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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
4.5 stars
At first glance, Helena Pelletier seems like an average young woman juggling a busy life. Married to Stephen, mother of Iris & Mari & purveyor of homemade jellies & jams. But one look at the book blurb tells you she’s anything but.
Her mother was 13 years old when she was abducted by Jacob Holbrook & taken to a remote cabin in Michigan’s upper peninsula. At 16, she gave birth to Helena. Twelve years later, mother & daughter escaped & their story became an international sensation. In the years since, Helena worked hard to hide her identity & live a “normal” life. Well, it was nice while it lasted.
After 13 years in prison, Jacob escapes & disappears into the thick forests of a nearby national wildlife refuge. Helena’s carefully crafted world implodes & she realizes the only person capable of tracking him down is her. After all, she is the Marsh King’s daughter.
The book opens in the present as Helena prepares to hunt down her father. During her search, we get detailed flashbacks that give us the full story of life with Jacob from her first memories til the day she & her mother were found. In alternate passages throughout the book is a retelling of the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen that gives the book its title & serves as an allegory of Helena’s journey.
This is a book that reels you in from page 1. Tense, layered, affecting, disturbing, honest, poignant…these are just some of the descriptors bouncing around in my head jostling for position & they all apply. It succeeds on many levels but if I had to pick one thing that ensured I kept turning the pages, it would be the main character. Unlike many books currently on the market, the author chose to go with one narrator. It’s a risky move. Her first person narrative is the lone voice in your head & if the reader doesn’t connect with or like her, it’s game over. Not only did I like her, she’s one of my favourite characters so far this year.
There are so many ways she could have been portrayed. The story revolves around difficult subject matter & could easily have descended into a version full of sensational, lurid detail with an emotional wreck as the MC. Thankfully, Ms. Dionne chose another route.
As Helena began to tell her story, I was immediately struck by her pragmatic, no-nonsense style of speech. There’s not a drop of drama queen in her veins & ironically, it’s this lack of histrionics that makes her delivery all the more believable & chilling. As she describes events from her childhood, you’re reminded that every kid thinks their life is normal because it’s all they know. By the time Helena learns the truth about her family, she’s had 12 formative years of guidance & attention from a man she idolizes. So it’s no wonder she still struggles with conflicting emotions as she tries to reconcile her 2 fathers. One taught her how to hunt & survive in the wilderness she loves. The other is a murdering rapist.
So by now you’re probably wondering why I left off half a star after babbling away about why this is such a great read. If I had to explain it to the author, it could be boiled down to this: it’s not you, it’s me. Right after Helena made the decision to search for Jacob, I settled in with a white knuckled grip on my kindle & waited for the chase to unfold. It’s during this section of the book that we get the history of her childhood in passages that are richly atmospheric & detailed. These have a slower pace that gives you a chance to get to know the characters & fully grasp the significance of events from those years. My problem is I’m an impatient reader & desperately wanted to know how the game of cat & mouse would play out in the present. So it’s purely a reflection of personal preference & many will find themselves caught up in the developing father/daughter relationship.
The style of prose makes for effortless reading & I bet you’ll find yourself chanting “just one more page” into the wee hours. In case some prospective readers are wondering, there are scenes of violence but no graphic sexual content.
Go on then, toss this on the TBR pile. The author is a gifted story teller & if this book doesn’t make you feel a dozen different emotions, you should immediately be checked for a heartbeat.
At first glance, Helena Pelletier seems like an average young woman juggling a busy life. Married to Stephen, mother of Iris & Mari & purveyor of homemade jellies & jams. But one look at the book blurb tells you she’s anything but.
Her mother was 13 years old when she was abducted by Jacob Holbrook & taken to a remote cabin in Michigan’s upper peninsula. At 16, she gave birth to Helena. Twelve years later, mother & daughter escaped & their story became an international sensation. In the years since, Helena worked hard to hide her identity & live a “normal” life. Well, it was nice while it lasted.
After 13 years in prison, Jacob escapes & disappears into the thick forests of a nearby national wildlife refuge. Helena’s carefully crafted world implodes & she realizes the only person capable of tracking him down is her. After all, she is the Marsh King’s daughter.
The book opens in the present as Helena prepares to hunt down her father. During her search, we get detailed flashbacks that give us the full story of life with Jacob from her first memories til the day she & her mother were found. In alternate passages throughout the book is a retelling of the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen that gives the book its title & serves as an allegory of Helena’s journey.
This is a book that reels you in from page 1. Tense, layered, affecting, disturbing, honest, poignant…these are just some of the descriptors bouncing around in my head jostling for position & they all apply. It succeeds on many levels but if I had to pick one thing that ensured I kept turning the pages, it would be the main character. Unlike many books currently on the market, the author chose to go with one narrator. It’s a risky move. Her first person narrative is the lone voice in your head & if the reader doesn’t connect with or like her, it’s game over. Not only did I like her, she’s one of my favourite characters so far this year.
