Reviews

DNF @ 43%. I really wanted to get through this because it talks a lot about Manx Halloween which I find pretty interesting, but I was incredibly bored. There was nothing very thrilling about this thriller. Anyway, I'm doing an unhaul and I was tired of this sitting on my shelf.

2 stars for the Manx Halloween stuff, though in my honest opinion, it was pretty sparse.

thebooktrail88's review against another edition

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4.0

For the locations of the book, please visit - Dark Tides booktrail

Dare you dance during Hop-tu-Naa, the Manx Halloween? Dare you anger the spirits?

The Isle of Man is awash with folklore and a history like no other. Take Hop-tu-naa for example, a Celtic festival which takes place on 31st October like Halloween although this festival dates back much earlier. The name pronounced Hop two nay – translates as This is the Night…..

The phase of the year when the veil between our world and the spirit word is said to be tissue thin

This is indeed the night that spirits return to the island and spook the inhabitants who live there. This was the night Claire’s mother’s died. The house she was working in at the time of her death has always appeared as a haunted and chilling presence on the island. Owner Edward Caine is as eerie as his home –

The house frightened me. It always had. Perhaps the effect should have been worse in the dark of Hop-tu-naa but the truth is I could have been standing in front of the Caine mansion on a bright and warm summers day and I’d still have experienced the same penetrating chill…

Many years later and Claire is playing a game of dare -the dares over the years have grown ever more dangerous. What once started as a dare to drive to drive out to woodland and wait to see what happened next leads to the idea that they should go up to the Caine house and leave a footprint leading away from the house (in Manx folklore this has bad connotations) The dare does not end well.

Now the dare hangs over the entire island as those involved seem to be dying at an alarming rate….And the words of the Hop-tu-naa song continue to haunt….

‘…..Jinny the with flew over the house,

To fetch the stick ,

To lather the mouse…’

Who is behind the Hop-tu-naa? And what will come of it? Dare you risk finding out?

kaygee_reads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

cleogold1990's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

theawkwardbookw's review against another edition

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3.0

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When Claire Cooper was 8 years old, her mother disappeared on Hop-tu-naa, the Manx equivalent of Halloween. Claire has always had her suspicions about what happened to her mother so 10 years later, she and 5 of her friends take part in a dare on Hop-tu-naa that ends terribly. Year after year, this dare keeps coming back to haunt the 5 friends.

The story is told in two timelines, the past and the present which I thought was very well done. I loved how the prologue of the book eventually shows up again further along in the story. It was interesting to see the story progress over the 20 years it takes place in. The killer is quite predictable from about 1/3 into the story so that was a bit disappointing to me. I really liked Claire as a main character and thought her actions and choices were very relatable. I also really enjoyed reading some chapters from the killer's perspective, it definitely brought a spooky feeling while reading. I loved the mystery behind what happened to Claire's mother and definitely didn't figure it out by the end so that was a positive for me.

Overall, it was entertaining but not anything overly memorable in my opinion.

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