Diane Setterfield | Book Chatter

Bellman & Black
By Diane Setterfield
(Atria/Emily Bestler Books, Hardcover, 9781476711959, October 8, 2013, 224pp.)
*No Spoilers*

The Short of It:

Highly anticipated but absolutely NOT what it appears to be.

The Rest of It:

The Thirteenth Tale, published in 2006 was one of those sleeper success stories that you hear about. A quiet tale, well written and haunting with vivid imagery. It was a book to cozy up to and I loved it. I think I told everyone I knew about it and they all agreed that it was fabulous. We could not wait for her next book, but year after year passed and no word on whether she’d ever write another.

Enter, Bellman & Black.

The book officially comes out on October 8th but when I received the ARC, I literally jumped up and down and stroked the cover no less than three times. First, I received the e galley which was great, but then I received the gorgeous paperback and it took my breath away. Such a gorgeous cover. I couldn’t resist it. Who could? I dove right in.

As a young boy, William Bellman shoots and kills a young bird with his slingshot. This act comes back to haunt him as an adult as the image of the bird, falling to the ground, is replayed over and over in his mind. Not sure of its meaning, Bellman makes a conscious decision to push it out of his mind and forge ahead with business which is where his passions lie. At one point, he has it all, a loving wife and family, the success of his business and the promise of more good things to come.

But then, everything changes. What was once good, becomes tragic as Bellman slowly loses those around him. In a desperate attempt to save what he has, he makes a deal. One that cannot be reversed and has horrible consequences.

As a story, it’s ALL been done before. The parts about his business, funeral wear, were somewhat novel in nature, but Setterfield never explores the grief felt by the town as Bellman cashes in on the unfortunate death of others. His love for his daughter is a tad superficial and as a reader, we never get to know Dora all that well. Her role is to be the constant reminder of all that’s gone wrong and little else. Yawn.

With every page, I kept waiting for the ghost story to begin and when I hit those last thirty pages, I realized that it would never happen. Is it a ghost story? Technically, yes, but while you’re reading it you will argue that it’s not because it doesn’t feel like one. It’s not chilling, or haunting or suspenseful in any way. There is no real “setting” and if you read The Thirteenth Tale, you may recall how very atmospheric the writing was. Well, you won’t get that here no matter how hard you look for it.

I thought carefully about how to say this, but this book was a huge disappointment. Forget that I had high hopes for it. The blurbs that I saw early on really made me think this was a classic ghost story. I’ve since checked the blurbs again and now they seem much more on par with what it’s about, but still. If you are looking for a classic ghost story this fall, this is not it. However, I highly recommend her first book, The Thirteenth Tale as it still remains one of my faves to this day.