There are so many ways she could have been portrayed. The story revolves around difficult subject matter & could easily have descended into a version full of sensational, lurid detail with an emotional wreck as the MC. Thankfully, Ms. Dionne chose another route.
As Helena began to tell her story, I was immediately struck by her pragmatic, no-nonsense style of speech. There’s not a drop of drama queen in her veins & ironically, it’s this lack of histrionics that makes her delivery all the more believable & chilling. As she describes events from her childhood, you’re reminded that every kid thinks their life is normal because it’s all they know. By the time Helena learns the truth about her family, she’s had 12 formative years of guidance & attention from a man she idolizes. So it’s no wonder she still struggles with conflicting emotions as she tries to reconcile her 2 fathers. One taught her how to hunt & survive in the wilderness she loves. The other is a murdering rapist.
So by now you’re probably wondering why I left off half a star after babbling away about why this is such a great read. If I had to explain it to the author, it could be boiled down to this: it’s not you, it’s me. Right after Helena made the decision to search for Jacob, I settled in with a white knuckled grip on my kindle & waited for the chase to unfold. It’s during this section of the book that we get the history of her childhood in passages that are richly atmospheric & detailed. These have a slower pace that gives you a chance to get to know the characters & fully grasp the significance of events from those years. My problem is I’m an impatient reader & desperately wanted to know how the game of cat & mouse would play out in the present. So it’s purely a reflection of personal preference & many will find themselves caught up in the developing father/daughter relationship.
The style of prose makes for effortless reading & I bet you’ll find yourself chanting “just one more page” into the wee hours. In case some prospective readers are wondering, there are scenes of violence but no graphic sexual content.
Go on then, toss this on the TBR pile. The author is a gifted story teller & if this book doesn’t make you feel a dozen different emotions, you should immediately be checked for a heartbeat.
I received the Marsh King's Daughter as an advance copy in return for an honest review - what a treat it was! The story follows Helena, the titular Marsh King's daughter whose mother was kidnapped when she was only 14 by a vile sadistic captor who feels it is his right to take her as his wife by force and this results in the conception of Helena following rape. Helena grows up in isolation in the upper peninsula marshlands not knowing of the circumstances behind her birth and her parents lives. This is the first book I've read by this author and I was really impressed by the writing and characterizations which are all warm, accomplished and evocative. The author has crafted wonderful, thrilling, chilling tale that transported me to the Marshlands making me forget I was in the UK. Read it people it's a Corker.
The writing was just a little childish to me. So many cliches and the first person narrative didn’t help.
Honestly, I don't really want to review this one. I did finish it, but the main character was so unlikable that I'm not sure how people actually managed to read past page 60 (and with a novel where you only really have three characters, one of them needs to be likable). If you go through my updates there are so many times where I was so angered by her ignorance and superiority complex that I had to say something. Update #12: "...I...someone help this woman...I just..."If my kidnapper feeds me, does that make him a good person?" is seriously the question you just basically asked." Our main character asks this question and then nods to the affirmative. I just...there are so many logic problems here. The premise is atrocious and not well thought out. Our main character not that special. There are plenty of people with her exact skill set who have been doing her wilderness training so much longer. It's just not believable in the slightest. The story is predictable and you can't be too thrilling if you're too predictable.
I enjoyed that this book took place in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, in places I've been and love to travel. The story was fascinating and had my heart racing. Darker and more disturbing than I usually read.
3.5 stars. I flew through this book but it was not the “thriller” I expected after seeing reviews from others. I thought the character development was extremely well done. The beginning really drew me in and the ending was pretty fast paced. However, the middle dragged a bit too much, weighed down by too many details and descriptions of wilderness scenes and graphic hunting stories. Overall, I would recommend this book, I just felt a little let down because it wasn’t necessarily the psychological thriller I was expecting.
Not my usual genre but really good! A fast read because it’s a page-turner, not because it’s poorly written.
Won an advanced copy through the giveaways so I will leave a review.
I entered the giveaway because this book sounded really interesting but I just really couldn't get into it. I finished it earlier today after starting it in June only because I didn't want to leave it unfinished. But even till the end I just didn't like it. There was no enjoyment reading it, a little bit frustrating at times, and I found myself disliking the main character the more I read about her.
I really wanted to like it but it just didn't happen.
I entered the giveaway because this book sounded really interesting but I just really couldn't get into it. I finished it earlier today after starting it in June only because I didn't want to leave it unfinished. But even till the end I just didn't like it. There was no enjoyment reading it, a little bit frustrating at times, and I found myself disliking the main character the more I read about her.
I really wanted to like it but it just didn't happen.