Noemì Taboada nowadays would be described as a high-society socialite: beautiful, intelligent and from a wealthy family, Noemì changes her beaus as much as she changes her university's course of study while heading from a party to another in Mexico City.
But one night, her father summons her in his study: he received a weird letter from his niece Catalina, claiming the house she moved into with her husband being hunted and other rambling statements.
Worried about her and ever suspicious of the man she married way too quickly for his tastes, Noemì's father asks her to go visit her cousin in El Triunfo to check if she really is fine. Noemì is thrilled to go to the countryside, but the two girls were really close before Catalina and her husband moved so she catches the first available train to go to her.
High Place, the enormous English-style mansion just on the outside of El Trionfo isn't exactly what Noemì had pictured: ghastly and poorly taken care of, the house looked to have come out from a horror novel...alongside the people living in it.
Virgil Doyle, Catalina's husband, is a well-mannered, good-looking young man but seems completely uninterested in his own's wife health and keeps on glaring in an inopportune way at Noemì.
His sinister father, Howard, is the absolute lord of the house and keeps on blabbing about race and how to perpetuate the right race through time...
The only member who looks vaguely normal is Francis, Virgil's cousin and the only Spanish speaker in an otherwise English environment.
The more Noemì stays in their company the more she senses something is odd: for instance, she started to have terrible nightmares (even sleepwalked in Virgil's room) and keeps hearing voices and presences whenever she's alone in her room.
Not that during the day things are much better; Catalina's moods and health wings continuously and Noemì has to fight with Virgil in order to get a second opinion from the local doctor
What's going on in High Place? Everyone is acting like they are hiding something but will Noemì be able to handle the truth, once discovered?
👍👎My Thoughts
I can't recall a book with a more appropriate title: everything screams 'gothic' which is paradoxical given the biased idea I had of an always colorful and cheerful Mexico...
As soon as Noemì arrives in High Place I felt like the protagonist landed in Tim Burton's kind of world with all that gloom and presences...
If you're a fan of the genre then you'll love the spooky descriptions and the creepy atmospheres that reign in that household.
I like the unpredictability of the plot while I found a bit weird the fact that Noemì went all the way for her cousin and you can count on one hand the scenes the two are together.
The story is intriguing and well outlined...too bad we get to have some solid development way past half the book, but I would still recommend it if you'd like something out of your usual readings.
My vote: 8/10
Ph: goodreads.com
Ph: goodreads.com
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