Prince of Lost Places (Hardcover)

PRINCE OF LOST PLACES is one of the best books I have read this spring. Haunting, lyrical, and cleanly written, it hooks the reader from line one and never lets go, even long after the covers have been closed. Although it's only 174 pages long, the brevity works well, focusing only on the characters' feelings and surroundings and thus contributing to the sense of unreality. Kathy Hepinstall has done a tremendous job at portraying a love so powerful it knows no bounds. And while the ending may not surprise the aware reader, it works perfectly as a fitting conclusion to Martha's world.

If you like haunting, beautifully written tales of psychological suspense, PRINCE OF LOST PLACES is a read you'll never forget.

"Prince Of Lost Places", is the third book offered by Kathy Hepinstall and the second of her works that I have read. The other novel I read was, "The Absence of Nectar". I think the idea for this book was very good, unfortunately I thought what could have been a more patiently explored, and very difficult issue should have been given more time. This is more of an extended short story or novelette depending on your preference for terms. What it most definitely does do is explore what one possible reaction might be to a type of event that has become far too common, not only in The United States, but to a lesser extent in other nations as well. For my comments I do not include acts of terrorism that are motivated by a particular interpretation of religion, or an act catalyzed by political zealotry.

Violence that strikes at the most unlikely places, areas viewed as almost safe havens are events that we all have read about. Often those that commit the violence are as young as or younger than their victims. What happens to those that are left behind, whether they suffered an irrevocable loss or by pure luck were among those spared, or who had those they cared so deeply for spared? News organizations will swoop in for the 15 minutes of horror until something more shocking comes about, but what happens when the cameras have left, and the people that are left must continue the portions of their lives not taken from them?

I did not focus on the characters and their depth or lack thereof. I did not delve in to the role of alcohol in the life of one character. I was absorbed by the book's primary event that caused the rest of the tale to take place. Could a person react as this protagonist did, my guess would be yes. Did the author take this book as far as she has taken her past work, she did not. And in the end that is unfortunate, for Kathy Hepinstall had a much larger work waiting for her to complete