Four and Twenty Blackbirds - Review

Title: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Author: Cherie Priest
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:

Although she was orphaned at birth, Eden Moore is never alone. Three dead women watch from the shadows, bound to protect her from harm. But in the woods a gunman waits, convinced that Eden is destined to follow her wicked great-grandfather--an African magician with the power to curse the living and raise the dead. 

Now Eden must decipher the secret of the ghostly trio before a new enemy more dangerous than the fanatical assassin destroys what is left of her family. She will sift through lies in a Georgian ante-bellum mansion and climb through the haunted ruins of a 19th century hospital, desperately seeking the truth that will save her beloved aunt from the curse that threatens her life.


My thoughts:

This book had all the classic elements of a spooky, mysterious book - swamps, crumbling hospital/asylum, ghosts, murderous relatives, and an unknown past.  Like an adult version of Scooby-Doo almost, and I was (am) a huge Scooby Doo fan. And it had a few creepy moments- like a certain scene at a summer camp, and the vision of how the three women died.  But the book itself fell flat.  Eden was boring.  She also seemed to be removed from her own life, and not really care about what is happening to her.  She has a relative who is trying to kill her, but even says in the book that she is not really afraid of him.  If she is not, we sure are not going to be.  And if we aren't, then what is the point?  That completely removes any tension from the book, and without some suspense, it is boring.  And Eden is kind of tough to like.  A co-worker, albeit an annoying one, is killed in front of her, and Eden doesn't care since she never liked the woman anyway. That just seems soulless.  The book does pick up some excitement at the very end, where Eden is fighting for her life.  And she finally seems to care.  But that was it - the rest of the book could have been mysteriously scary, but since Eden didn't care, neither did I.

This is a case of never judge a book by its cover: This book looked like it was going to be a great read, but turned out it just wasn't.