Family ties so strong you can’t escape… confidante.
But behind the walls of the isolated estate, the shadows of the past are darker than Mop imagined. The puzzles of the family history are not to be shared, but unearthed. With each revelation comes a new, foreboding threat—and for Mop, the grave suspicion that to discover Aunty Liv’s secrets is to become a prisoner of them.
How well do we know the people we love? How well do we want to know them? The answers are as twisted as a tangle of vines in this throat-clutching novel of psychological suspense.
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A beautiful, bloody, harrowing mashup of all the best elements in gothic horror set against the backdrop of a (more) demented version of Grey Gardens. An absolute stunner.
Flowers in the Attic meets “The Tell-Tale Heart” with a dash of Psycho, Shannon Kirk’s In the Vines is as dark, tangled and twisty as the title would suggest. A fascinating portrayal of madness, wealth, and decaying family legacy, Kirk’s superbly crafted gothic thriller will have you gasping the entire way through. This is an insanely good ride into the mind of a madwoman… just remember to hang on, lest you not make it back out.
Only the crazy-brilliant mind of the super-talented Shannon Kirk could channel Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe — and create this unique and contemporary horror-mystery-love story. Only a skilled writer like Kirk could dive into the dark madness of the mind and soul — and come up with this chilling tale of broken hearts and desperately twisted love.
This is the definition of a slow burn for me. Like the story grabs you at the first so you’re constantly thinking ‘WHAT TF IS GOING TO HAPPEN?!’
The story unfolds in two timelines – the events that happened 2 years ago that leads up to the finale and the CRAZY night of.
It is also told through the eyes of the main character Mary Olivia Pentecost (a.k.a. Mop) and her Aunty Liv.
As you all know, I’m a huge psychological thriller lover and this was JUST that! In some instances, mainly in the chapters narrated by Aunty Liv, I got ‘As I Lay Dying’ by William Faulkner vibes. There’s a strong stream of conciseness vibe is in this book.
While the twist isn’t mind-blowing, it did feel ‘real’ and dare I say that it could really happen to anyone.
That also being said… there was a chapter that I paid extra special attention too. If you’ve read it you probably know what I’m talking about.
I also had ‘Bad Guy’ playing on a loop in my head as I read this
This book is crazy. The characters could inhabit a lunatic asylum. To say the story is twisty is almost misleading. It’s labrynthine. Told almost exclusively in flashback and memory it is hard at times to know what’s happening. I will leave it to the reader to decide if this is a good or bad thing.
The prose is delicious. It’s unique and and frenetic, almost a character in and of itself. It rushes and flows like the ocean that provides another integral ingredient of the story. The writer offers a birds eye view of what happens when a woman’s mind unhinges. Not just one woman. The family at the heart of the story may be wealthy and powerful, but their secrets are dark, disturbing. I can’t count how many times I flipped back pages, asking “Did I really just read that?”
If you want a taut thriller that unspools like a spider constructing a web, you won’t find it here. This book is about madness, obsession, jealousy, and revenge all melted and twisted together and rolling downhill like a snowball from hell. When you finish reading, you are going to wonder what the hell just happened.
I have a feeling this book is pure genius, but will be missed or overlooked because it’s not pretty or easy to absorb. It’s crazy, and like those of us outside the norm, it will be misjudged. But you have been warned.
In the Vine
Shannon Kirk
268 pages
Publisher Thomas & Mercer
Publication date July 17, 2018
Shannon Kirk’s In the Vines is a twisted psychological thriller about dark and disturbing family secrets. I devoured it in one sitting.This was one roller coaster of a ride and super creepy-scary.And I mean terrifying, petrifying, spine-chilling, blood-curdling, chilling,down right horrifying. All of the characters and settings are described so vividly that it is as if you are right there. It is packed with unpredictable twist and turns. In the beginning it is confusing. It is told in three different POVs two sisters and a daughter/niece with a timeline that jumps around. (After about 3 chapters it was less confusing).Each chapter has who is speaking and time frame. The story begins slowly and gradually picks up speed .From the beginning this story hooks you. You want to know why Aunty Liv has done the awful things she has done. Every page, every chapter was a heart pounding page turner.
This book is has it all. Family secrets, mental illness, love , loss , psychotic characters, terror, suspense,gory, twists and turns,violence, complicated family relationships, disappointment, jealousy, revenge, murder, and craziness. There are definitely scenes of graphic violence, so this is not a book for the faint of heart. It kept me guessing and unable to put it down! It was so fascinating, and twisted.
By the end of the story everything was explained. The ending is so terrifying and so unexpected that you won’t believe the lies , betrayals and deception that are revealed.
If you’re looking for a dark and highly compelling read that will have you on the edge of your seat, look no further because In the Vines is the book for you. It is a very disturbing novel that will stay in your mind for a very long time.
Terrifyingly Fantastic
This book is well thought out, complex, fascinating, and twisted. It’s been on my TBR list for a while and I’m so glad to have gotten to it. The characters are spellbinding. They’re all imperfect, lovely, and savage. Beautifully crafted and executed!
Y’all have to read this.
I saw a lot of hype about this book on Facebook and Goodreads, and was quite drawn in by the plot description. It pains me so much to leave a one-star review, but getting through this book was a real struggle for me. I was obviously intrigued enough by the mystery aspect of the narration to finish the book, but I felt that the storyline was really all over the place. Not only the jumping between time periods and characters points of view, but also just the structure of the book itself. I could follow, but just barely, and I found the writing to be a bit too flowery for my taste. I can see why there are many positive reviews, but the writing style just didn’t work for me like it worked for others.
This book needed a good editor. It received 4 plus stars from readers so I was shocked thst I didn’t appreciate the book. It has a neatly twisted plot that could have worked…but the past/present/next day shifting of the story plus repeating information over and over again…too much
Could have been a solid good read with rich people, estates, close relationships excluding most outsiders, and murders..plural.
You have Johanna, married to Phillip, her sis Viv, her wonderful daughter referred to as Mop. Then add in the boy next door, Manny, loving Mop, and Phillip’s ex nun sister now living with Phillip and Johanna
Descriptive overload of the home Viv lives in alone that Mop and her mom stay in alot. A tragedy and Mop leaves for 2 solid years. A reliving of the tragedy and Mop finding a woman at her aunty’s home…who is she?
The biggest mistake is when Mop finds the lady held captive and does nothing because Manny is now back in her life….REALLY???
This could have been intense and scary but it wasn’t as the nightmare scenes of a woman with a hatchet and a storm and near death scares just kept on coming and I just wanted it to end.
The plotting was okay except for Mop and the hudden woman…this could have worked…..but the scenes were overly long, repetitive, and de-escalated the tension and drama. I’d skip it. If you like Gothic mysteries, you might read it but do not buy it..sorry.
A little too abstract for me. Dark, twisted, tedious, loquacious, and confusing. Difficult to follow and a struggle to finish. I got more out of the description than from the book. Great cover!