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A review by angienagie
A Barricade In Hell by Jaime Lee Moyer
4.0
Originally posted at Disquietus Reads
Jaime Lee Moyer’s sequel to Delia’s Shadow is happily even more enjoyable than it’s predecessor. Returning to this world and these characters was just like visiting old friends. The mystery at the heart of the story was even creepier and more intriguing (child poltergeist? NO THANK YOU HARD PASS RUN AWAY WHILE YOU CAN) and the writing showed definitive improvement.
Moyer’s writing has a quiet, steady beauty that greatly appeals to me. In A Barricade in Hell she has crafted an excellent story with fascinating characters that gives the reader a glimpse into historical San Francisco in a way that made me feel as if I was there with the characters the entire time. The many plot threaders were seamlessly tied together with perfect pacing. Gone are the overwhelmingly detailed descriptions that I found difficult to push through while reading the first book. The dual POV still works very well for this series. Gabe and Delia have very distinct voices and the switch between is never jarring. This time around we have two separate mysteries we are trying to solve. On Delia’s end there is a poltergeist haunting her husband while Gabe in investigating a series of disappearances and murders possibly connected to a visiting evangelist. It was all very interesting and well put together.
If I had one wish for the plot though, it would be that I hadn’t solved it myself so early on. While there was one thing I didn’t connect until almost right before the characters did, I still figured out the rest of it way early. There is also a thing that happens in the end with Isadora and another character that I am still on the fence about. While I liked the end result, I’m not sure I like the way it came about, although it was definitely a likely thing to happen, historically (DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE I DON’T EVEN KNOW).
Really the only actual fault I could find with this book is that I struggle to connect with the characters. While the character development is excellent, and I like all of them just fine (especially Isadora because she is flawless), I just don’t connect with them in the way I normally hope to with the books I read. Delia is an admirable heroine. She’s smart and brave, but at times she’s just a little too quiet and passive for my tastes. She also seemed to be lacking a lot of the spirit and sass I admired in her from the first book, although there are reasons for this I think. I also greatly missed Sadie’s brightening presence in this book.
However, the fact that I enjoyed it as much as I did without being able to connect to the characters is really just a testament to the strength of the writing. 99% of the time my enjoyment of a novel is directly correlated to how I feel about/connect with the characters. Barricade is one of those rare unicorns that I enjoyed completely based on the strength of the writing and plot. I definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or mysteries and especially if you like both.
(I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)
Jaime Lee Moyer’s sequel to Delia’s Shadow is happily even more enjoyable than it’s predecessor. Returning to this world and these characters was just like visiting old friends. The mystery at the heart of the story was even creepier and more intriguing (child poltergeist? NO THANK YOU HARD PASS RUN AWAY WHILE YOU CAN) and the writing showed definitive improvement.
Moyer’s writing has a quiet, steady beauty that greatly appeals to me. In A Barricade in Hell she has crafted an excellent story with fascinating characters that gives the reader a glimpse into historical San Francisco in a way that made me feel as if I was there with the characters the entire time. The many plot threaders were seamlessly tied together with perfect pacing. Gone are the overwhelmingly detailed descriptions that I found difficult to push through while reading the first book. The dual POV still works very well for this series. Gabe and Delia have very distinct voices and the switch between is never jarring. This time around we have two separate mysteries we are trying to solve. On Delia’s end there is a poltergeist haunting her husband while Gabe in investigating a series of disappearances and murders possibly connected to a visiting evangelist. It was all very interesting and well put together.
If I had one wish for the plot though, it would be that I hadn’t solved it myself so early on. While there was one thing I didn’t connect until almost right before the characters did, I still figured out the rest of it way early. There is also a thing that happens in the end with Isadora and another character that I am still on the fence about. While I liked the end result, I’m not sure I like the way it came about, although it was definitely a likely thing to happen, historically (DOES ANY OF THIS MAKE SENSE I DON’T EVEN KNOW).
Really the only actual fault I could find with this book is that I struggle to connect with the characters. While the character development is excellent, and I like all of them just fine (especially Isadora because she is flawless), I just don’t connect with them in the way I normally hope to with the books I read. Delia is an admirable heroine. She’s smart and brave, but at times she’s just a little too quiet and passive for my tastes. She also seemed to be lacking a lot of the spirit and sass I admired in her from the first book, although there are reasons for this I think. I also greatly missed Sadie’s brightening presence in this book.
However, the fact that I enjoyed it as much as I did without being able to connect to the characters is really just a testament to the strength of the writing. 99% of the time my enjoyment of a novel is directly correlated to how I feel about/connect with the characters. Barricade is one of those rare unicorns that I enjoyed completely based on the strength of the writing and plot. I definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or mysteries and especially if you like both.
(I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)