Author: Preetham Grandhi
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Standalone
Published: 2009
Personal Rating: 4/5 (very good)
Yearly Count: 117
Please Note: While being thankful for the opportunity to receive and read this book, I feel the need to post the blurb from its cover. However, in my opinion there is usually too much disclosed. Read at your own discretion.
From the ARC cover:
The sleepy town of Newbury, Connecticut, is shocked when a little girl is found brutally murdered. The town's top detective, perplexed by a complete lack of leads, calls in FBI agent Leia Bines, an expert in cases involving children.
Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Gram, a psychiatrist at Newbury's hospital, searches desperately for the cause of seven-year-old Naya Hastings's devastating nightmares. Afraid that she might hurt herself in the midst of a torturous episode, Naya's parents have turned to the bright young doctor as their only hope.
The situations confronting Leia and Peter converge when Naya begins drawing chilling images of murder after being bombarded by the disturbing images in her dreams. Amazingly, her sketches are the only clues to the crime that panicked Newbury residents. Against her better judgment, Leia explores the clues in Naya's crude drawings, only to set off an alarming chain of events.
In this stunning psychological thriller, innocence gives way to evil, and trust lies forgotten in a web of deceit, fear and murder.
Even though I technically have been reading this book for almost a week, I actually read it in a very few sittings. It was definitely a fast-paced and intriguing read, especially with the assistance of short chapter.
I liked the cast of characters and felt like they were genuine people; however, my greatest and most disliked part of the book revolved around the paranormal aspect in the plot. Unfortunately, it was an integral element, but not overpowering, so I still enjoyed the book as a whole.
The thriller portion of the book had a few gruesome moments, but on the profanity-front, there wasn't any. I'm curious as to the author's reasoning behind that choice. Not that I wanted profanity, but its absence was undeniable and definitely purposeful. On occasion I thought there was too many adjectives - telling instead of showing, but overall it was a very good debut novel. I look forward to more by Grandhi, especially if it's focus is psychological.
Thank you, Preetham Grandhi, for sending me A Circle of Souls. It was my pleasure to read it, and I appreciated the personal touch.
I've read many good reviews for this book, Joy. Glad you liked it. Interesting observation about the lack of profanity. I suppose it's noticeable for this genre.
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing about this one. Good to hear you liked it!
ReplyDeleteAll of the reviews of this one seem to be good. I can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteMary ~ The author would write stuff that made it obvious, like telling us (totally made up here): Then the man swore. You can't miss that it's missing. :)
ReplyDeleteNicola ~ Yep, I did.
Bermudaonion ~ I hope you enjoy it, too.
I think I gave it a 4 too. I thought it was a good, solid first novel. Glad you liked it too.
ReplyDeleteStacybuckeye ~ I'm going to come by and see what you said.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to get to this book this month. I have read several reviews and it looks good; thanks
ReplyDeleteDiane ~ I hope you like it, Diane. I haven't seen anything negative about it, so hopefully it'll be good for you, too.
ReplyDelete