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Product Description
Review
“First-time author Holly Luhning holds a PhD in the literature of 18th-century madness and theories of the body, but there is nothing remotely academic about this thriller. It is fast and wicked and dark. The writing in this novel is as clean and slick as a stiletto between the ribs.” --National Post
Product Description
In sixteenth-century Hungary, Countess Elizabeth Bathory began to torture and kill over 600 servant girls so as to bathe in their blood. She believed this practice would render her beauty immortal; it certainly did her reputation. Quiver tells the chilling story of the notorious Countess Bathory and her undying power to enthrall.
Danica, a young forensic psychologist, is one of many who have been drawn into the orbit of Bathory’s enduring legend. Danica has moved to England from Canada to work at Stowmoor, a former insane asylum turned forensic hospital, and one of her patients is Martin Foster, imprisoned for murdering a fourteen-year-old girl. Foster is a menacing but fascinating patient, and Danica begins to suspect he may have belonged to a cabal idolizing Bathory and reenacting her savage murders.
At the same time, Danica receives a mysterious note from Maria, a seductive archivist who moves in glamorous circles and with whom Danica has an intriguing and complicated past. Maria claims she has discovered Bathory’s long-lost diaries, which chronicle her spectacularly bloody crimes, and as Danica’s career and her relationship with her artist-boyfriend, Henry, begin to break down, Maria increasingly insinuates herself into her life. Soon, Danica is in too deep to notice that Maria’s motivations are far from selfless, and that, in fact, they may just cost Danica her life.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty is the beast.,
By
This review is from: Quiver (Paperback)
At its core, this book has a confessional autobiographical quality, contrasting the exotic allure of serial killers and psychopaths that draws people into the study of psychology with the stark, quotidian reality of standardized protocols, objectivity and tedium that characterizes the professional practice of psychology. Psychometrics and bureaucracy give way to aesthetics, especially as captured in the seeming external fragility and delicacy of women that can mask a ruthlessness and strength of mind, inaccessible to men. As if to emphasize this last point, the male characters are for the most part weak and flawed, playing secondary instrumental roles. At the same time, a possibly excessive amount of description regarding hair, make-up, dresses and shoes somewhat detracts from the story - the word tulle appears too many times for my liking.
In places, the narrative seems clinical and detached, and the course of events is rather predictable. However, this is a well-written, well-paced, economical piece of story-telling that balances the historical with the contemporary and the horrific with the beautiful.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing,
By
This review is from: Quiver (Paperback)
Reason for Reading: I already knew about Elizabeth Bathory and a thriller with a murder based on her crimes was one I simply *had* to read.
Elizabeth Bathory was a 16th century Hungarian Countess who tortured and murdered young women and rumour has it bathed in their blood to keep herself beautiful. No one knows how many girls she killed but figures go as high as 650. In this book a man, Martin Foster, kills a 14 year-old girl and says it was in homage to Elizabeth Bathory. Canadian forensic psychologist, Danica, moves to England to work at the criminal hospital where the killer is being treated. She has followed his case since the day it hit the papers and is thrilled when she actually gets to start working on his team. Danica has her own thoughts on his crime though, that he may have not been working alone and that he belongs to some sort of cabal that worships the countess. At the same time, Danica receives a message from an old friend, Maria, that she also is in London. The two had a falling out several years ago when they were working together in Budapest looking for the lost diaries of Elizabeth Bathory with plans to write a book together if they found them. With Danica's strange relationships with Foster and Maria her life begins to revolve around Bathory and her clinical observations of killers may just bring her face to face with with a killer on the outside, in the real world. I had high expectations of this book and was really looking forward to the read. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The book is written in three points of view. The present from Danica's point of view, flashbacks to the recent past from an unknown source's point of view and excerpts from the Countess' diary. For me the book broke down with the second flashback as I figured out what the whole book was about and what the outcome would be at that point. Thus I found the rest of the book boring. Nothing really happens. There's a lot of talking and going places in the present, but no murders or crimes. The only crimes are the flashback to Foster's killing and then the diary excerpts; which are pretty gruesome reading but have no bearing on the plot, they simply are there for the violence factor. (No diaries have ever been really found.) The climax at the end is the only bit of excitement. I read the book through, though. I guess I must have found it engaging enough to do that, though I never found the book compelling or page-turning. I didn't particularly like Danica. She was weak, whiny and easily lead astray. Usually I would DNF a book like this but for some reason I read to the end. Sorry, but my final answer is ... Boring.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Page Turner not for the Weak of Heart,
By Stacey - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Quiver (Hardcover)
The blurb for this book was nothing like I've ever read before, and once I began the story, I could not put the book down. I'm very impressed with this being a debut novel. The plot is one that will keep you turning the pages, wanting to know what's going to happen with Dani, her career and her relationship, who Maria really is and if she's involved in a murderous cult, and whether Dani will succumb to Maria's seductive lure. Countess Bathory's diary entries discussing torture are hard to take, but they are essential to the plot. Kudos to the author, Holly Luhning, for writing such a fascinating and creative novel. This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill story, and I look forward to reading more from this talented writer.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unsettling and brilliant, an impressive debut,
By Eric S - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Quiver (Hardcover)
I stumbled across this book quite by accident while searching for Amazon reviews of another book with the same title, and I'm very glad I found it! This is the author's first novel, but you'd never know that from reading it because it's so skillfully done. The work builds by increasingly disturbing degrees as the protagonist's world gradually crumbles (or perhaps, in the spirit of the book, as it slowly bleeds from successive cuts), and she is a sympathetic character, so the reader feels for her as the situation grows ever worse and then culminates rapidly in a brutal crescendo. Be aware that it certainly does have violent and visceral passages, but these are necessary to the narrative and to the themes being explored, and I never felt that the author used them gratuitously.I highly recommend this to lovers of horror and intellectual thrillers, and hope to see more from Holly Luhning! 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully vivid and not for the squeamish.,
By Narcissa Black - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Quiver (Hardcover)
While the content is not for the squeamish Holly Luhning's "Quiver: A Novel" is a wonderfully woven tale of mystery, betrayal, and a partial retelling of Elizabeth Bathory's lust for blood and youth. Her main character, Dani, draws you in to her complex and unstable world. Beautifully written!
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