I am a huge REBECCA fan, and yes, I have read the other two books in the series. This book was a real page turner, though it didn't start out that way: As much as I liked Colonel Julyan, I thought he rambled a bit too much during his section of the book. In fact, the story was rather ho-hum until the wonderfully inquisitive Terrance Gray took up the narrative. I couldn't put the book down as I voraciously read his account of chasing down and dogging many of the exisiting links to Rebecca. Frith and Favell's accounts were particularly eye opening! Well worth a read. My only criticism was that Gray didn't make more of an effort to connect with Mrs. Danvers, but I was relieved when Ellie did so later in the book.
Okay, so what didn't I like? That we are told all of Rebecca's life except for the interim that was sandwiched between her father's death and her marriage to Maxim: What exactly happened during those unaccounted-for years? And I was surprised that neither Terrence nor Ellie made more of an effort to find out, considering what bloodhounds they were. Ellie managed to pinpoint this time in Rebecca's life to a beatnik commune in which she purportedly lived during those years, but that wasn't enough, especially when the inhabitants of the commune all had vague recollections of Rebecca. To my frustration, neither Terrence nor Ellie managed to translate the braille of Rebecca's marriage, to paraphrase the book, which was a reference to this iterim. I know that the journal pages describing these lost years had been destroyed, but nevertheless, I felt that Terrence and Ellie could have turned over a few more stones. I don't know how this piece of the puzzle could have been so blithely left missing, and I'm a little bothered.
But this book was great fun; I recommend it to all REBECCA fans.
I am a huge REBECCA fan, and yes, I have read the other two books in the series. This book was a real page turner, though it didn't start out that way: As much as I liked Colonel Julyan, I thought he rambled a bit too much during his section of the book. In fact, the story was rather ho-hum until the wonderfully inquisitive Terrance Gray took up the narrative. I couldn't put the book down as I voraciously read his account of chasing down and dogging many of the exisiting links to Rebecca. Frith and Favell's accounts were particularly eye opening! Well worth a read. My only criticism was that Gray didn't make more of an effort to connect with Mrs. Danvers, but I was relieved when Ellie did so later in the book. Okay, so what didn't I like? That we are told all of Rebecca's life except for the interim that was sandwiched between her father's death and her marriage to Maxim: What exactly happened during those unaccounted-for years? And I was surprised that neither Terrence nor Ellie made more of an effort to find out, considering what bloodhounds they were. Ellie managed to pinpoint this time in Rebecca's life to a beatnik commune in which she purportedly lived during those years, but that wasn't enough, especially when the inhabitants of the commune all had vague recollections of Rebecca. To my frustration, neither Terrence nor Ellie managed to translate the braille of Rebecca's marriage, to paraphrase the book, which was a reference to this iterim. I know that the journal pages describing these lost years had been destroyed, but nevertheless, I felt that Terrence and Ellie could have turned over a few more stones. I don't know how this piece of the puzzle could have been so blithely left missing, and I'm a little bothered. But this book was great fun; I recommend it to all REBECCA fans.