Review : Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke
Mind of Winter by Laura Kasischke
Pages : 276
Genre : Mystery, Horror
Stand alone
My Rating : 4/5
About the Book :
Something had followed them from Russia!
It was thirteen years ago that she and her husband, Eric, went to Siberia to adopt the sweet, dark-haired child they had wanted so desperately. How they laughed at the nurses of Pokrovka Orphanage #2 with their garlic and superstitions, and ignored their insistent warnings. After all, their fairy princess Tatiana—Baby Tatty—was perfect.
As the snow falls, enveloping the world in its white silence, Holly senses that something is not right, and has never been right in the years since they brought their daughter home. Now Tatty is a dangerously beautiful, petulant, and often erratic teenager, and Holly feels there is something evil lurking within their house.
She and Tatiana are alone. Eric is stuck on the roads, and none of the other guests for Christmas dinner will be able to make it through the snow. With each passing hour, the blizzard rages and Tatiana’s mood darkens, her behavior becoming increasingly disturbing… until, in every mother’s worst nightmare, Holly finds she no longer recognizes her daughter.
My Thoughts :
Oh, what a strange little beast Mind of Winter was.
Just under 300 pages, Laura Kasischke’s novel offers a twisty, unsettling story. From the start the atmosphere is heavy and dark, vague and ominous. You know something is wrong, something is going to happen; but what? It’s not clear. Are you reading a psychological thriller? A haunting demon’s tale? You won’t find out until the very end.
This was my third time reading the author, and without a doubt this was my favorite book of hers so far. Mind of Winter was absolutely captivating, and I kept thinking about it long after having finished it.
Mind of Winter’s story spans over a single day, with numerous flashbacks to Tatiana’s adoption and other events of her childhood. Yet despite the short time we spend with the two women, the story burns slowly, hauntingly. The author plays with words and structure to tease our doubts, repeating herself constantly. We’re never quite sure of what’s going on or what happened; the way the author wrote Holly’s narration keeps us in the dark more than it enlightens us. And yet, it works. I went in thankfully unspoiled, and for the longest time, I couldn’t say whether Holly was slowly going crazy, or if something was actually going on with Tatiana.
It’s the kind of book where you have to be a little patient, too. There’s no big twists or action sequences; the focus is solely on Holly’s narration, and answers are given only at the very end. For me, it felt perfect as it was. I always enjoy the psychological aspects more than the action. I also felt fully satisfied with the conclusion. I even flipped back the pages, rereading passages with a different point of view once I knew the truth.
There’s little I could say without spoiling it, but I’ll say this : it’s haunting and superbly crafted, and I loved it. I picked it for the R.I.P. challenge, and let me tell you it was a perfect match. Creepy and dark and weird, a different kind of story I simply couldn’t put down.
