Review: Maplecroft by Cherie Priest

The Lizzie Borden name is not an unfamiliar one.  We're all aware of the poem:

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one....

After the brutal deaths of her father and stepmother, Lizzie and her sister Emma have used their inheritance to move to Fall River and buy a new home, Maplecroft.  The people of Fall River fear Lizzie; she can't escape the past that now tarnishes her reputation. Yet they don't understand the real evil that caused not only the deaths in the Borden home, but are now cropping up around them.  An evil that resides in the depths of the ocean, it now causes an epidemic that transforms its victims into horrific creature.  The one thing that can put an end to this...thing...is the very ax that took the lives of Mrs. and Mrs. Borden.

I’ve had an unnatural obsession with Lizzie Borden most of my life. Perhaps it incited and inspired my interest in the monsters that walk among us.  So, when I learned of this title I knew I had to have it.

A year after it’s original publication, I decided to read it again (especially since a second book in the series, Chapelwood, was just released!).  My interest and fascination in this book had not waned, instead it grew with intensity. There have been a quite a few spinoffs of the Lizzie Borden story, both in television and in literature, yet by far this has to be the most unique.  A creature that lives within the depths of the ocean, taking over its victims with an evil that incites murderous acts? How could I not love it?

In Maplecroft, we see another side to both Lizzie and Emma.  Lizzie doesn’t deny that she killed her father and stepmother; her reason for such a brutal act is self-defense. Yet the Lizzie in this novel is drawn to the strange and supernatural, she uses wards of various sources to ward her home from the dark evil that torments it.  Emma, suffering from consumption, is wholly dependent upon Lizzie for her care.  Weakened due to her condition, she is used to having Lizzie to herself, as though she benefited from the act that ostracized the sisters from the public around them.  Secondary characters play an active role in the attempt to seek answers that might explain the heinous acts that seem to follow the Borden sisters.

Fans of the infamous Lizzie Borden, as well as those intrigued by urban fantasy, are certain to be captivated by this richly crafted, wholly unique spin on an infamous murder case.  Highly, highly recommended.