Very well written but not completely successful thriller. The way the story is revealed somewhat lessens the 'creepiness' that this book could have achieved. ( )

:-( I'm in COMPLETE denial about how this book ended. COMPLETE DENIAL!

If it wasn't so predictable ... argh!! Complete denial!!

Adrianne ( )

The Diviner's Tale is more about a woman with a psychic gift struggling to be believed than it is a murder mystery. Cassandra Brooks correctly predicted a death when she was only seven years old. Keep that age in mind when you read the flashback in chapter 25.

There are many flashbacks in this book as we learn more about what shaped Cassandra's life. Her gift comes from her father's side of the family. 'Nep' Brooks is a diviner from generations of male diviners. So far as is known, Cassandra is the first female diviner the family has produced. She doesn't want either of her beloved 11 year-old twins, Jonah and Morgan, to be diviners. (Good luck keeping that resolution...) Perhaps one or both of the boys will inherit Nep's more socially acceptable gift: the ability to fix things that are broken and build things from salvaged parts.

It's a good thing that her father understands and is supportive because Cassandra's mother, Rosalie, is a devout Methodist and teacher who neither understands nor supports Cassandra's gift. On the other hand, without their grandmother's firm stand, the twins wouldn't have been born.

The book begins with Cassandra finding the body of a hanged girl in some local woods that are about to be developed. The problem is that there's no sign or trace of the body when the police arrive. Still, a later search turns up a living girl. Was she kidnapped, or did she just run away again? Did Cassandra's vision save her life?

That question will be answered, but not until much later. So will the significance of the vision. In the meantime, Cassandra's father has Alzheimer's. She desperately wants his advice, but Nep has his good days and his bad days. Rosalie thinks in terms of her only daughter seeing yet another mental professional, going to church, and leading a normal life.

For awhile Cassandra and her boys flee the local opinion (Cass is cracked in the head) to her mother's old family place on an island in Maine. The public knowledge about her vision meant something to someone because a stranger visits the island and Cassandra gets a threatening postcard. Another warning is scarier.

Two men whom Cassandra knew when they were boys come back into her life. One was good and gentle. The other was neither. Could either one have a connection to the warnings? We are not long left in doubt.

The rescued girl, Laura Bryant, has a further role that I'm sure she would have just as soon avoided. At least she's still alive to face mortal peril, unlike some other adolescent girls Cassandra sees.

The many flashbacks come together to aid Cassandra and the police during the climax. Will there be vindication?

I didn't see the revelation in the last chapter coming, but I liked it.

The story of a real-life 17th century female diviner, Martine de Berthereau, Baroness de Beausoleil, is told in chapter two. Thank God Cassandra Brooks is a late 20th/early 21st century diviner! ( )

A lot of interesting and dramatic stuff happens in this book. Which is why it's amazing how incredibly boring it managed to be. I had to force myself through pretty much every page. The only characters I liked at all were the twins, as they felt the most like real people. I never related to Cass, who felt strangely withdrawn despite the story being told from her perspective. She felt more like a man than a woman too.

The book jumps around in time frequently. Although the different snatches of Cass' life are pertinent to the book's plot, they still don't always feel so at the time or really later. Perhaps the book just needed to be shorter, to relate a bit less of the past. A big part of the book centers around a mystery, the conclusion of which was surprising only in its sheer lack of surprise. Everything happens after many hints and with absolutely no plot twisting.

Morrow's writing conveys an understanding of language that is commendable and literary. However, he has strange diction, which left me cold and often incredulous. For example, Morrow describes a morning as having a "heavy mackerel sky." While this is a real phrase, which I know thanks to my handy dandy Kindle, it isn't one that many people are going to know. Call me stupid if you like, but whose first thought on reading that phrase isn't going to be of a sky filled with a school of mackerels or maybe just one really big fish. In general, I found his language kind of off-putting, sort of pompous and bland all at once.

The Diviner's Tale searches, but fails to locate the water to fill the well of the reader's interest.
( )

While divining (searching for water) in upstate New York, Cassandra Brooks discovers the body of a young girl hanging from a tree. When she returns with with the authorities, the body is gone. However, when she returns the following day with the sheriff, another girl emerges from the woods, unhurt. I expected from the description of this book that this novel would be a sort of spiritual mystery. I was disappointed. It really is more about the diviner's self exploration--with a little mystery thrown in. The last third of the book could have been edited significantly. I would give this novel a 2.5 out of 5. ( )