IN SHORT: Inhabitants of a lovely little island enjoy particularly good lives, but every seven years, seven of them must die. This compelling horror / mystery / fantasy book reminds me a bit of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery.”

REVIEW

The tiny island of Lute, off the coast of England, is an idyllic spot. The weather is pleasant, its inhabitants healthy. Even though a war rages in the rest of the world, life is going along fairly normally on Lute, and the few young people who have gone off to fight are safe. In fact, no one from Lute ever has been killed in a war.

But every seven years, on the summer solstice, exactly seven people die. The island takes them for a tithe, in return for blessing its inhabitants the rest of the time. On the Day, those who live there brace themselves for the unknown: no one knows who will die, or how they will die. But they know the price must be paid. The island will choose whom it will.

Nina Treadway is the wife of Lord Treadway, whose family has deep roots on Lute. She has lived there nearly seven years, but this is her first Day. She’s been told she just won’t understand what everyone is talking about until the Day is over. But it seems silly, mere superstition. Then the Day is upon her, and as the hours advance and the death count climbs toward seven, Nina does begin to understand.

This one day is filled with fear and grief. Nina is horrified, filled with anxiety for her two little children. She sees death up close. But she also has the opportunity to bond with her little community, where she had felt like an outsider for so long, and to find strength deep within her.

Lute reminds me a bit of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery”: on one day, someone must die. But why? It’s haunting and unnerving and one never knows what’s just around the corner.

This novel involves ancient lore and magic and explores humans’ primal instincts and reactions when put through enormous stress. As is the case in any of those kinds of stories, some people’s worst comes out and some the best. It’s a compelling horror / mystery / fantasy story and one I would have thoroughly enjoyed had it not been for a lot of profanity in a pretty short book. (It’s a little amusing to observe in the author’s acknowledgments that when she says thank you to her parents, she says, “Sorry about the cursing in this one.”)

RATING

Rated: High. Profanity includes 27 uses of strong language, 10 instances of moderate profanity, about 35 uses of mild language, and about 60 instances of the name of Deity in vain, with 6 uses of British profanity. There are two sexual scenes: a brief interaction between a married couple, with some detail, and another between a married woman and another man who is not her husband. There is some detail but it is cut short. There are a few scenes with violence and some blood, with deaths caused by crushing and gunshot.

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