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When Billie receives an email offering her the opportunity to move to charming Juliana, Georgia, and set up a new life there for a song, she is eager to give it a try. After she had to close her successful restaurant in New York because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the offer to buy a beautiful old home for $100 and be given a business grant to open a new restaurant in the small Southern town is irresistible.
Billie packs up just a few belongings from her small apartment and brings her husband, little girl, and cat to the lovely town. The Initiative, Juliana’s plan to build itself up again after the pandemic, is true to its promises. The house she found on a short reconnaissance visit is huge and fully furnished, surrounded by a lot of land. She finds an old building downtown that’s perfect for her new restaurant. Life should be blissful.
But right away, little things crop up that seem odd. She isn’t sleeping well in the house; she has recurring nightmares. Her husband is having even worse nightmares and can barely rest. Even their cat is acting strange. And she starts suspecting the “founding families” of the town are keeping secrets.
As life in Juliana begins to feel truly ominous, Billie starts investigating to find out the facts behind what she’s experiencing and what she’s been told. But the danger may be too great to get the full story and, if necessary, make an escape.
I was pretty excited about the premise of Gothictown. I love gothic stories, secrets, cool old houses, etc. This delivered pretty well, though there were a few spots that I didn’t quite believe (and not the potential paranormal stuff that requires any reader to suspend belief in “reality”). They were choices the protagonist made that seemed to be unlikely. Those (not to share any spoilers) kept me from really believing in the full story arc and how certain things played out. I did like the conclusion, though.
Generally enjoyable though not fully satisfying. (And I was turned off by the profanity.)
Rated: High. Profanity includes 47 uses of strong language, around 30 instances of moderate profanity, 35 uses of mild language, and 45 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes two or three scenes with some description. Adultery occurs. Violence includes murders by various methods, and some description of dead bodies.
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*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
