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anna3101's review
3.0
The book was a little hard to begin, there were too many details and the story unfolded slowly, but once it did, it was a pure pleasure, with lots of interesting characters, lots of suspense and mystery, and some exciting historical facts (even made me do my own research on the Internet after the reading :)).
a_novel_craving's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Child death, Murder, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Classism, Gun violence, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse
nuthatch's review against another edition
5.0
This is a very good mystery with some interesting twists at the end. She did a good job showing the interrelationships of the people in a small Irish community. The sections about archaeology were realistic.
januaryf's review
For being a first novel, this was a great book. The mystery was pretty convoluted, but satisfying. Description of the people and the environment was good.
longlostlillian's review
3.0
The setting was interesting and the prose beautiful but some parts got a little too technical to follow clearly. Both the mysteries were interesting but didn't really get engaging until the final quarter. The story switched to too many different perspectives for me to really get attached to anyone and they all had character arcs that I honestly kept forgetting about. Even though Nora is the main character in the whole series since the book opened and closed on Cormac's perspective (and he had the most character growth) it definitely felt like he was the protagonist.
moonpie's review against another edition
2.0
Eh. "Haunted Ground" was okay. I very much enjoyed the two mysteries that were the focal points of the novel: an ancient beheading and a more recent missing-persons case. The timing was a little off, with all the solutions coming at once, wham bam, but the puzzles were interesting enough that I didn't notice that while I was reading; I just wanted to find out what happened.
My main dissatisfaction with the novel was that the romantic bits seemed awkward and pasted on. There were some explorations of a few characters' family lives, and those were okay, but... you know how "Law & Order" will sometimes try to shoehorn in the personal stuff, and it seems forced? It was like that. I would have preferred this book without the romance. There were also details in there (along the lines of "she held the carton up to her nose to see if the milk had turned") that I guess were supposed to help set the scene, but felt awkward.
On the plus side, Erin Hart has a knack for atmosphere. I don't know much about Ireland, so I can't say how authentic the setting was, but I enjoyed the place descriptions and use of local language.
I would give "Haunted Ground" two-and-a-half stars. It wasn't a waste of time, but it wasn't a keeper, either.
My main dissatisfaction with the novel was that the romantic bits seemed awkward and pasted on. There were some explorations of a few characters' family lives, and those were okay, but... you know how "Law & Order" will sometimes try to shoehorn in the personal stuff, and it seems forced? It was like that. I would have preferred this book without the romance. There were also details in there (along the lines of "she held the carton up to her nose to see if the milk had turned") that I guess were supposed to help set the scene, but felt awkward.
On the plus side, Erin Hart has a knack for atmosphere. I don't know much about Ireland, so I can't say how authentic the setting was, but I enjoyed the place descriptions and use of local language.
I would give "Haunted Ground" two-and-a-half stars. It wasn't a waste of time, but it wasn't a keeper, either.
amn028's review
2.0
The book was an okay vacation read. I could put it down to go off and explore, then pick it up later in the evening. The book doesn't seem to know whether it wants to focus on/solve the present day or past mystery. As a result, both story lines suffer. The present day mystery seems rushed and is resolved in a mediocre fashion. The past mystery never really gets all that interesting or intriguing. The main characters aren't fully engaging. The whole book seems more of a gloss over as it tries to do too much and never really gets meaty.