Witch Dust – Marilyn Messik
A red gash of a mouth rimmed with impossibly tiny, razor-sharp teeth yawned wide, then swift as a snake, she bent and struck..
For Sandra, daughter of illusionists, Adam and Ophelia, life’s never been run of the mill! But when Adam’s wandering eye lights on yet another conquest, it proves a chorus girl too far, and Sandra’s caught in the reverberations of her parents acrimonious parting. Coerced into restoring her depressed Mother to the bosom of a family Sandra never knew existed, she’s sucked into a situation that even for her is unnerving.
From being without a single relative, she suddenly acquires several she’d rather do without, and learns a few home truths she’d prefer not to know. Ophelia, it appears, has not been entirely honest about any number of things. There’s no doubt in Sandra’s mind, the sooner she puts as much distance as possible between herself, her newly discovered nearest and dearest, their peculiar tendencies and their failing hotel business, the happier she’s going to be.
Dire straits call for desperate measures and Sandra reluctantly rises to the occasion. A hanged housemaid, a fly-on-the-wall documentary, The Psychic Society and a quasi co-operative journalist all handled correctly should, she reckons, get the family business up and running, which will allow her to do the same – as fast as she can, and in the opposite direction. Things unfortunately move swiftly from bad to farce and then get a hell of a lot darker. One moment Sandra’s struggling to save the family’s income, the next, she’s battling to save their lives. Turns out, some darknesses, once buried, are best left undisturbed
My thanks to Kate at Thick as Thieves for my review copy and the chance to join the tour
Regular visitors to these pages may have noted a reduction in the number of reviews over the last few weeks. Life away from my reading is particularly busy at the moment so there are fewer reviews to share as I am reading fewer books. The consequence is that I need to select my reading carefully, no juggling six books at once – I need to pick a new read and stick with it. This is where Witch Dust comes in (I know you were wondering).
When I am too busy to get much reading done I want to pick up a book which will keep me entertained, ideally it will not be too heavy in content and a lighter tone or subject matter is appreciated. Witch Dust certainly entertained and the diverse cast of characters – beginning with Sandra (the daughter of two stars of the stage) and her extremely high maintenance mother – kept me flicking through the pages as the story was spun around me.
The story opens with a murder confession and I felt on familiar ground (I have been known to read a crime novel or two). However, events quickly moved on and suddenly I was following Sandra on a journey to meet a whole side of her family that she never knew existed. Not long after that she is giving them business tips to save their ailing family business…unexpected but lots of fun too.
Marilyn Messik can spin a story which keeps readers attention and there is a great balance between humor, thrills and sheer whacky creativity. I do enjoy when I find myself drawn into a story which takes a paranormal/fantasy twist and I know that literally anything could happen next.
Witch Dust was the perfect read for the busy days of late. A welcome bit of escapism with some light tones and some darker moments I had fun reading this one.
Witch Dust is published by Matador and is available in Paperback and Digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Witch-Dust-Marilyn-Messik/dp/1788033728/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504131721&sr=1-1
