Seduction

Author: M.J. Rose
Goodreads Rating: 4.04
Pages: 370
Format: ARC from Publisher for Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours

From the author of The Book of Lost Fragrances comes a haunting novel about a grieving woman who discovers the lost letters of novelist Victor Hugo, awakening a mystery that spans centuries.
In 1843, novelist Victor Hugo’s beloved nineteen-year-old daughter drowned. Ten years later, Hugo began participating in hundreds of séances to reestablish contact with her. In the process, he claimed to have communed with the likes of Plato, Galileo, Shakespeare, Dante, Jesus—and even the Devil himself. Hugo’s transcriptions of these conversations have all been published. Or so it was believed.
Recovering from her own losses, mythologist Jac L’Etoile arrives on the Isle of Jersey—where Hugo conducted the séances—hoping to uncover a secret about the island’s Celtic roots. But the man who’s invited her there, a troubled soul named Theo Gaspard, has hopes she’ll help him discover something quite different—Hugo’s lost conversations with someone called the Shadow of the Sepulcher.
What follows is an intricately plotted and atmospheric tale of suspense with a spellbinding ghost story at its heart, by one of America’s most gifted and imaginative novelists.

Seduction was such an interesting book, and at the same time it wasn't at all what I was expecting it to be. I think I was excepting something that focused on the now with the occasional glimpse at what Victor Hugo went through while he grieving for his daughter, but that wasn't what I got at all. Instead it started with Hugo beginning his Exile from France, and then it made periodic jumps to the present to follow Jac.

Apparently this book falls as the 5th book in a series, which did make some parts of it confusing. There were a lot of references to things that happened in the last book that made following what was happening a little confusing. The time switch was also very confusing because it wasn't consistent. Sometimes the jumps would span 3-5 chapters in one time period, at one point there was a jump back to the Vikings. It was confusing, but interesting.

I cared less about Jac and her story, it was a little interesting, but she had so much personal drama that related back to the previous books that I didn't care to know about as it related to this one. There were somethings that were really interesting like how the reincarnation theories came together in this. The writing was spectacular, and the plot really drew you in. I was intrigued by the different connections that were drawn between the past and present and how everything worked out.

It was really interesting and I would recommend it people that enjoy history and the ideas of mystisicm. I would however recommend starting at the beginning so you don't miss out on all the special details.

The Courts Decision: