Book Review: Quietus

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Quietus     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Vivian Schilling
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Psychological Suspense
Hannover, Jul 2002, $24.95, 596 pp.

The plane heading for Boston crashed in the New Hampshire White Mountains. Rescuers save five survivors including Kylie O'Rourke and her spouse Jack trapped inside the doomed flight. Kylie relates a strange story that just before crashing, she noticed a raven perched on the plane’s wing. Kylie also insists that she and the other four survivors were restlessly hiking the mountain though they were found inside the fuselage when they were rescued. No one else who lived to talk about his or her harrowing experience substantiates Kylie’s claim.

Kylie’s psychologist insists what she says she saw and believes happened was caused by post-traumatic stress combined with drug stimulated hallucinations. However, Kylie continues to see a raven with human eyes and turning paranoid insists that the malevolent beings she saw on the mountain are after her while people in good health that she knows start dying.

QUIETUS is a strong suspense that has readers resolving questioning whether it is a psychological/medical thriller in which Kylie is losing her mind, a horror tale where the spirit domain has entered the living realm, or a combination of both. The story line is exciting but the wide use of psychological, medicinal, and spiritual elements enhances the audience’s perceptual guesses yet slows down the pace of the plot. Still, Kylie is a wonderful lead protagonist walking a thin line between insanity and real danger, which is what makes Vivian Shilling’s novel hauntingly work.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner