Customer Reviews

Cairnwood Manor: Shadows over Somerset

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bob Freeman's Shadows Over Somerset is a contemporary horror/dark fantasy tale that chronicles the rather mysterious Cairnwood family and the individuals/entities who come to be at odds with them. It's not always simple to tell who's protagging and who's antagging, though, as the Cairnwood family is something of a mess. They've got heroes, they've got werewolves, they've got vampires...they've just got all kinds living under the family name. Their homestead, Cairnwood Manor, situated in a dark corner of Indiana, is reminiscent of the classical mansion full of secrets, a la Collinwood from Dark Shadows; in this tale, however, the secrets are multiplied something like tenfold.

Freeman's storytelling is enjoyable, particularly during the action-packed scenes of character conflict. I did have a problem with the lack of breaks between paragraphs when scenes changed, though I'm not sure whether this was a copy-editing gaffe or something done intentionally. Whichever, it's cumbersome, and it brings the flow of the drama to a screeching halt on any number of occasions, particularly because there are so many characters to follow. Better structuring of the book's passages would have helped distinguish what's happening when and to whom. In fact, I would like to have seen better copy-editing in general, as there are numerous small problems that a second trained eye could have easily caught and fixed. KHP Publishing, take note.

Regardless of its problems, Shadows Over Somerset is a generally entertaining novel, fast-paced, and vividly rendered. With its dark, gothic atmosphere and occasional moments of breakneck action, it's got a little something for fans of every dark persuasion.

Bob Freeman is an excellent author, you can't go wrong reading any or all of his books.

As a real lover of horror and vampires, I could find nothing wrong with Cairnwwod Manor or it's inhabitants except of course they are not your average family even though there both good and bad among them.

It was a thrilling, chilling read, filled with all the good things and beasts I love about horror. Mr. Freeman is a wonderful writer portraying these characters in a way that kept me riveted to my chair. I am looking forward to the next tale of Cairnwood Manor and it's inhabitants.

This book is wonderfully entertaining and scary! It kept me enthralled throughout, I couldn't read it fast enough. I hope that there are more books to follow!!!!

Bob Freeman's "Shadows Over Somerset" was described to me (to paraphrase) as being a bit like Dark Shadows, in book form. Though I only ever saw it in reruns during the 1980s, Dark Shadows was inventive for a soap opera, so I was rather enthusiastic about reading this book.

Werewolves, and vampires, and witches, oh my! I will admit that I had a little trouble at first getting my bearings on the vast cast of characters and where they lived when summoned to Cairnwood, but once I had that clear in my mind, I really enjoyed the book. Mr. Freeman has quite a talent for setting a scene, giving physical descriptions of his characters, and clarifying their individual powers.

The story itself is a clash between good and evil, that began 700 years ago in Scotland, and involves an offshoot of the McGregor clan -- the Cairnwood clan. The patriarch McGregor is a vampire, destined to hunt down and destroy the werewolf Cairnwood descendants. Michael Somers and his fiancee enter the creepy world of the Cairnwoods, not knowing he is the heir to their clan, destined to kill off Malcolm McGregor in an epic clash of good vs. evil. He emerges triumphant . . . for now. "FINIS?" as Mr. Freeman ends the novel. No, far from it.

What kept me on my toes while reading it was its "cutting" from one scene to another rather abruptly. This is also what lent it an air of television or movie, and gravitas to the assessment I heard before reading the story. It was indeed like watching a gothic soap opera, only in book form.

The love scenes were fairly standard: beast ravishes woman, and woman loves it. But, they weren't gratuitous, and each led to a greater understanding of the relationships between the characters.

The fight scenes were wonderfully gory and blood-spattering. As a reader, I'm not into blood and gore if it serves no purpose in moving along the story, but in an epic battle 700-plus years old that has revived, there must be lots of blood and gore for it to ring true.

An interesting twist comes at the end, when Michael's Cairnwood heir who lost out on The Manor, Sebasian, becomes the Cairnwood representative on the Order of the Nine Skulls. There is a rivalry between Sebastian and Michael, which leaves open many possibilities for the series.

Overall, I give this novel a thumbs up. I thought it was quite well crafted.