Stevie‘s review of Scarecrow’s Dream by Flo Fitzpatrick
Urban Fantasy published by Samhain 21 Jun 16
I have a certain fondness for romances that feature ghosts, whether as a means to move the plot along or as one of the chief protagonists. Of course, in the latter case, it tends to help if a way can be found to reverse or negate the event that led to one half of our couple being a ghost in the first place. Such is the dilemma in Holly’s story; when she comes ’round following a serious motorbike accident, involving a fall from a high bridge, she assumes she’s had a lucky escape to wash up on the banks of the river. However, when she makes her way home, she finds that four decades have gone by since her mysterious disappearance – as everyone assumed – and that her beloved father has been dead for much of that time as well.
Fortunately for Holly, the apartment she and her father shared is now occupied by the aunt who helped raise her, but she was out of the country for several years before and after Holly vanished, and so is unable to fill in all the blanks in Holly’s memory. However, she’s more than prepared to bring Holly up to speed on technological advancements even though she can hear, but not actually see, her niece. As Holly’s memories begin to return – helped by a little internet research and a lot of DVD watching – she realises that she was not the only victim of the crash – and it was a deliberate attempt to force the bike off the bridge rather than the accident she first thought – her boyfriend was also on the bike.
Shane was a rising star of stage and film, although his mixed Irish and African-American ancestry caused issues in both his career and because of others’ reactions to his relationship with Holly. Neither of them was prepared to let injustices go unchallenged, and when Holly finds Shane again – drawn out of hiding after hearing that another of their friends has recently died under mysterious circumstances – it’s at a political rally that Holly is attending in place of her aunt. Holly and Shane start to piece together the various memories that they share and realise that a killer is stalking the surviving cast members of the play both were involved in at the time of Holly’s death. It also becomes apparent that Holly might be less of a ghost and more a projection of herself caught between two possible timelines – the one in which she died and Shane was forced into hiding, and another in which they were able to stop the killer before the bike reached the bridge.
Holly and Shane are able to track down those of their colleagues from the theatre who are still alive – and so at risk from the killer as well as one of them potentially being the killer – leading to a gripping showdown, which may resolve more than one mystery.
I enjoyed this book, which made me curious about several strands of recent US history I know less about than I’d assumed I did. The plot felt innovative and fresh, and I’m keen to see how the author develops in her career.
Grade: B
Summary:
Through death and time, two souls search for love lost and found.
When Holly Malone staggers into her Manhattan apartment at one-thirty in the morning, she’s shocked to discover more than forty years have passed since her last, vague memory of being involved in a motorcycle crash.
No one can see her, and only a few can hear her—her now-aged aunt, and the man she’d been clinging to when the motorcycle sailed off that icy bridge. Shane Halloran, who everyone assumed died with her on that snow-blind night.
Now, Shane hides behind an assumed identity. The wreck that took Holly’s life was part of a string of not-so-coincidental accidents connected to a play so controversial, someone went to deadly lengths to make sure it never saw the lights of opening night.
As they piece together Holly’s sketchy flashbacks, Shane comes to the heartbreaking realization that the woman he has loved for over forty years could at any moment disappear back into the past. Unless Holly’s memories of then—and now—turn out to be a two-way street.
Warning: Contains one uber-charming black Irish rogue, one feisty heroine who’ll take on the world for him, one eccentric hippie aunt—and two generations of eagles named Joey.
Read an excerpt.
