Behind the Veil by E.J. Dawson
Publication Date: 1st Oct 2021
Genre: Horror, Historical, American
4 Stars
1920, Los Angeles: Letitia Hawking has sailed from
England a few months ago to bury her past and lead a new life. She spends her
days traversing the path between the living and dead. Her clients want some
closure after their loved ones die, and Letitia offers them that. However, she
is genuine material with strong powers and has strict rules about what cases
she would take up and which she wouldn’t.
Alasdair Driscoll is tormented. His niece Finola has
been seeing horrible things, and none of them know how to save her. Letitia is
annoyed by his rude approach and terrified by the dark shadow haunting him. She
doesn’t want to tangle with shadows again.
But she decides to take a step forward and help
Finola. The girl needed saving, and Letitia could at least try and prevent the
girl from being further tortured.
Time moves on, and before she knows it, Letitia is
in the middle of a criminal case for helping a grieving father. Driscoll and
his lawyering services come to her aid. Undecided about the growing attraction
between them, Letitia is rather torn about what to do.
However, things take a turn for worse, and Letitia
realizes that she needs to open the closed part of her if she wants to defeat
the malicious shadow that’s hurting little kids. But is she strong enough to
venture into a territory she swore never to enter? Will she succumb as she did
the last time? What price does Letitia have to pay for interfering with the
presence of evil?
The book starts on a steady note and progresses
quite well. The setting is atmospheric, with a few lighthearted scenes added to
the mix.
Letitia’s character has been crafted with care. She
has her insecurities and vulnerabilities but is assertive and authoritative
when required. Alasdair starts out as a rich rude man but shows his good side
soon enough.
I think Abby was that one character I wasn’t too
happy with. Her reactions were unexpected and either too demure or too
excessive. Luckily, she doesn’t have a major role, and I could ignore most of
it.
The final confrontation scene stretched over a good
number of pages, and that worked in the story’s favor (at least for me). Of
course, the ending could have been better though there is HEA. That
complication felt unnecessary and seemed like it was used to tick off a trope
from the list.
As a horror story, the book does very well and
balances atmosphere with action, and is suitable for newbie horror readers. The
author didn’t opt for explicit gore even though she could have done it. I
appreciate this move as it made the book a better read.
To sum up, Behind the Veil is an engaging read with
a steady pace and a good storyline. It’s nothing unusual or unique, but the
overall effect is satisfactory, and that matters to me.
The book comes with content warnings. That said, the
author doesn’t use any graphic descriptions. The themes, however, might trigger
a few readers. Please read with caution.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and BooksGoSocial.
#BehindTheVeil #NetGalley
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