Keep Hold of the Fifth Petal in Your Hand


Summary: Summary from Goodreads

For readers of Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader Brunonia Barry returns to Salem with this spellbinding new thriller, a complex brew of suspense, seduction and murder.
When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem's chief of police, John Rafferty, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem's most notorious cold case, a triple homicide dubbed "The Goddess Murders," in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989. He finds unexpected help in Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims newly returned to town. Neither believes that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, respected local historian, is guilty of murder or witchcraft.
But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force. Were the women victims of an all-too-human vengeance, or was the devil raised in Salem that night? And if they cannot discover what truly happened, will evil rise again?

My Review:

As someone who grew up learning about the Salem Witch Trials as well as visiting Salem a number of times, when I saw the topic of this book, I knew I had to read it.  I give it 4 out of 5 Stars, as it was a topic I truly do enjoy and Barry gave us some memorable characters that I loved while reading the book.

Barry goes back and forth in this book, between the murders that happened in 1989 and the mysterious death of a teenager in  2014.  Though there was constant switching, especially when Callie started to have her memories, Barry did it in a way so it wasn't confusing as to what was going on.  You knew exactly when it was a memory of Callie's and when it was present day.

Callie was my favorite character and Barry really has us go into her head, which is what I feel makes her the most relatable character in the book.  She witnessed the murders in 1989 and thought that part of her past was forgotten until the death in Salem which brings her back.  She seemed very real and you felt bad for her for the life she had to live, especially since her mother was one of the women killed in 1989.

Throughout the book, Barry has you guessing up until the very end who the murderer is, which I enjoyed.  It wasn't easy figuring it out and when I realized who it was, my jaw dropped.

The only part I could do without in this book were some of the parts Barry put in there that tend to draw out the story.  Thanksgiving dinner and some of the conversations I felt were unnecessary.  Instead, I would've preferred if Barry kept to the main theme of the story, Callie and Rose and their connection to those murdered in 1989. 

This was the first book I read by Barry and I already have The Lace Reader coming in at the library because I want to read more. 

I got a copy of this book from Blogging For Books in return of a review.

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