
Sadly, I found this book a bit disappointing overall. The characters irritated me in the way they behaved, and the book just wasn’t creepy enough for me. The conclusion left a lot to be desired, especially after following a story designed to lead the reader towards the supernatural. I found The Lighthouse intriguing enough, but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
Thank you again to Avon books for sending me out a copy to read and review.
Overall reaction:
I liked the premise of The Lighthouse. Five friends in their thirties travel to an uninhabited island in Scotland for a ten-year reunion, having known each other since school. Two of them are married now, two were a couple but not anymore. And one of them brings his new girlfriend. It started well and initially the group has a good time. They talk, they eat and they drink. But one of them goes missing during the evening and when he returns a few hours later he is unable and unwilling to tell what happened. He says he was too drunk and can’t remember where he walked off to. But from then on nothing is as easy as it started.
The characters felt quite flat throughout the story, and I found it tough to route for any of them. Oddly, they were supposed to be old friends from college, but there wasn't any real sense of comradery, and their shared history was murky at best and mostly glossed over. You never got a real sense of why they stayed friends or why they became friends in the first place. My main issue was that every character's voice in this sounded almost exactly the same. I often had to flip back to find out whose point of view I was reading because they sounded identical and this made it hard to differentiate the characters from one another.
The setting was the highlight for me. The chilling location is on a lonely, windswept island off the coast of Scotland. The unpredictable weather, the mist, the cold, and the lighthouse perched on a cliff overlooking the churning sea are vividly described and very atmospheric. The isolation of the island is emphasised as the group's relationships begin to crumble under the weight of disbelief and suspicion. However, in terms of plot the middle section of the book seemed to drag quite a bit and then the ending felt rushed and implausible.
Sadly, I found this book a bit disappointing overall. The characters irritated me in the way they behaved, and the book just wasn’t creepy enough for me. The conclusion left a lot to be desired, especially after following a story designed to lead the reader towards the supernatural. I found The Lighthouse intriguing enough, but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
Thank you again to Avon books for sending me out a copy to read and review.
Overall reaction:
