The blurb promises this is part gothic ghost-story, party psychological thriller... and I agree with that, but must say the ghostly stuff doesn't become clear or show up until very late in the story. I do give this a full star just for a surprise ending. It shocked me. I didn't see it coming.But until that point, it was a bit dull. It just follows this confused young woman as she goes about town, from her "boarding house" to her lover's to an ambulance she's coerced intro driving for two Red Cross girls.
The main theme is hatred and prejudice toward Germans in America during WWI and the flu that took many lives. I even learned a new fact, that young men too young for the draft enlisted by writing the number 18 on the bottom of their shoe so they could say they were "over it". Interesting.
It's first person, past tense and I found this narrative suited the story, but to be honest, I'd have preferred a tale told from May's perspective. Widowed wife receiving amorous visits from her dead husband every night at 3 a.m.? There's potential there! And I think I feel this way because this was a very confused heroine--understandable, but made a confusing and dull read for me at times. I also wish some things about the ghosts were better explained. If you don't grow facial hair, I presume you don't go to the bathroom either and at some point in a week's time, you'll realize you're drinking all this booze and not peeing and that's sure to raise some red flags. So the intricacies weren't explained.
I won an ARC of this on LibraryThing.
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