Kate Mosse, Sepulchre

Sepulchre by Kate Mosse was another of my charity shop finds and I enjoyed the book up to the ending which I felt didn't live up to the rest of the book. I enjoyed the parallel stories about Leonie and Meredith but bits of French that were not interpreted made me wonder what I was missing. I speak en petit Francais but not at the level Kate writes. I liked the depictions of Paris and Carssonne during the 1890's and the build up to the big event of October 31st 1891 was, I thought, very engaging. The same could not be said for the ending of Meredith's story which felt a little too forced and rushed.

At times the book is heavy going but on the whole it was an enjoyable read on the train home. For a pound it was definately worth the read.

Really hard-going hokum jumping on the Da Vinci Code bandwagon with two stories intertwined in the Carcassone region of France, one in Victorian times and one in modern times. Well researched, but that was about all I could find that was good about this. Most of the plot strands hung together like a badly frayed hem. The whole seemed a pointless mixture of the supernatural, a historical drama and a modern whodunnit all without really acheiving any of these. Possibly the result of a second book syndrome where there is a lot of pressure on an author to write a new novel following a successful debut.

The Sepulchre plot was predictable, the characters were flat and the dialogue seriously cliche-ridden. Disappointing

Sepulchre

Kate Mosse

Putnam, Apr 2008, $25.95

ISBN 9780399154676

In 1891 siblings Leonie and Anatole Vernier leave Paris to visit their Tante Isolde at her Domain de la Cade estate in the mountainous south France. At her widow aunt's place, Leonie overhears the villagers whispers of the devil's abode and finds an interesting journal in which her late uncle studied the occult and mentions a special tarot card deck and a Visigoth tomb. Fascinated the teen searches for both while unknown to her someone wants to kill her and her loved ones while she begins to worriedly wonder why her Tante invited them.

In 2008 biographer Meredith Martin seeks to complete her latest book on renowned French composer Debussy when she finds a replica of the tarot cards that Leonie sought. What is frightening is that some of the cards contain pictures that eerily look like her. She makes inquiries which lead her to Domain de la Cade converted to a hotel; yet like over a century ago hosts a battle between the forces of good and evil.

Although too many passive sidebar discussions slow down the overall plot, fans will enjoy this interesting thriller as the good vs. evil war occurs twice due to the linking tarot cards. Readers will feel the changes in outlook of the lead females of each era as they start off with youthful enthusiastic curiosity that changes to outright fear; their identical reactions make for a fine but cluttered thriller.

Harriet Klausner