Official Review: A Conspiracy of Ravens by Chrystal Vaughan

[RussetDivinity]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Conspiracy of Ravens" by Chrystal Vaughan.]

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I was pulled into A Conspiracy of Ravens by Chrystal Vaughan by the strong will of the protagonist, Sophia Pascale, a reporter for a small-time newspaper who is assigned to do a piece on Catherine Meara, called the “Raven Witch Killer”. Sophia very quickly learns that there is more to the story than she has been told: For one thing, Catherine requested her by name. She is soon drawn into the mind of a serial killer who works from a pattern based on Tarot cards and believes herself a witch. The story is compelling and exciting, but because there were some rather large moments that didn’t feel quite right in their places, I can only give A Conspiracy of Ravens 3 out of 4 stars.

I very nearly gave the book four stars, but there were two scenes in particular that felt rather at odds with the story as a whole. The first, a phone conversation with Sophia’s boss Rick Halpern, changed everything I thought about him too suddenly. While I enjoy characters having hidden depths, I felt that the depths we were shown of Rick’s character came too suddenly and without enough warning. The second, a climactic confrontation between Sophia and Catherine, felt rather quickly thrown together. While I liked it, I would have enjoyed seeing more of a build to the confrontation, especially with regards to Sophia’s actions.

Don’t let this throw you off from reading the book, however. The rest of it is just about phenomenal. Sophia is tough but vulnerable, a combination that doesn’t always play out well but is done nicely (if not perfectly) here. Catherine seems like a female Hannibal Lecter at first, but she soon reveals herself to be far more unstable and frightening in a very different way. Bradley Shaw, the police officer Sophia falls for, feels a bit flat at times, but considering we have two very strong-willed women sitting in the fore of the story, I’m willing and even happy to overlook that.

As I mentioned before, the plot is compelling. Catherine tells Sophia the stories of the people she murdered, and I was always intrigued to find out how the deaths would relate to the Tarot cards. Some of the images brought up from the words are rather disturbing, but they weren’t gratuitously gruesome, and there were plenty of moments that were simply chilling to balance out the gore. For instance, with each body that Catherine tells about, another raven appears on the fence around the prison. She knows things about Sophia that no one else could know, and it appears that magic isn’t just something that Catherine made up about herself, because there is a very strong connection between the two women.

If you’re looking for a thriller with supernatural aspects, then I highly recommend A Conspiracy of Ravens. It has powerful characters and an exciting storyline, and if Miss Vaughan’s other novels are as good as this one, then I recommend them as well.

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[Skillian]

Very intriguing. Thanks for the review! *adds to reading list*