Something Red

Something Red by Douglas Nicholas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The perfect book for fall! Lovers of mystery, thrillers, and the unknown unite! There's something in the woods and it's hungry.


Something Red centers around a troupe traveling the snowy Pennine mountains of England in the 13th century when they encounter a pervasive sense that something evil is hunting for its meat, and has its unholy eye on their troupe. What inhabits the woods and how to avoid it is the central problem for Molly, Jack, her lover, Nemain, her granddaughter, and our young Hob.

Something Red is told from Hob's point of view in third person limited. This choice lends to further mystery. Hob knows little about his mistress, but he cares for her deeply and understands she is well respected. She is clearly more that an Irish troupe leader and a kind of medicine woman, but what we learn is based on Hob's understanding of his dire situation. Hob is a sweet, hard working boy, with a sensitively to the thing that stalks them through the woods, but he is still a young man, and hard work makes Hob sleepy. When things go bump in the night, Hob willfully dismisses his fears and trundles back to sleep like a good lad.

The mood of this thriller is perfect for the fall as the weather begins to turn. There are four distinct setting in the novel and each so perfectly rendered to the reader that we can't help but feel closed in by the forest, or smell the fresh rushes strewn on the castle floor. Nicholas masterfully recreates 13th century life if a way that is as believable as it is beautiful.

Nicholas has created a book to love that is simply magical.


ARC provided by Simon & Schuster in association with Netgalley.com

A great thanks to Mr. Nicholas who suffered my complaints with grace and lent me courage to wade through the formatting issues that plagued the earlier e-galleys



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