| THE HOUSE THAT JACK
BUILT is a romantic mystery story set in contemporary years, yet, it slides back to the
past in the 1800s and 1900s for further investigation. It is also a contemporary romance
mixed with abundant fantasy and suspense and love. Annie Hill, the
heroine of the story, is a single young woman who adores her job as a private investigator
and is reluctant to give it all up for the sake of marriage. Her colleague, Keela, is her
best friend, while Annie's two kittens, Alfred and Agatha are the slinky sleuths that
accompany her in the investigation of the mystery of her newly rent house.
Rick is the handy man
Annie hires to fix the roof of her house. He is handsome and affectionate and does not
look at all like Victor, Annie's ex fiancée, who hates cats. He is well off, always eager
to help her around and shows an interest in Annie who tries to ignore him.
But will Annie be
able to escape her previous love mistakes? Will Rick make her find true love? Or will she
get back to Victor? And what is going to happen with her new spooky house? Is she going to
abandon it ?
The house Annie rents
hides a terrible secret. She finds out there is something weird about the house the first
night she stays in. The mirror shows ghosts from the past . There is a non stop dance and
a sad female figure that motivates Annie to solve the mystery. Rick and Keela are willing
to help too. Rick's family is also involved, and now Annie is so much interested that she
has to go on till the very end. Some of the locals are taking part too, adding more
suspense and color to the plot.
THE HOUSE THAT JACK
BUILT is a unique novel that can hold the reader's interest intact till the very end of
the book. Moreover, the story is enhanced by several sketches of cats. It is an odd
combination of text and sketches and I must admit that I liked it. Also I was happily
surprised when I found out two recipes of dishes mentioned in the plot, at the end of the
book. That was an unexpected ending I may say, that adds to the overall effect of the
story.
However, there are
some minor points that I have to mention. The dialect used by Keela, Annie's partner,
would not make the book an easy read for everybody worldwide. That is to say, if the book
is intended to be read by readers anywhere in the world, they might have a problem with
the language. Also, the first chapter of the book did not make me look forward to reading
the next one. I think that a stronger beginning should be added as the rest of the story
is very interesting. Other than those, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters are
monogamous and there are not many points of view. The scenes are well constructed and the
plot quite unexpected, thus making it an exciting read.
It is definitely
worth reading it as I was kept wondering about the possible solutions of the mystery to
the very end. This book is an exciting read, filled with suspense, love and romance. I
particularly liked the fantasy elements of the plot, that is to say, the ghosts in the
mirror and the rest of the spooky elements. The story was quite entertaining and looked
historically accurate in the time travel the author describes, and although at the very
end of the story, the plot turned out to be too unrealistic, the satisfactory ending
compensated my expectations for the previous scene.
If you are cat lovers
you won't want to miss this novel. You will love the sketches and the contribution of the
cat roles to the plot. If you are not, you can't miss it either! It is an exciting mystery
that needs to be solved. Get it today from http://www.trebleheartbooks.com , $12.95
paperback
Reviewed by Liana
Metal for The Road to Romance
December 6, 2003 |
