One of the best books I’ve
ever reviewed on this site was Diane Setterfeld’s The Thirteenth Tale. I
referred to it then as “psychological terror that just drips with
suspense.” Since Ms. Setterfeld waited
seven whole years before publishing her second novel, Bellman & Black, I
thought for sure that it would be just as good.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. The
cover advertises it as a ghost story, but I really don’t think that’s the case. It’s more a character study than anything,
and I think fans of The Thirteenth Tale
are going to be a little disappointed.
Don’t get me
wrong…Setterfeld writes just as beautifully and has an interesting concept
going here. When William Bellman was a
young child, he killed a rook with his catapult in front of some other boys. This incident seems to have been forgotten,
and as a young man, it seems everything he touches turns to gold. He becomes owner of a local mill, and through
his hard work and planning skills, it is ultra successful. He marries a local girl, has a few children,
and really seems to be living a charmed life.
Then the deaths start happening, and at every funeral, William sees the
same man. After speaking to this man
(whom he calls Black) late one night at the cemetery, William seems to remember
making a deal with him to open a “mourning” warehouse. The man disappears, but William carries on
with developing the, of course, extremely successful business, calling it Bellman &
Black. As the suspense builds, the
reader knows that Bellman will eventually see Black again but in what
capacity?
I’m not going to put it
mildly…the ending to Bellman & Black
is atrocious. It doesn't make sense to me
at all, and I’m still confused as to how William killing the rook has much to
do with the rest of the story. But even
though this book is nothing like The
Thirteenth Tale, Setterfeld writes in such an atmospheric way that it’s
still worth a read. Let’s hope that it
doesn’t take her another seven years to write her next book…and that the third book is more
like her first.
