The Lost
by Jonathan Aycliffe
Blurb:
British-born Michael Feraru, scion of a long line of Romanian aristocrats, leaves his country of birth and his love, to reclaim his heritage-- a Draculian castle deep in the heart of Transylvania. He plans to turn his inheritance into an orphanage in the new post-Ceausescu, post-communist country. There he enlists the help of a young local lawyer, Liliana Popescu, to search for the missing Feraru millions, and battle through the complex maze of old bureaucracy in the scam-rich, newly-born state.
Feraru describes his journey into the heart of the Romanian countryside, wasted by years of neglect and caught in a time-warp, as though the twentieth century had never reached it. When he eventually arrives at his inheritance, he finds that the castle of the Ferarus, in a sunless valley in the Carpathian Mountains, is home to much more than memories...
My Reaction:
Well, unfortunately this was another disappointment, like my last read from this author. I've enjoyed some of his other novels, though it's been so long that I remember little of them. I do wonder if my tastes have changed, but based on other readers' reactions, it seems that those other books likely are objectively superior to these.
I did like this marginally better than The Silence of Ghosts, but given how I felt about that book, saying so is only the faintest of praise. There are some eerie moments, and it felt like there was the potential for something satisfying, but it never quite made it. Ultimately, it bored me! Even though this is a novella, it still manages to feel slow and repetitious. The occasional creepy moments never fully deliver.
The format (journals, transcriptions of tapes, translated letters, etc.) was a mixed bag for me. I tend to like the epistolary format, but sometimes it can strain credulity. The main character sometimes writes things in great detail when he couldn't/shouldn't have time to waste in writing. Other times, he's speaking into a voice recorder when the person he's talking about would probably overhear... It's just odd and doesn't always work or make much sense.
Towards the end, there's insufficient explanation as to why certain characters behave as they do, which adds to the frustration (and my "meh, who really cares what happens to these people?!" reaction). Sure, I'm willing to do some "work", and I can read between the lines, but I dislike it when writers can't be bothered to tell a full story. The plot-- such as it is-- just plods along until it fizzles out with a conclusion that's probably supposed to be shocking, but is instead disappointingly predictable and unimpressive.
This one gets 2.5 stars, rounded down. Too short on chills!
