The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

Title/Author: The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
Publisher/Date published: Harper, August 9th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom, their whirlwind relationship leads them to purchase Les Genevriers, an abandoned house in a rural hamlet in the south of France. As the beautiful Provence summer turns to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries that haunt both her lover and the run-down old house, in particular the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful first wife, Rachel. Whilst Eve tries to untangle the secrets surrounding Rachel's last recorded days, Les Genevriers itself seems to come alive. As strange events begin to occur with frightening regularity, Eve's voice becomes intertwined with that of Benedicte Lincel, a girl who lived in the house decades before. As the tangled skeins of the house's history begin to unravel, the tension grows between Dom and Eve. In a page-turning race, Eve must fight to discover the fates of both Benedicte and Rachel, before Les Genevriers' dark history has a chance to repeat itself."

It took me a whole week to read this book. For those who know me: this is long for me. Especially when the book isn't over 1000 pages, it's only 400. Somehow, I couldn't seem to focus on this long enough to read more than a couple of pages at once. Well, until I made myself sit down one night and just read it.

I'm not even sure why this was so hard for me. It may have to do with the switching POV and it not being always clear who was doing the talking (it's in first person for both the characters). This was a bit confusing and made me disconnect.

I think the biggest obstacle for me was that I didn't connect to either of the main characters. And maybe that I guessed the plot twists already, so much of the tension for me wasn't there.

I did like the story and was seriously horrified by some of the things the 'bad guy' in the book does. I mean, EVIL! Seriously! And noone was doing a thing to stop him, even as a kid, it's just awful!
This book also reminded me how absolutely horrible persons with a personality disorder can act, really it's so hurtful! If you read it, you'll know what I mean.

All in all, this book needed a little more for me to really enjoy it. A little more connection I think.

My rating: 2,5 stars