Donn’s Hill, by Caryn Larrinaga, is a wonderfully told, haunting tale of Mackenzie Clair. A women in her late twenties who decides she needs a new start, after returning from her father’s funeral and finding her boyfriend in bed with another women. Mac has fond memories of the town of Donn’s Hill, a place her mother took her every year for the Afterlife Festival. The memories gave her hope. A place to start a new life away from the one she hadn’t really wanted herself, but had become a part of by following her now ex-boyfriend, Josh, after graduating from college.I was given a copy of Donn’s Hill by the author at a recent writers’ event sponsored by the League of Utah Writers (website) for review purposes. Donn’s Hill received the award of Silver Quill from the League of Utah Writers in the Adult Book category and a finalist in The Dragon Awards for Horror category in 2017. Donn’s Hill and Caryn Larrinaga deserves both of these honors.
Plot
Donn’s Hill was a peaceful place from Mackenzie’s past. It was where she had happy memories of a time when it was her and her mother. She didn’t know her dad then, only after her mom passed away did she meet him. Now that her father had also passed away, and other parts of Mac’s life fell apart, she wanted a new start. She wanted a peaceful place.
Some townspeople remembered Mac’s mother and were quick to identify her because of their close physical resemblance. But her first greeting as she passed the town’s sign was a tortoiseshell cat. But, Striker, the cat, was not the first resident to seek out Mac.
While Mac works to create a new life for herself, she comes to understand she has the same gift her mother had, she’s psychic. And she is now an important part of solving a murder that happened before she arrived in town.
Style
Donn’s Hill is a great combination of mystery and the paranormal. The book is suitable for young adult readers with enough complexity for older readers. The location is well developed. The first person point of view lends itself to the telling, and the story elements are well handled.
Caryn Larrinaga does a wonderful job of creating the fictional location. The town of Donn’s Hill is known for its Afterlife Festival and its history of dealing with the supernatural. It is also listed as one of the most haunted locations in the states. With all of this going for it, the townspeople know truths about the supernatural that most people scoff at.
Mac tells her own story. Key points of her backstory are nicely interwoven with the events she’s now facing. This keeps the pace moving without bogging it down from an overload of details not important to the current situation.
Foreshadowing was given, an important aspect of mysteries, which helped build the story and deliver the climactic scene. The twist was still relevant without being overly exposed. Hardcore mystery readers will probably figure it out earlier, but it is still a fun read to see how Mac pulls the clues together.
Characters
There are great characters through Donn’s Hill. Mac has depth that is presented throughout the book. The characters are heroine interacts with have their own motivations as well. They are not stagnant characters as they move through the storyline on the sidelines of Macs activities. By the end of the book there are others who we have met that you will want to find out more about.
This is a good book to recommend for young adult readers. There are strong female characters throughout Donn’s Hill. We start by meeting Mackenzie, but along with her we have Penelope Bishop, the Deputy Mayor, Dr. Lee, the town veterinarian, Kit Dyedov, a new friend, Gabrielle, owner of the Nine Lives Book Exchange and old friend of Mac’s mom, and Deputy Wallace. These reminded me of women in my own life and it was good getting to know them.
The portrayal of Striker was a fun interlude between the points of tension. Anyone who’s had a close pet knows how they sense the mood of the people around them. Caryn uses Striker as a great counterbalance to relieve tension in the story, which pets naturally do.
Overall
Donn’s Hill was a good read that kept me interested. I quickly went through the 328 pages and was left thinking about what comes next for Mackenzie Clair.
The story is strong and has emphasizes the mystery. The horror element is present in the use of the supernatural and in solving the mystery. Since it is about a murder, there are some details written in.
Characters are alive and personable. They have depth even when they only come to the page a few times.
I look forward to reading more from Caryn Larrinaga (website).
I rate Donn’s Hill5 out of 5.
About the Author (from the book)Caryn Larrinaga is a Basque-American mystery, horror, and fantasy writer living in Utah with her husband and cats. Despite obtaining a degree in Anthropology (which is much cooler that you might think), she explored several career paths before deciding that she had to follow her passion. Suddenly, writing fiction was the only thing that made sense.
Watching scary movies through split fingers terrified Caryn as a child and inspires her to write now. She lives in a 90-year-old house with a colorful history, and the creaking walls and narrow hallways send her running (never walking) up the stairs from her basement whenever she has no other choice but to go down there. Exploring her fears through writing makes Caryn feel a little bit less foolish for wanting a buddy to accompany her into the tool shed.
When her fingers aren’t glued to her laptop keyboard, Caryn also enjoys binge-watching superhero television shows, reading, playing video games, and filling up her phone’s flash memory with pictures of her cats. She loves music, and plays the bass guitar.
If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment