Book Review: When Castles Fall

IndieBookView

Jan 16

When Castles Fall

by Jill Gagnon

Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense / Supernatural

ISBN: 9798986568102

Print Length: 331 pages

Reviewed by J.B. Leddington

A fast-paced thriller with a difference, When Castles Fall by Jill Gagnon introduces a gripping and surreal world in which danger lurks in the most unexpected corners of everyday life. Struggling to navigate this world is Jade Castle, a middle-aged woman whose existence takes a bizarre turn after her unpreparedness during a Florida storm sets in motion a strange series of consequences. From this seemingly mundane beginning, Gagnon weaves a tale of mystery and suspense that intrigues and perplexes from the outset.

To say that life is not going particularly well for Jade would be an understatement. Haunted by ghosts of an unclear past that have succeeded in tainting almost every aspect of the present, she's trying to sell her former marital home following the tragic death of her husband, Jim. While the Florida real estate market isn't particularly healthy, Jade's chances of securing a sale are worse than most because, as the realtor euphemistically notes, "it's hard to sell a house with a history."

After a failed attempt to clear her mind and escape the gossip of neighbors via an evening run, Jade returns home to discover that a parcel from China has been left on her doorstep. Knowing that it must have been ordered by Jim prior to his death some months earlier, she opens the box with trepidation. Inside she finds two books on self-defense and a collection of related items:

"There were eight pepper spray cartridges; one for each room and her car, she assumed, and two with straps made to carry while walking or jogging. Something called a Kubotan key chain, complete with a manual. Whatever that was. A door stop alarm and a taser were at the bottom along with a bunch of other gadgets she'd never seen before."