THE SINNER (Graveyard Queen # 5)
Amanda Stevens
MIRA
September 27, 2016


It has been a year since the events of The Visitor, when cemetery restorer Amelia Grey's lover, John Devlin, told her he was taking a leave from his police job and moving out. Amelia is still nursing her hurt but takes on the job of restoring Seven Gates Cemetery. In the course of the restoration, she is drawn by what seems to be chanting voices to a circle of twelve graves in a secluded clearing, all guarded by mortsafes. Mortsafes are graves covered by a framework of iron and seldom seen out of early 19th century Scotland. They were used to defend against grave robbing to unearth corpses for dissection in the medical schools of the day. There is a pair of hands extending from one of the graves, centered in the circle; fresh hands.

The arrival of the police brings a new and enigmatic character in the Graveyard Queen's life.
The detective in charge of the investigation is Lucius Kendrick, handsome, charismatic, and apparently able to see ghosts, just as Amelia does. But is he trustworthy? The investigation takes them into a shadowy world of a cult of immortality questers, led by an apparently immortal figure, and a group of local citizens determined to stamp out anyone with paranormal abilities. To all appearances, John Devlin is now a member of the latter group. 

I am not a devotee of the horror genre, neither movies or books. I was hooked by the first three books in the Graveyard Queen series because of the original premise and the mystery of Amelia herself. My problem with both The Visitor and The Sinner is that there is frustratingly little overall story progression in either. I hope that the upcoming and final book in the series, The Awakening, will pull together all the disparate elements and provide closure. I got a little annoyed by the continuing angst in Amelia's relationship with Devlin. As far as I am concerned, John Devlin has a whole lot of explaining to do. I agonized somewhat over the rating for this book and finally settled on 3 stars. It was more than just "ok" and there were elements that I liked well enough to up the rating. Amanda Stevens has a masterly touch with suspense and an original take on some familiar genre conventions. I wish I was able to give The Sinner a higher rating.

Thanks to Mira and NetGalley for an advance digital copy in return for an honest review.

RATING- 3 Stars