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Sue (5 KP) rated The Coroner in Books

Aug 13, 2018

Emily Hartford seems to be doing well for herself with a promising surgical career in Chicago and having been recently engaged to a third-year surgical resident. Her world is turned upside down when she receives a call telling her that her estranged medical examiner father has suffered a major heart attack and she must come home.

Upon arrival at her hometown of Freeport, which she fled over 12 years ago after the mysterious death of her mother, Emily is pulled into an investigation. With her ME father unable to assist, Sheriff Nick Larson (Em’s old high school flame) asks her help in finding out if the sudden unexplained death of a Senator’s teen daughter was an accident or murder.

This book is engaging with several different stories going on at once. The first story is the mystery of the Senator’s daughter who was an equestrian, good student, and all around loved individual. How and why was she killed? The second story is about the relationship between Emily and her father. They once were so close, but with the mysterious accident her mother suffered leaving her dead, daughter and father have a rocky relationship. The third story is of Emily and trying to find out what she really wants in life.

The is a true mystery-suspense drama with a very surprising ending.

Kudos

Steve Fearon (84 KP) rated The Witch In The Window (2018) in Movies

Nov 9, 2018

Performances from father and son (1 more)

Exploration of a complex relationship

Not much gets explained (0 more)

Not at all scary, but actually rather enjoyable

This is a Shudder original, and I was expecting a fairly standard haunted house scenario, and the setup doesn't disappoint in this regard.

A father has bought an old country house to renovate and sell, and bring his son out with him, who was recently found looking at 'unsavoury' things on the internet which had traumatised him.

The spooky house elements are fairly predictable, and there are lots of metaphors for the house being alive, the boiler being its 'heart' etc

However, what I actually ended up enjoying was the father-son relationship as they explore the flaws in their characters and come to realise the strength they both possess.

The movie actually becomes more of an exploration of weakness, be it, curiosity, fear of loss, fear of failure, and it is quite engrossing watching the two main leads bouncing off of eachother.

The supernatural element is largely unexplained, and honestly serves little purpose other than to bring father and son closer together, and to provide the grounding for a bittersweet ending.

This is a surprisingly good movie, but not at all what I thought I was in for when I started it up!