Sepulchre

Title: Sepulchre

Author: Kate Mosse
Series: Languedoc Trilogy, Book 2

Year published: 2007

Pages: 784

Time It Took To Read: A particularly ungodly morning

This is the first Kate Mosse book I've finished. I started Labyrinth, but then dropped it in a puddle, ruining it completely. I suspect this book may well have say, desolate and unread, upon my shelf for some time except that I decided to take it to France this weekend - something fairly undemanding to read on the ferry.

As it happened, I read it while under the worst attack of diarrhoea I've ever suffered, yesterday morning in Verdun. I don't think I like Verdun anymore. 

It's set in the same place (in the South of France), in two separate times - 1891 and 2007. In 1891, a girl and her brother have gone to stay with their aunt, and the girl discovers a dark mystery in the grounds of the house. In 2007, an American woman believes her family history is linked to the same house. The two stories unfold, each lending explanation to the other. It's a similar technique to Labyrinth.

The twists of the story are predictable as hell, though the narrative is good. I find it slightly irritating that occasional French phrases are slipped into the dialogue, between two French people, speaking French, moreso when the language occasionally shifts to Occitan. I get that it's supposed to be evocative of the region, but it grates. There is a vague subplot about Debussy that fades out completely after the first third, until the epilogue. The historic villain is an absolute nutjob - charming, intelligent, vicious and insane - which is always good. However, the modern villain is an idiot caricature of the Richard Hillman type. 

All in all, I enjoyed the book. It was, as I thought it would be, a holiday book - undemanding, unsubstantial,  and addictive and it made a very nasty tummy bug eminently more bearable.

Book count: 22/50