- Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; Reprint edition (26 May 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340827599
- ISBN-13: 978-0340827598
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,241,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
New Woman
'A fascinating mix of archaeology, forensics and local folklore'
Sydney Telegraph
‘A gripping thriller'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dull,
By
This review is from: Haunted Ground (Paperback)
I do feel bad giving this book a less than favourable review as it isn't actually a bad book...it's just dull. I realise this isn't the most constructive of words but it sums it up quite well.
We're presented with the severed head in the bog and also the disappearance of the mother and child all within the first few chapters. In addition to this we are also presented with a suspect based on local feeling and lead character, Nora Gavins, personal issues. All in all you feel rather insulted as a reader that you're not given the opportunity to figure things out by yourself. Because you're given all this so early on, you wonder where the book is going to take you beyond the obvious resolution of both missing people and the head in the bog and the answer is sadly nowhere, it all felt like a bit of a formality. In addition to this we have to endure the inevitable relationship between Cormac and Nora when, quite frankly, you just don't really care all that much. The book outstays it's welcome by being 30 pages too long and considering the book doesn't get all that interesting until the last 50 pages, there's not that much thrill in this book. However, as strange as it seems, the book has a quality to it that makes it slightly readable. Something about it draws you in against your better judgement. I was surprised that i did pursue with it and found myself picking it up willingly rather than grudgingly. This book may appeal to some but the synopsis is far more exciting than the actual event.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most impressive,
By A Customer
This review is from: Haunted Ground (Paperback)
A very impressive debut. Sill thinking about it weeks later. Will certainly have me looking for more books by this author.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not THAT good...,
By
This review is from: Haunted Ground (Paperback)
This is the story of archaeologist Cormac Maguire and pathologist Nora Gavin attempting to find out more about a perfectly preserved severed head that is found in a bog in Western Ireland. In trying to find out about the severed head, which is years old, they get caught up in another more recent story which is the disappearance of a local woman and her young son. The reader moves between these two stories and the narrative is in the first person. So, we get to know a little about Cormac and his feelings, a little about Nora and her thoughts, and various other characters including the main detective Devaney.
The first half of the book annoyed me in lots of ways. The dialogue between characters was wooden and people said things I thought "you just wouldn't SAY that!" and the overall 'flow' of the book was poor. Only after 30 or so pages I realised I couldn't care less about Cormac or Nora and there was just nothing gripping me to this book - certainly least not the writing style. At times it felt like the story of the severed head took second fiddle to that of the disappearance of the local woman and her son and I wasn't sure that the author could make up her mind which one took precedence. During the second half of the book I found myself a bit more engrossed and actually wanting to pick the book up to find out what happened to the characters, but I'm not sure this was from the lure of the book, so much as my desire to finish a book that I'd started (I hate not finishing books and it's got to be a truly awful book for me not to finish reading it). All in all, this isn't a book I'll be keeping on my bookshelf, taking up space for a better book and it will be given to Oxfam at the earliest opportunity.
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