“Long Black Veil”
Written by Jennifer
Finney
Review written by Diana
Iozzia
I was thoroughly disappointed with the book, “Long
Black Veil”. I had received this as a complementary advanced reader’s copy, and
I was very hopeful based on the description. The book blurb tells that this fictional
story is about a group of friends who had broken into the Eastern State Penitentiary.
However, one of them didn’t make it out alive. Then, years later, a mysterious
woman named Judith finds her way into this murder investigation.
This sounded like an interesting murder mystery/thriller.
I admit: the first chapter of this book is very intriguing. The first paragraph
hook is fantastic, really setting up the scene for the beginning of the book.
There are many characters introduced very quickly, and it becomes very
confusing to keep track of these characters.
This book becomes more about the woman, Judith, who has a
connection to these friends that is later revealed. In addition, you find the
answer to the mystery half-way through the book! This doesn’t create a
thrilling conclusion, it just ruins the surprise. It’s not even that a great
surprise, who killed the victim and why. Just bland.
I enjoyed the creepy and eerie chapters where the
characters are walking around the Penitentiary. The characters had done this in
the eighties, and the murder investigation kicks off in the 2013-2015 range. I
had visited these penitentiary ruins last summer, so it was great to read a
book about the place, but it was hardly about the prison. The main story is the
murder investigation, but it hardly feels like that. It’s basically just Judith’s
past and present story and how it relates to everyone else. (Spoiler: it’s not
that interesting a connection.) I found myself often skimming this, because I
just wasn't that interested.
The positive points are: LGBT friendly, lots of suspense
in the prison exploration, some twists and turns, and the characters Maisie and
Rachel.
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