Melmoth by Sarah Perry

I was expecting much more for Sarah Perry’s new book Melmoth.  I was particularly excited that it was a gothic style novel since Halloween is right around the corner and I was in the mood for a spooky read.

First off, I did not get any spooky. I would call it more muddled than anything. The characters were lack luster and I was never able to connect with anyone or the plot for that matter. Thinking of plot, a turtle moves faster and there was not enough meat in the story to hold me interest. Despite three attempts, I have to mark this one as DNF (did not finish) at a little over 100 pages.

Here is the synopsis given:

For centuries, the mysterious dark-robed figure has roamed the globe, searching for those whose complicity and cowardice have fed into the rapids of history’s darkest waters—and now, in Sarah Perry’s breathtaking follow-up to The Essex Serpent, it is heading in our direction.

It has been years since Helen Franklin left England. In Prague, working as a translator, she has found a home of sorts—or, at least, refuge. That changes when her friend Karel discovers a mysterious letter in the library, a strange confession and a curious warning that speaks of Melmoth the Witness, a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore. As such superstition has it, Melmoth travels through the ages, dooming those she persuades to join her to a damnation of timeless, itinerant solitude. To Helen it all seems the stuff of unenlightened fantasy.

But, unaware, as she wanders the cobblestone streets Helen is being watched. And then Karel disappears. . . .

I recognize that I am the odd man out here.  It was just not to my tastes. However, if you liked her first book then you might enjoy this one.

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.