Feast, by Graham Masterton. Pinnacle Books, 1988

Charlie McLean is a restaurant critic who is on the road constantly, eating his way around America for a company that makes up guidebooks. A non-custodial parent, he now has his son, Martin, with him for three weeks, in an attempt for them to get to know each other. An encounter at a (bad) roadside diner leads him on a quest to find Le Reposoir, a secret, private dining club. While he’s seeking this, a member of a cult religion is talking with Martin…and convincing him theirs is the One True Religion. Not only that, but Martin is their Savior. When Martin disappears, Charlie is surprised to find how extensive this cult is and how much power they have… and their Second Coming is NOW.

This is typical 80s gore fest, although it does have some interesting quirks that make it stand apart from the chain saw gang. The cult’s religious thesis is a new one. I’m afraid I just couldn’t manage to like Charlie; there is nothing wrong with him but he just rubbed me the wrong way, although he did the right things in the end. The author’s portrayal of women is annoying; they don’t seem real at all, just ornaments for Charlie to have sex with. But the book held my attention, although it seriously dragged in the middle. Three stars.

The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry. William Morrow, 2006

Our main narrator, Towner Whitney- real name Sophya- starts the book by telling us she’s a liar and to never trust her word. After a self-imposed exile, she has returned to Salem from the west coast because her aunt Eva is missing. She is just barely recovering from a hysterectomy, and not up to doing much. She doesn’t get much rest, though, as events go south rapidly. Eva turns up dead, the “Calvinists”- followers of Towner’s horrible father Calvin Boynton, who oppose the witches who have proliferated in Salem- are getting out of control, a teenaged girl who was involved with Boynton has been beaten by the Calvinists and vanished, and Towner is starting to get involved with Rafferty, the police man who was investigating Eva’s disappearance.

A lot of the story is told via a journal/story Towner wrote while in a psychiatric institution after her twin sister’s suicide and in other flashbacks, as well as short spans from other POVs. Witchcraft is real, and the Whitney women have the ability to scry using the Ipswich lace which is made by the abused women of a safe house on an island- a historic craft revived by Towner’s mother. Towner can also read minds- mostly unwillingly.

This is a hard book to review without giving away too much. There is a big twist at the ending. There are clues scattered throughout the story, things that at times I thought were things that were wrong but escaped the final editing. The mystery isn’t really about Eva’s death or the pregnant teenager disappearing, it’s about Towner’s past. I enjoyed the story and couldn’t put it down, but found it hard to follow with all the jumps from past to present. Having an unreliable narrator doesn’t help. I had to reread parts, especially the ending, to try and figure it all out. You really have to remember what’s been said earlier in the story to try and keep up. I thought the twist at the ending- which many reviewers have called reminiscent of ‘Sixth Sense’- was rather brilliant. 

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