∎ Read Gratis The Silver Tattoo Laura Treacy Bentley 9781482545272 Books

The Silver Tattoo Laura Treacy Bentley 9781482545272 Books

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The Silver Tattoo Laura Treacy Bentley 9781482545272 Books

A stemwinder of a book! What's not to love about a book about 2 places that are dear to me---1) Ireland and 2) Rt. 60 Lexington/Clifton Forge VA !! I mean-- in the same book!

But seriously, THE SILVER TATTOO is a fun read combining Irish myth and mystery with a deadly serious and sad situation---a woman leaving behind a husband who has been in a coma for years to go study in Ireland and find her way to some sort of happiness and peace--only to be stalked and terrorized there by ??? someone with a sick obsession.

Bentley has done her research and did her job in transporting me to the beautiful magic place and state of mind that is Ireland! (less)


Tags : The Silver Tattoo [Laura Treacy Bentley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Leah Howland is a survivor. And a deserter. After three numbing years, she has forsaken her husband and escaped to mythical Ireland where a stalker leaves her calling cards that are eerie and increasingly gruesome. Shadowed by the legend of the warrior hero Cúchulainn and preyed upon by her own escalating imagination,Laura Treacy Bentley,The Silver Tattoo,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1482545276,FICTION Thrillers General,Fiction,Fiction - Espionage Thriller,MysterySuspense,Thriller suspense,Thrillers - General

The Silver Tattoo Laura Treacy Bentley 9781482545272 Books Reviews

Laura Treacy Bentley is an accomplished writer. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies in the States, and magazines and journals in the U.S. and Ireland. Her resume is impressive on the poetry side; however, a little sparse on the longer-fiction side. That is because The Silver Tattoo is her first novel.

Primarily set in Ireland, Leah O'Brien Howland is on the run from a harassing stalker. Leah has left her husband, Conor Howland, in the States, to pursue Irish Studies at Trinity College near Dublin, Ireland. In a series of flashbacks we learn about their lives together and the close friendship knit among Conor, Leah, and Conor's best friend Ferdie.

While on the run from her would-be killer, Leah encounters the people, places and mythology of Ireland, as well as some characters deeply steeped in myth, literature and lore.

Bentley has undertaken quite a task by leaving the known, poetry, and venturing into the relatively unknown, her first novel. But in the end readers will find that this novel is more than worth the price to buy and the time to read it.
This book is excellent. Voice is something authors are told to develop constantly, but it almost seems like a myth. Bentley's voice, however, is strong. I think I could pick her writing out of a lineup of samples. Part of this is likely due to her poetry background, though admittedly I've yet to read her poetry.

The book is more sentimental than I'm used to, but LTB is so good at building intrigue that you never lose focus. You just have to have those answers. A lot of my reading consists of horror-fantasy and sci-fi. And while I'm a huge fan of Joe Hill and Mark Lawrence, it's nice to expand one's horizons every so often. So there's no beheadings or monsters, The Silver Tattoo still left me completely satisfied.

One thing that's obvious even without a foreword or acknowledgements is that the author has intimate knowledge of Ireland. There's a lot of travel in the book and the locations are described in such detail that you feel like you're really there. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the characters are real. There's a bartender and story-teller on a tiny island that must be inspired by real people. I learned so much about Ireland from reading this novel. Not just the locations, but myths, language and culture all play a large role in the book. And since it's written with an American in the lead role the cultural differences are often noted and explained, making it far easier on a non-Irish reader.

I look forward to any future work of Bentley. I wonder if a sequel is possible. The antagonist wasn't necessarily dead at the end. By-the-way, the ending is nothing less than brilliant in both a metaphorical and literal way.
First of all, don't let the 4 star rating fool you. This book is an excellent read! The characters are believable and the author has a way of transporting you to the places in the book. The visual representation of each and every place (from the cities to the small country villages and pubs) transports you right into the story! There were 2 factors to my 4 star rating...ok, maybe 3, but the third is more my bleeding heart than anything )
There is a lot of back and forth between the present and the past... it tends to get a bit confusing. But, then again, I wasn't able to sit and read undisturbed and that might have made all the difference in the world. I found myself going back several pages just to make sure I hadn't accidentally gone forward in the story and skipped a chapter or something. For the most part this back and forth is separated into their own chapters, but there were several places where Leah "went back in time" to relate an event to the present. Perhaps if I could have read it in one sitting or even over two undisturbed sittings I might not have gotten confused. And without giving any spoilers, there are places where it seems that someone is in two places at one time. I know that to keep appearances and to keep us guessing as readers they were strategically written this way, but again, when you read a little bit and then pick back up and get to read a little bit more, you start to question your own sanity on if you are where you left off. But the blending of Irish folklore and the story was superb! By the end of the story I was smacking myself going "Why didn't I figure that out sooner?"
The second factor was that it took quite a long time to understand why Leah had "fled" to Ireland. I'm sure that I had read it in the synopsis and the reviews I read beforehand...but it just took the story a long time to get there. But then again, perhaps that's exactly what the author wanted... she wanted to keep us guessing. I guess if you took the mystery that is Conor out of the equation from the very beginning it leaves several little plot twists out.
And of course everyone loves a happy ending. Did she finally set herself free from the guilt or the pain? Did Bev find her and travel back with her? Did they remain friends? Was she able to go on with her life and have her happily ever after? Ok, so all of that is my bleeding heart that cries for the happily ever after in every book ) And I kept waiting for the silver tattoo to play a larger role in all of it. There's very little mention of it and even at the end Leah doesn't even notice it. I guess it could have been played up a little bit more. But perhaps it was more a symbolic piece than anything.
Overall the book was excellent. It made me think and I really sympathized with the characters. Bev was awesome and my heart ached for Theodore. And I think we have all known some crazy off their rocker folks like Maura. Of course there were parts that I wanted to smack Leah and tell her to stop letting herself feel like the victim and just get on with it!
I would caution you to read this book when you have the time to devote to it, a lot of the past and present switch confusion could be avoided that way. But if you love a good book about the survival of the human spirit and learning to let go of the past in order to trudge forward to your future...then I definitely recommend The Silver Tattoo.
A stemwinder of a book! What's not to love about a book about 2 places that are dear to me---1) Ireland and 2) Rt. 60 Lexington/Clifton Forge VA !! I mean-- in the same book!

But seriously, THE SILVER TATTOO is a fun read combining Irish myth and mystery with a deadly serious and sad situation---a woman leaving behind a husband who has been in a coma for years to go study in Ireland and find her way to some sort of happiness and peace--only to be stalked and terrorized there by ??? someone with a sick obsession.

Bentley has done her research and did her job in transporting me to the beautiful magic place and state of mind that is Ireland! (less)