Shadow Garden
By Alexandra Burt
ISBN # 9780440000327
Author’s Website: www.alexandraburt.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
Summary
A wealthy woman suspects something is off about the luxurious complex she lives in . . . and she is right, in this riveting domestic-suspense novel from international bestselling author Alexandra Burt.
Donna Pryor lives in the lap of luxury. She spends her days in a beautifully appointed condo. Her every whim is catered to by a dedicated staff, and she does not want for anything.
Except for news of her adult daughter.
Or an ex-husband who takes her calls.
Donna knows something is wrong, but she can’t quite put her finger on it. As her life of privilege starts to feel more and more like a prison, the facade she has depended on begins to crumble. Somewhere in the ruins is the truth, and the closer Donna Pryor gets to it, the more likely it is to destroy her.
Review
Shadow Garden starts with Edward Pryor leaving his wife, Donna Pryor, in the luxury community of Shadow Garden to heal from her hip injury. Their goodbye is estranged, and Donna feels that she is being sent away, over time she comes to the conclusion that her marriage is over. After some months, Donna comes out of a cloud of depression and notices that neither Edward or their daughter, Penelope, has called her in months. She worries that Edward has not sent her divorce papers and doesn’t have any financial means if Edward stops paying for her stay.
As Donna tries to figure out what is wrong with her family, she notices that objects are appearing in her condo that shouldn’t be there but instead back at her house. Donna believes that somebody is playing games with her and doesn’t trust anybody except her friend Vera who lives next door.
What follows is a trip down memory lane and the piecing together of the events that brought her to Shadow Garden, her accident, her estranged family, and the notion that she seems to have forgotten something important.
Shadow Garden was an interesting story, the characters did their best to find the answers that haunted them, and everything comes to the light at the end. It was a good fictional story with hints of mystery that kept the reader interested in the narrative and wanting to know what would happen at the end.
The story moves from the point of view between the Pryor family members and across different stages of their lives to explain how they got to this point and the decisions they took. Overall, among the Pryor members I liked Edward the most, he tried to help his family and was easiest to relate to. His decisions were more practical until the end and I believed he thought of family first instead of a social position.
While Donna had some interesting scenes, in the end, her character mostly came off as a rich housewife that would do her best to keep everything perfect for outside prying eyes and decided to ignore and bury her problems.
Narrative wise, the story was easy to follow, but it had some moments where explanations or memories were too long. I liked the mystery aspect of the story, and I wasn’t expecting the last twist towards the end.
If you are a fan of Alexandra Burt, then I recommend Shadow Garden. In this story, memories are not to be trusted and in their darkest moments, humans bend their reality to protect themselves from the pain.
