While it lasted s a great story, the author spends so much time with side stories that it became tedious to read. The author would build up great parts of the story yet at the climax, say that the records were not left to confirm. I forced my way through to be disappointed at the end.

I am a big Oates fan and thought I would not like this digression into a very different genre. However, as dark and mysterious as the story is Oates writing shines. As always.

As a writer, I never want to speak ill of someone's hard work. That being said,I gave up reading this book in the middle of chapter one! The S L O W E S T moving, unimportant information packed book I've tried to read in a long time. Based on the synopsis it should have been a great book. I'm so disappointed.

This book is written in a very old style. It reminded me of the Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody stories, but not as well done. A lot of detail, a lot of characters, several different points of view, and very, very slow moving. I found myself getting lost and losing interesting many times as I read and read. However, it is a good story with people whom I began to care about in spite of the drawn out side stories.