REVIEW:

You: Hey Regina, you seem to read a lot of books. I’m in the mood for a story about witches. I need a page-turner that gives me all the right vibes for October seasonal reading.

Me: Can you be more specific? What kind of witches? Scary/not scary? Who are your typical favorite authors?

You: I don’t really love fantasy “hocus pocus” paranormal books, and the witches that interest me most are of the 1600’s “burnt at the stake” variety. I’m a bit of a lightweight in the scares department, but it’s Halloween so I wanna get a little spooky. I usually read thrillers like those by Lisa Jewell, Clare Mackintosh, and Sharon Bolton.

Me: Ah well then I have just the thing! May I suggest The Lighthouse Witches? C.J. Cooke has concocted a spellbinding novel that bubbles over with gothic atmosphere, thriller vibes and the perfect amount of supernatural elements.

You: What’s it about?

Me: The story starts in 1998 when single mum Liv takes her three daughters to a remote Scottish island when she’s commissioned to paint a mural in the lighthouse. Two go missing. Flash forward to 2021 when the remaining sister is informed the youngest has been found, but - gasp - she’s still only 7 years old! Flash back to 1662 when the sinister nature of the island began, where women were labeled and murdered as witches, and hence the land started its cursed trajectory of superstition, paranoia, and spookiness.

You: Sounds perfect! What’s not to like?

Me: It nearly is. My only slight hesitation is that a major part of the storyline comes a bit too close to the Netflix series “Dark.” Maybe it’s true what they say that there aren’t any wholly original ideas anymore. But no matter. Buy the book for your shelves (the UK cover is gorgeous!) or listen to the fantastic multi-narrator 10-hour audiobook. Either way, you’ll love it.

My thanks to HarperCollins UK Audio for providing a gifted advance listening copy for review via NetGalley. The Lighthouse Witches is now available.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

Two sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found - but she's still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting.

When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it's an opportunity to start over with her three daughters - Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she's frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed.

Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she's initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers - except she's still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she'll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn't realize just how much the truth will change her.