- Hardcover: 387 pages
- Publisher: Delacorte Pr (1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385333153
- ISBN-13: 978-0385333153
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,653,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
As he did so well in his first thriller, The Poison Tree, Tony Strong again takes us into a closed-off world and exposes its most private secrets in his second novel, The Death Pit. Even though the Scottish town of Inverness seems a long way from the rarefied literary circles of Oxford (where the first story took place), both are small town environments that engender gossip and illicit goings-on.
A flourishing modern coven of witches seems a natural part of the Scottish landscape--especially since nearby Babcock Castle was the scene of a notorious 17th-century trial and the burning of Catherine McCulloch, a woman accused of witchcraft. But when the body of one of the women in the coven is found dismembered in a foul pit where diseased pigs are discarded, some of the residents blame the witches and take violent action against them.
Terry Williams, a PhD candidate, has come to Babcock Castle to study McCullogh's papers, and finds herself caught up in the mystery when she discovers a link between the past and the present. Strong is a sly writer who knows how to create sympathetic, believable characters and place them in a tightly controlled atmosphere where sex and danger charge the air. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
The San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle called The Poison Tree, Tony Strong's first novel, "a perversely compelling upscale erotic thriller, a victory for the guilty pleasure." Now Strong returns with this exquisite, finely wrought novel of suspense that interweaves a historical mystery with a ghastly contemporary crime.
Scholar Terry Williams plans to go to Babcock Castle in Inverness, Scotland, with one goal in mind: to finish her research on Catherine McCulloch, a 17th-century woman accused of "congress with the devil" and burned at the stake as a witch during Scotland's notorious witch trials, which darkly mirrored those in Salem, Massachusetts, in their ferocity and scope. When Terry arrives, however, she discovers a town obsessed with a more recent death. The dismembered body of a beautiful young woman, Donna Fairhead, has been found on a farm near Babcock. When she hears rumors that Donna was a part of Nineveh, a Wiccan coven, only Terry is able to see the grim connection to Catherine's death almost three hundred years earlier.
As Terry continues her work, she discovers both a town filled with secrets and lies and a truth left buried in Catherine's yellowed letters and the mysterious Book of Shadows. It soon becomes clear that only Terry understands the dimensions of the crimes that have occurred and--unless the puzzle is unraveled in time--are about to happen again.
Scholar Terry Williams plans to go to Babcock Castle in Inverness, Scotland, with one goal in mind: to finish her research on Catherine McCulloch, a 17th-century woman accused of "congress with the devil" and burned at the stake as a witch during Scotland's notorious witch trials, which darkly mirrored those in Salem, Massachusetts, in their ferocity and scope. When Terry arrives, however, she discovers a town obsessed with a more recent death. The dismembered body of a beautiful young woman, Donna Fairhead, has been found on a farm near Babcock. When she hears rumors that Donna was a part of Nineveh, a Wiccan coven, only Terry is able to see the grim connection to Catherine's death almost three hundred years earlier.
As Terry continues her work, she discovers both a town filled with secrets and lies and a truth left buried in Catherine's yellowed letters and the mysterious Book of Shadows. It soon becomes clear that only Terry understands the dimensions of the crimes that have occurred and--unless the puzzle is unraveled in time--are about to happen again.
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First Sentence
The woman who stepped shivering off the train onto Platform Two of Inverness railway station was in her late twenties. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
The woman who stepped shivering off the train onto Platform Two of Inverness railway station was in her late twenties. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Readers of "The Poison Tree" will already be familiar with the heroine of the excellent "The Death Pit" , bisexual feminist Terry Williams. Bloody-minded , short- tempered and intense, it is a credit to Tony Strong's writing that she is actually likeable. The novel centres around Terry's investigation of modern day and 17th Century witchcraft in a remote part of the Scottish highlands and how it relates to a series of grisly murders. The characterisation in the book is quite superb , the writing intelligent and the plot unfurls majestically.There is a wealth of historical detail as well as the numerous twists and turns in the plot and sexual liaisons. We are led into a wonderful portayal of life in a Wiccan commune , discover the minutiae of pig farming and ultimately head off on a trip to Europe as the mystery unravels. This is an excellent novel , gory and disturbing at times , but well worth a read .
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's readable enough, I suppose, but I expected more. The modern-day mystery failed to keep me interested, and I solved the seventeenth-century one as soon as Terry read the letters. She's supposed to be an Oxford history grad, she really should have spotted something as obvious as that. (I should add that I'm an Oxford historian myself, come from northern Scotland and have an especial interest in witchcraft, which is why I bought this book in the first place.) Furthermore, the device to tie the two stories together was just that: a device. A very contrived one.
Nor were the characters consistently presented, and I couldn't like Terry; and the Wiccans! I'm not objecting to the way Strong undermines their beliefs, as I disagree with Wicca's historical pretensions myself, but did he have to caricature them as a bunch of freaks who think with their genitals? It really wasn't fair. I don't think I'll be reading any more Strong.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wish Tony Strong had written more books!
I loved the last one, and this second is equally as good, if not better!
He has an unquestionable grasp of the english language. I found his prose style refreshing and compelling.
The characters are all well drawn and interesting.
The plot is an absolute cracker. He mixes the two strands with effortless ease, and they run on parrallel brilliantly. He juggled them excellent, and each one adds flavour to the story.
The conclusion is excellent, just as exciting as that of his previous novel.
I sped through this book in two days, and i loved every page. the visit to the orphanage is incredibly harrowing, and i felt very moved by it. I also adore the way these two books are both, essentially, classic mystery novels, but they have a brilliantly dark contemporary twist.
Excellent, yet again Tony. I cannot wait to read "The Decoy"!
(again, Mr Strong, if you're reading this, many congratulations!)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An excellent read but an adult read
This is a good mystery story but be aware, this is an ADULT book with adult themes in it, such as rape, child murder, torture etc. Read more
Published on 22 Dec 2007 by Kali
A great read
This book might not stand out from others in the same genre just by looking at it, but it's definitly worth picking up. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2001
Eerie, brilliant, unconventional thriller
Definitely not for those who think that "crime fiction" should adhere to a formula. This is more like a historical-epic-cum-campus-novel than a conventional murder... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2000
Not worth the effort
I bought this book because I was intrigued by the mix of 17th century and modern day witchcraft combined with a murder mystery. Read more
Published on 7 July 2000
Unusual, intelligent story - much more than just a thriller
This is first and foremost a real page-turner of a story about an academic who goes to Scotland to edit some papers written in the seventeenth century by a woman who was burnt as a... Read more
Published on 11 May 2000
Well written, great pace, intriguing...
It was a lovely surprise to find this book and a new author to look out for - his writing reminds me of Minette Walters, Patricia Cornwell (but much better in my opinion) and... Read more
Published on 11 May 2000
A reasonable read, but over-ambitious
The Death Pit consists of two entirely different stories set 300 years apart, which have been combined somewhat unsucessfully into one novel. This is a great shame. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2000
Very original plot and convincing heroine
I really liked two things about this book. First, although it involves an academic who investigates a witches coven, the writer has resisted the temptation to stereotype or... Read more
Published on 6 Aug 1999
Brilliant - much more than just a crime book
One of the best, and certainly the most interesting, of all the books I've read this year. It uses forensics - but it's much more than a forensic cut-'em-up. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 1999
Failing on all fronts
This really doesn't know what it wants to be - an historical mystery, forensic detective thriller or a rather botched love story. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 1999
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