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depizan 's review for:

The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt
3.0

Fairly entertaining and enjoyable gothic mystery romance. It did suffer more from "oh dear, the past" moments, though, than the other Victoria Holt I read. Here we have really stereotypical "gypsies" and unfortunate portrayals of mental illness, sadly. And there were some minor mistakes an editor should've caught, like the heroine being unfamiliar with horses in one scene and having had some riding experience thereafter. But the sense of place was so good and the mystery was gripping enough that I'm being somewhat forgiving of its defects.