All Things Cease to Appear

Catherine and George, a young couple moved with their little daughter Franny to a small town. They bought an old farm, in which history becomes very present meanwhile Catherine and George are dealing with their own problems. After a cruel murder it bubbles under the surface and things get even more mysterious. This book is for crime- and thriller-lovers and a treasure to everybody who loves to engage with art and its reflection. Beyond this it is also a spook-story, but rather in the background. After watching "Things Heard & Seen" on Netflix, I was not really enthusiastic. The plot confused me but the story behind fascinated me. After I saw the movie is based on a novel I promised myself to read it and now I did - and it was a very good decision. This novel is more than an exciting story. It is a character study and it furthermore struggles with topics like belief and disbelief (not only in god) and for me most importantly with creative art. Elizabeth Brundage deals with the reflection of art, of paintings and novels, in a way I never read before. So in one passage as two men talk about people in museums who look to the paintings: "They leave their bodies, Bram said, and they're inside the painting. Just like we are now, George said, spreading his arms like a chef at the bounty before them." (P. 559, eBook) And this for me central theme runs through the entire book. Every discription of people , circumstances and especially the setting is as stunning beautiful you get the feeling to be inside a painting. "The tree was like a jigsaw, the missing pieces filled with sky." (P. 316, eBook) Another rising topic is the unseen which people should pay more attention to. Nothing is as it seems so the evil, the psychopaths are difficult to detect. "He was the type who'd gone unscathed through adolescence, with no distinguishable marks or scars, no apparent history." (P. 452, eBook) This novel is highly recommended!