The Storycatcher

The Storycatcher

by Ann Hite

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Synopsis: Shelly Parker never much liked Faith Dobbins, the uppity way that girl bossed her around.  But they had more in common than she knew.  Shelly tried to ignore the haints that warned her Faith's tyrannical father, Pastor Dobbins, was a devil in disguise.  But when Faith started acting strange, Shelly couldn't avoid the past-not anymore.

from the back of the book

Review: It took me a long time to figure out which characters were which and how they fit in with the other characters.  There seemed to be no connection at first and that made this book slightly difficult to read.  Once I figured everyone out I became much more interested in the story.  Perhaps if I had read the author's first book, Ghost on Black Mountain, I may have known more about the characters but I don't know that for sure.

The story is told from multiple perspectives including ghosts.  There was clearly something dark and sinister going on but I had no idea what it was for most of the book.  I could make some guesses but the book never confirmed my suspicions.  I thought in part five I was going to be told the big secret, the whole story, but again it was dangled in front of my nose and I couldn't reach it.  This really frustrates me as a reader.  I kept on going because I had to know what happened.

Shelly, one of the main characters, really started to annoy me after a while.  She had the sight of seeing spirits but she ignored them even after she knew something odd an dark was going on.  I wanted to reach in the book and shake her.  She was the one who could tell me what was going on but she was completely ignoring the problem.

Once I got to the end I pretty much knew what was going on but I felt like I should take notes about the relationships between people and Pastor Dobbins harmed them all so that I could make sure that I knew what exactly happened in the book and to see if everything tied together because I feel like there are still some loose ends.  But then I decided I didn't care enough to do that.  I am glad I am finished reading this book but it took me forever to read it because I just kept putting it down mid sentence frustrated that I didn't know what was going on!

So why 3 stars and not lower?  The story was interesting in itself.  I liked some of the characters and wanted to see good things for them.  I thought the author did a good job with portraying the life of African Americans in the 1930s in the South and how they spoke. 

Rating: 3 stars