The Forgotten Manuscript and The Unknown Crime. Two short stories. by Sarah Rayne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I originally finished this novella I was unimpressed. A long-time fan of Sarah Rayne I prefer her darker more sinister novels such as “A Dark Dividing” and would normally rank her as an equivalent novelist to the likes of James Herbert for her skill in manipulating horror. Her writing style is very heavy, atmospheric and brooding and her use of protagonists which are flawed but very human and sincere keep the reader… well… reading; turning that page and feeling the characters emotional journey. This novella was different.
However a few days after reading this book I was describing it to a friend and realised if I hadn’t been expecting a “classic” Sarah Rayne novel, this was actually pretty good. The storyline merged past and present easily, and although we didn’t learn a lot about the main character as a novella we probably didn’t need to, and the double-deception based storyline did keep me guessing.
So if you are looking for a traditional Sarah Rayne horror – this isn’t it, but if you are looking for an intriguing novella with a duplicitous storyline, this is a good read.
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