My attention was caught by the cover photo of the beautiful white horse frolicking in a lake. And this is exactly what happens to Taylor James, a thriller writer whose well of inspiration has dried up in New York. Publicist Ramona packs her jaded and recently divorced charge off to a family summer cabin at Muskie, Minnesota. The view from the lakeside cabin includes WHITE HORSE POINT.
The lake community is small, odd, and protective. On the face of it, everyone is friendly and pleased with tourist money. But ever the writer, in between bursts of energy at her laptop, Taylor starts to notice undercurrents, hidden depths, and the potential for storms. Living at White Horse Point is Levade Bisset whose white horse Alizar is a dressage-trained Lipizzaner. Taylor becomes fascinated with the graceful horse and rider. . . well, mainly the rider, though she doesn’t yet understand why. The point is rumoured to be haunted, following a star-crossed love affair. Taylor keeps asking questions and finds herself in more danger than any of her fictional characters.
I read this tale in short bursts over a few days’ worth of lunch breaks and found that I was drawn further in each time, so what at first appeared a romantic women’s fiction story became something more. The ominous feeling grows, and the rage that builds in Taylor as she realizes how women have been treated in backwoods communities over the years spills off the page. When I finished the book, I skimmed through it again from the start and was surprised how many scenes are packed into the novel, as well as how many characters. There’s a Native American gentleman misnamed Little Man, a bored teen girl, a lawyer, a good-hearted cabin owner who tolerates her husband’s lies, a church social supper, bears, a Maine Coon cat, a fishing guide, and the dynamo Ramona who keeps pestering Taylor to write more. . . In the end, though, Taylor has to decide who she is and what she wants from life, and whether that includes Levade and Alizar.
WHITE HORSE POINT is a subtle, graceful romance and psychological chiller that has certainly impressed me with its quality. To quote Ramona, "write more!"
Best-selling mystery writer Taylor James has struggled to complete a novel ever since divorcing her husband. When her publicist insists she take time away at a remote cabin to “finish the damn book,” Taylor reluctantly agrees.
Amid the crystal-clear lakes and towering pines of the north woods, Taylor encounters a mysterious woman. Small and beautiful, Levade keeps to herself, but at night she rides a white horse bareback into the lake, as if looking for something. Taylor is captivated, but Levade pushes her away. There’s a secret she can’t share involving a murderer who walks among them and who promised to kill anyone or anything Levade loves.
But White Horse Point is haunted by another pair of lovers, long deceased, who have a personal connection to the two women, and are determined to bring them together.
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