Oooh, there was so much to love about this chilling Gothic ghost story set in Italy!

Anna has long been the black sheep of her family and has prepared for the usual complaints and judgment when she joins them for a trip to Italy. They are staying at a picturesque villa that includes a modern addition built onto the original architecture…and a tower they are instructed to never unlock or enter.

Soon, it becomes clear that there is more than irritating relatives threatening what should be a peaceful vacation.

The setting was wonderful and evocative, and Thorne was able to make me feel like a tourist in Italy myself. Bellissimo!

I liked Anna a lot. She was smart, caring and compassionate to those who deserve it, and answers the insults slugged her way with perfect snark. I enjoyed the fraught interpersonal dynamics at first, but eventually they got on my nerves a bit, when everyone started blaming Anna for things it made no sense to blame her for.

The supernatural elements were deliciously creepy. The stressful family gathering introduced a feeling of tension, which only ratcheted up by increments as evidence of a haunting begin with the sounds of disembodied voices and doors slamming shut of their own accord, working up to Anna and her family being in real and imminent danger.

The pacing in different parts of the book seemed a bit unconventional, but it was quite engaging all throughout. And the story wound up going places I could not have imagined. 4.75 stars from me!