(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I have some mixed feelings about this book. I felt that the blurb of this book sounded quite intriguing, but the execution wasn’t quite as good as it could have been.
It’s probably very difficult to write about the life of a murderer, whether real or fictional. A murderer isn’t the sort of character who can easily be made sympathetic. I felt the author didn’t really explore the motivations that might have driven Helene. I suppose it made sense, though, because she came across as very much a madwoman.
Some of the scenes in this book were quite intriguing, but there were others that I had some difficulty in following what was going on. I wasn’t sure, most of the time, why Helene would kill a certain amount of people, but leave others alive.
The book itself was easy to read and it was interesting to see the folk tales from where Helene grew up. She was thoroughly unlikable in this book and I was kind of relieved by the ending.
I don’t know if I would read any more books by this author in the future. It would have to depend on the subject matter and if the book was one that I thought I might be interested in.
Ink of Blood 