I almost didn’t get through this one. I received Unbury Carol from a giveaway at ECCC and it was one of several that I really looked forward to reading.

I’m conflicted because there were several good qualities to this book but overall it really didn’t do it for me. As you can tell from the description, Carol has these spells in which she appears to be dead but she isn’t. Her husband decides to bury her alive because she makes him feel like he’s living in her shadow and he wants to feel like a man. Interesting premise going on.

I really like the way each new character is introduced. With a lot of books I’ve read recently I feel like the author jus throws characters at you and you’re left struggling to keep them straight. These are slowly introduced so you get a chance to know them and feel comfortable with them before moving on to another one.

There’s a weird supernatural element to this book that never gets completely explained in the end. Regarding it, there are several parts in the book where you don’t know what the heck is going on and he seems like the characters are going crazy. This is probably the main reason why I kept reading and I didn’t even get a resolution!

There are interesting nods towards horror and darkness, even losing your mind, which is intriguing but it doesn’t feel like enough to me. In the end this book does not feel ready to be published and still needs a lot of work. I’ve heard good things about other books but this author but I don’t plan on reading any for myself.

2/5 Stars