Maplecroft: The Borden Dispatches (Borden Dispatches, #1)

by Cherie Priest

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one....
 
The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.
 
But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.
 
This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.

• ISBN10: 0451466977
• ISBN13: 9780451466976
• Publish Date: 2 September 2014
• Publish Status: Inactive
• Out of Print: 22 January 2025
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: ROC (imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc)
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451466976

Reviews

[Beth C.]

Ok, I've been waffling on this one for a long time, and I finally bit the bullet and decided to read it. And I'm truly glad I did! It's a unique take on the Lizzie Borden murders, and one the - surprisingly - works well as written. I'm not sure if it would have worked as well in less capable hands than Priest's, but I was engrossed until the end. I am now planning on getting book #2 (Chapelwood) to see where the story takes me!

[tellemonstar]

I quite enjoyed this. I'm not normally a fan of anything Lovecraftian because I 'suffer' from an overactive imagination, but this book skirted along the edges without going too far. An interesting premise and a cleanly written book. A more formal review will probably come later.

[kimbacaffeinate]

3.5 Priest’s talent is evident from the action scenes to the voice she gives her characters setting a tone of madness, desperation, fear and darkness. From the beginning, we get a sense of the wrongness around Falls River and slowly we along with the character's piece together and being to understand, although neither they nor we will ever fully understand what has occurred. Lizzie is an unexpected hero in all of this. She is an axe wielding, intelligent woman who with the aid of Emma has set up quite an elaborate laboratory and library at Maplecroft. Priest fleshed Lizzie out showing us both the strong and weak side of her, she even presents a lover into the mix, and I loved the drama and complications it caused. Much like the Overlook Hotel (Shining, Stephen King) we slowly see these characters unhinge as the full reality of what is occurring comes to life and their desperate attempts to stop it had me flipping the pages. For me, the multiple perspectives both enhanced the tale and hurt it. By using multiple perspectives, we can see what is happening in a larger sense as it provides firsthand accounts. All of this added tension and a creep factor that will make you squirm. It allowed Priest to create scenes that were unsettling and gory. You could feel the wrongness as it took hold, and I enjoyed it. However, the multiple perspectives also keep me from fully immersing myself in the tale and characters creating a disconnect.

Received copy from publisher. Full review can be found at Caffeinated.This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer