A Sudden Light: A Novel (utgåvan 2014)

Very well done. It was such a smooth pace, vivid imagery. The main character's POV was deep and the perfect perspective. It was a somber read, but the adventure, suspense, mystery and hope woven in left me with a reverence for honesty, the future, and family and a bit of uplifting buoyancy.

I really appreciated the paranormal aspect as it wasn't over-done and lent a bit of the spiritual to the realism.

I think it will appeal to a wide audience - those interested in general fiction, historical fiction, mystery, the paranormal, psychology, and writers - over a variety of ages. ( )

This book was amazing and worth all five out of five stars, without a doubt. 'A Sudden Light' is an American Gothic masterpiece that is centered around the Riddell family, chronicling their self-destructive demise over the decades. Garth Stein is able to expertly weave multiple stories into a cohesive tale that is as heartbreaking, as it is hopeful.

We step into the story through Trevor Riddell's eyes, the latest member of the Riddell family, as he joins his father, Jones, to the ancestral house in Washington state. Trevor is there to help his father "settle things," which at the start seems simple. Simply sell the property and divide the money so that Jones can reunite with his recently estranged wife and the three can be a family again. Matters become complicated when the history of the land reveals itself via ghosts and secret writings which plague Trevor, forcing him to choose between saving his parents' marriage and doing the right thing. He meets the ghost of his great grand-uncle, Ben, who died a tragic death at a young age. Ben makes himself visible to Trevor, pleading for him to help end the Riddell family misfortune and set him free. You see, after Ben's death, his father Elijah redrew his will explicitly stating his wishes that the land and home they owned, known as The North Estate, would be given back to nature. Once his descendants decided to move out of the house, it would be turned into a state park/nature preserve as a method of penance for forcing his son Ben to go against his nature, and for all of the land he helped destroy during the westward expansion. So far, his wishes have been grudgingly adhered to until recently.

Trevor's aunt, 'Simply' Serena, has been living at The North Estate her entire life, and became her father's caretaker upon the death of her mother. She summons her brother, Jones, to the house with the hope that he will be able to convince their father Samuel to either sell the property, or sign over the rights so that they could sell it. Throughout the novel, there is a feeling that something isn't right with Serena and that she has a hidden agenda with her desire to sell the property. Stein does a fantastic job in writing her character and creating the constant state of unease and suspicion readers feel when she appears. He truly shows his skill in handling Serena's character, as her problematic upbringing would automatically incite sympathy and understanding from readers, yet seen through her current actions, there is only a mild afterthought of pity.

A Sudden Light has all of the trappings of a typical American Gothic novel: family secrets, ghosts, the conflict of the rational and irrational, festering guilt, possible incest, and of course, a sprawling landscape in neglected decay reflecting the conflict and misery of its inhabitants, both living and deceased. It is a superb book that is so absorbing, readers will not be able to put it down until they reach the end. ( )

Book on CD performed by Seth Numrich.

I read and loved The Art of Racing in the Rain. This is a VERY different book.

Fourteen-year-old Trevor Riddell wants nothing so much as for his parents to be reunited. His parents’ marriage is stressed by his father’s business failing; they’ve lost their home and his mother has gone to England to see her relatives. Meanwhile, Trevor accompanies his father to the home where Dad grew up – the extraordinary Pacific Northwest mansion, Riddell House – to help Grandpa Sam who is ill. What Trevor finds in the house, though cannot be readily explained by his grandfather’s apparent dementia.

This is a ghost story, an historical novel, a coming-of-age story, and a tale of dysfunctional families and long-held secrets that MUST COME OUT. I found it very atmospheric and liked the way Stein handled the paranormal elements.

I loved Trevor who is obviously curious, but definitely still clinging to a hope that somehow, he can fix what is wrong with his parents’ relationship. He’s a keen observer and while the adults are keeping secrets (and even sometimes purposefully misdirecting him), he continues his explorations of the many nooks, crannies, secret compartments, and locked cabinets in the mansion that has seen better days. What he discovers helps him piece together not only the answers to what happened in the past, but a clear understanding of what is really going on in the present.

There were some elements that I found rather unbelievable, but for the most part I was ready to suspend disbelief and go along for the ride.

Seth Numrich did a fine job narrating the audiobook. He set a good pace and has the skill as a voice artist to give the many characters sufficiently unique voices. His interpretation of Trevor’s Aunt Serena is downright chilling. ( )

A story told in retrospect by Trevor, who was 14 when he visited Riddell House with his dad. He becomes a conduit for the story of the house. ( )

This was our choice for our book club. I actually bought the book based on the cover. It was interesting but took me forever to read. I'll give the cliff notes version of the synopsis. This story is told by a 14 year old boy whose father takes him to his old home to convince his grandfather to sell the house. The boy sees ghosts, deals with a crazy aunt, bewildered grandfather and a confused father. While the premise sounds interesting, it was definitely wordy and seemed to drag on and on. However, I enjoyed reading it and loved it at the end when we saw Serena's true colors. ( )