It is true that in 1853 he was introduced to the practice of table tapping, and Hugo claimed to receive communication from many spirits, including some famous ones such as: Shakespeare and Voltaire. I've always been fascinated by periods in history - particularly after WWI - when seances were a popular means to communicate with the dead.
Interwoven between Hugo's story is the modern day tale of Jac, Celtic expert interested in investigating the origin of Celtic ruins and renowned for her sense of smell.
While Seduction can be read as a stand alone gothic historical novel, much reference was made to previous books (I'm assuming to The Book of Lost Fragrances, which was extremely popular) therefore if I had my time again I would probably start earlier in the series.
And now to the final review. All the elements were there for me to fall in love with, but I always seemed to be held back a little. Whether it was because I hadn't read the series from the beginning, or because I wanted more from Hugo's story, or the two elderly sisters set in the present time, I'm unclear.
Nevertheless, Seduction: A Novel of Suspense is doing very well and is certainly a buzz book right now. The highlight for me was when I saw fellow book blogger Amy Bruno mentioned in the Acknowledgements section. I've been following her from a distance on her blog Passages to the Past and more recently her business Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours (HFVBT) for some time now. Her site is published in my list of favourite blogs and her success is an inspiration to all book bloggers. Congratulations Amy!!
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| Book Four |
My rating = ***
For those wanting to embark on the Reincarnationist series by M.J. Rose from the beginning, here are the books in order:
The Reincarnationist - Book One
The Memorist - Book Two
The Hypnotist - Book Three
The Book of Lost Fragrances - Book Four
Seduction - Book Five
