The Spirit of Grace

By: Terry Lynn Thomas

Narrated by: Lillian Yves

Sarah Bennett doesn't remember the night her mother tumbled down the stairs at Bennett House, despite allegedly witnessing the fatal fall. There was talk of foul play, dark whispers, and sidelong glances, all aimed at Sarah, prompting her family to send her to The Laurels, an exclusive asylum in San Francisco, under a cloud of suspicion. Now, on the one-year anniversary of her mother's murder, Sarah has been summoned home. Convinced of her innocence, she returns to Bennett House, hoping to put the broken pieces of her life back together. But when another murder occurs shortly after her arrival, Sarah once again finds herself a suspect, as she is drawn into a web of suspicion and lies.

In order to clear her name, Sarah must remember what happened the fateful night her mother died. But as she works to regain her memory, the real murderer watches, ready to kill again to protect a dark family secret.

©2016 Terry Lynn Thomas (P)2017 Terry Lynn Thomas

Great story; production needs work!

Full disclosure: I purchased and read the print version three or four months ago, but was given a free audio file in exchange for an honest review.

Having read and loved the print version of this book, I was more than excited to receive a promotional credit for the Audible file, because I'm an audiobook junkie. (Aren't we all?) But I found that this book is, if the audio stands as it is without further editing, much better in print.

This book is what I consider neo-gothic. Not quite as brooding as earlier gothic mysteries (see Du Maurier, Stewart, Michaels, etc.) the story nevertheless has all the right elements along with the necessary dollop of the supernatural. The characters are interesting and perfectly written for the first in a series; you never want to get too comfortable with characters that you're going to meet repeatedly or there's nothing new to discover. (Oh, I do love Zeke! Perfect foil for Sarah Bennett. I haven't read the second book yet, but I think his story goes a lot deeper!)

You can read the synopsis yourself, and I won't give anything away. Thomas has a deft hand with sudden surprises and her writing style lends itself well to the story and characters. I was very surprised at how much research she put into this; it wasn't until after I finished the book that I realized how immersed I had been in the setting without being dragged out of it by anachronisms. Too many mysteries these days that are set in a specific period are written by lazy researchers, but Thomas isn't one of them. She uses many tiny details along the way to create a rich, rounded WWII era setting.

Now we come to the crux of my problem with this audiobook. The narrator has a lovely voice, and the rather quiet, lilting quality of it would work well with this author. But poor editing makes this a difficult listen at times. There is literally NO dead air between sentences sometimes. The cuts between paragraphs and the rushed feeling during the dialog could be completely fixed by re-editing this book to provide the necessary pacing. If you do whispersnyc, it does adjust a bit to match your reading speed and that does help. If you are simply listening, I recommend adjusting the audio speed from 1x to .75x to get a more enjoyable (and understandable) listening experience.

Now! On to book two...Weeping in the Wings!

Great read!

Great book, excellent.story and kept me curious. can't wait for more books. Thank you!

give this a try

The mystery kept me guessing and second guessing myself through the whole book. Loved the narrator that gave each character a unique voice. I really enjoyed this audible.

suspenseful and interesting

I think the narrator brought this story to life very well. She kept a great tone and nice element of suspense with her narration throughout.

Well done

A circle of nightmares for Sarah Jane. The trauma of losing her mother and taken from her home to asylum. The turmoil in 1942 of the war also. No wonder she doesn’t want to remember. Now to return to those nightmare, only to have murder happen again. A chilling gothic story that was well done, and to figure out who was doing the killing. .given audio for my voluntary review and my voluntary review

The spirit of Grace

I really liked this book!There was a ghost,murder,spies,war,etc. It was well written,with likable characters.I look forward to more in this series. Liian Yves was a fine narrator. I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Good story but...

Found the narration not as compelling as I'd have liked. Chose not to finish. May go get the ebook.

Wonderful start to a series

Any additional comments?

Sarah Bennett doesn’t remember anything about the night her mother took a fatal fall down the stairs in their home. Several people believed Sarah was behind her mother’s death. She was sent to live in an exclusive asylum. Sarah still was not able to remember anything about her mother’s death a year later. Her father has her to come home for the anniversary of her mother’s death in hopes this will help Sarah remember what really happened. Upon arriving at home Sarah finds that her father has remarried a much younger lady. Sarah is determined to remember what happened and clear her name but during her investigations, she discovered a dark family secret.

This is a well-written mystery with a lot of suspense. I really enjoyed Sarah’s characters and I really felt for her and wanted her to remember what happened to her mother. The setting in the book really adds to the story and enhances the storyline. This is a great start to a new to me series. I will be checking out more of this series.

I listened to the audio version of this book. The narrator Lillian Yves as a pleasant voice and is easily understood. Her storytelling ability is definitely an enhancement to the story.

I received this audiobook as a prize, all opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Took Me Back In Time

The story takes place in 1942, experiencing the war and turmoil through the eyes of Sarah Jane, a young woman who has no memory of the night her mother died. A year has passed and Sarah has been summoned home, after spending the last year in an asylum, trying to remember the horrible events of her mother's death. Things have changed in the Bennett house and Sarah hopes that her memory will return and she can finally put the past to rest.
Sarah meets a few people that she doesn't know if she can trust them and works things out to get to the truth. .

The Spirit of Grace

Well written , the intrigue kept me interested . The ending enticing to the next book. Very enjoyable. Well done Terry