Dark Shadows (#1)
by Marilyn RossI've been on a serious Dark Shadows kick for a couple of years now. I probably should have gotten into it earlier, I haven't yet made it through the show and now that the movie came out the tv stuff is apparently back in high demand, the show is a pain to get on NetFlix all of a sudden, these books were expensive despite there being a fair amount of them for sale, etc. Still I managed to pick up 9 of the series for a decent price so I was happy as I didn't want to pay too much since I wasn't sure what to expect.
If you like the show, you'll probably like this book. It's basically a slight re-telling of Victoria's arrival to Collinwood. As she arrives in town she's warned, the Collins are an odd family. Creepy even. If she were smart she'd just head right back out of town before it's too late. She, however, is convinced that the answers to who she is can be found in or near Collinwood. She never knew her parents, but it is odd that money was sent to the home where she was raised from near Collinwood and then she's specifically requested as a governess without having met them.
The child she'll be caring for, David, is too smart for his own good, but is also unloved by his father and a bit of a demonchild. David's aunt, Elizabeth, runs very cold and has not left the house for eighteen years. Elizabeth's daughter, Carolyn, is quite the opposite or her mother -- she's always out and about. David's father, Roger, is a lush who doesn't seem to care about much expect maybe harassing people -- especially women. Ernest, a cousin, a musician is struggling to just survive after a series of tragedies involving women he loved has left him a shell of who he used to be. Matt Morgan, the utterly devoted caretaker of few words.
As Vicky struggles to figure out how she'll fit in with these people, it seems like someone might want her dead.
It reads very much like a few episodes of the classic tv show.
