Customer Reviews

The Nightspinners: A Novel

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

 

 

How close can a set of twins really be? In Grindle's chilling tale, Susannah and Marina deBreems are closer than most. Susannah is coping with the brutal murder of her twin. The police have not been able to find the killer, and ultimately Susannah finds herself a potential victim. She's receiving hang-up phone calls, flowers, someone's vandalized her car, and snuck in and clipped off a piece of her hair. We soon find out that the same things happened to Marina before she was killed.

Grindle effectively uses flashbacks to set the stage for the finale. There are some red herrings, and the killer's identity is shocking, since there are at least three or four suspects floating around.
The only "twitch" I found annoying is that Susannah has become such a reclusive, unyielding soul that she's not totally likeable. I also think more of Mark Cope would have been nice.
All in all, though, a very good novel.

I have had this book a while and finally got around to reading it. I thought it was really suspenseful, creepy and I really liked the characters. I kept thinking I had it figured out, but I must admit, the author got me in the end. I liked it so much, I was hoping the author had more books out, guess I have to wait.Anyway, this is book worth the read if you like psychological(hope I spelled that right) suspense.

I really enjoyed this book. I stayed up all night just to find out who did. I thought I had it all figured out but was surprised in the end. Makes me want to go back and try to find any clues I might have missed.
Overall, a good suspenseful peice of work.

I chose this book because it was by one of my favorite authors - Lucretia Grindle. It certainly lived up to my speculations, and was a engaging mystery which I couldn't put down. Too bad, I had to buy it as used!

A little bit of a slow start but once it takes off, I was really turning pages. Susannah's trip back to her past was handled nicely. She isn't a very likeable character (and neither was her murdered sister) and that alone creates some nice suspense. You are suspicious of her as well as everyone else. Nice surprise ending. A quick read overall.

I enjoyed this book once the story took off, I just wish it had piqued my interest earlier. Overall a decent thriller. I felt the title was misleading; don't pick up this book expecting any interesting "nightspinning," as I did, because there is almost none.

Susannah and her twin sister Marina grew up in rural Georgia. Their silent communication to each other they called "nightspinning". As they grew older, Susannah, to establish her independence cut all ties to her sister. However, Marina is violently killed one night. She apparently was stalked and now through various signs, it appears the same stalker is after Susannah. The police appear impotent to stop the stalker and Susannah must try to discover who the murderer is to not only solve her sister's death but to prevent her own.
THE NIGHTSPINNERS is a good solid suspense novel. Well paced and scary enough to keep the pages flying. However, if a reader is well read in this genre, there is a strong sense of deja vu in that the plot seems to lack originality. It is an entertaining but highly forgettable novel that really should not be on any short list for a major award.

Back in December I spoke with Ms. Grindle's husband in a Border's in Portland, ME. At that time he told me his wife had a debut novel coming out in March. A week ago I picked up the book and was woven into the intricate relationship between two twins and the thickening plot line of who killed one of them and who is stalking the other. This is one of those wonderful suspense novels that keeps you guessing up to the very last pages. I reccomend it to any one who enjoys a great psychological thriller. I have already suggested it to friends and told them to clear their schedules- once they start reading it they will not want to stop. Thanks to Ms. Grindle's husband for telling me about his wife's chilling novel!

"The Nightspinners" is extremely slow. Extremely. Nothing really starts to actually happen until you're about 150 pages in the book, which is may I mention halfway through the story. I found myself more bored than thrilled and kept hoping that something would happen. And when things DO finally happen they're not even that scary. I mean, being stalked and all is scary, but let's just say that the complications are unsatisfying. For instance, I find myself sticking with the story, giving it a fair shot, waiting for something to happen, and when that something does happen, it's something like "Oh! Her dog was poisoned!" or "Dear Heavens! Someone carved the word 'Bitch' on her car door!". I'm sorry, but those sort of things don't tend to strike any chords of fear within my psyche.
And also may I add that you'd think for a book called "The Nightspinners", there'd be some damn "nightspinning", right? But no, there's practically none whatsoever to be found.
The book does do a good job with introducing characters/"suspects" and keeping you guessing about who it might be, but in the "reveal" I could've cared less. I really could. I honestly think that if you want to read something that'll keep you guessing and interested in it's story, you should look elsewhere.

This is a great story, easy to read with a likable, but realistic, heroine. I did figure out the villain(s), but that was probably because I am a suspense writer myself. Even so, she did have me second-guessing myself. This is not only a great suspense novel, but a great character study. I highly recommend it!