Book Review: DEAD WOMAN SCORNED by Michael Clark

DEAD WOMAN SCORNED by Michael Clark (Michael Clark Books, November 2019) Trade paperback, 466 pages.  ISBN #1733790446 / 9781733790444  

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

She’s back, and they’ll regret what they’ve done.

Mildred Wells had a miserable life that carried over to a lonesome death. In the end, they betrayed her - played her the fool. She was the last to know, but there's still time to catch up. She'll formulate her painful plan as they live their lives in blissful ignorance.

With no more family, only vengeance drives her; in fact, it’s all she has. She would have rather rested in peace, but for Mildred, dying isn't so easy. 

My FOUR-STAR Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     The middle books of trilogies sometimes lag, but DEAD WOMAN SCORNED is a welcome exception.

 

     This is the second book in the PATIENCE OF A DEAD MAN trilogy, and it doesn't disappoint. I'd give this one a Five-Star rating if I didn't feel that it was longer than it needed to be and some sections (although short) seemed a bit repetitive. But, have patience to complete this long book and you'll be rewarded. It certainly kept me turning the pages. The short chapters helped to reinforce the fear. There's a real cliff-hanger at the end that I didn't feel was absolutely necessary, but I understand why Michael Clark might have felt it was necessary. Although, I won't need any prompting to pick up the third and final book, ANGER IS AN ACID.

     What really made that first book so remarkable was how it marked the first time since Peter Straub's GHOST STORY that I was actually frightened by a story about malevolent spirits. In THE PATIENCE OF A DEAD MAN the ghosts appear in daylight as well as night-time, and aren't limited to haunting a household or a barn or a cemetery. The ghosts in this story have free rein to roam an entire estate, and can also physically pick up objects, move them, cause violent and physical harm, and can kill the living.

     In that novel, Clark used his keen ability to make his characters empathetic, so that readers shared in the growing apprehension and dread of main characters Tim Russell and new love Holly. As Tim worked hard to get over a bitter divorce and start again by renovating a historic farmhouse in New Hampshire, he is plagued by ghosts. It takes some serious research and communication with the spirit world to solve the mystery and seemingly correct the problem. 

     In DEAD WOMAN SCORNED we learn that is not the case. Instead of making hell for anyone on the grounds of the farmhouse, the evil Mildred Wells has evolved beyond her ghostly and interfering presence into something else, a powerful revenant steeped in witchcraft and "magicks" through her association with a mysterious religious cult. 

     In this middle book, Mildred Wells becomes the main character. Not only is she planning revenge on Tim and Holly, but she now roams the entire New England countryside on a mission of murder.

     By detailing her troubled background and history, Clark embellishes the character of Wells and also makes her a bit sympathetic since readers now understand the reason for her rage while not necessarily agreeing with her motives.

     This is a spell-binder of a read. I'm looking forward to the final book.