Early Review – It will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Thriller/Horror
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: October 22, 2024
ASIN: B0CTJMSJ7C
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Sarah Carpenter is starting over.
She’s on the run—leaving behind her unsupportive, narcissistic ex-boyfriend and alcoholic, abusive mother—and headed for a new beginning at Tranquil Falls, a secluded artists’ colony on the grounds of a closed hotel. There, with no cell signal or internet to distract her, she hopes to rediscover her love for pottery and put the broken pieces of her life back together.
But when Sarah uncovers the body of a young woman while digging a hole for a pit kiln, things start to fall apart. Her fellow artists begin to act in troubling ways. The eccentric fiber artist knits an endless scarf. The musician plays the same carousel song over and over until his fingers bleed. The calligrapher grins with ink-stained teeth. Not to mention the haunting dreams Sarah has night after night.
When she discovers glass shards in her clay, Sarah wonders if someone is out to get her—or if she’s losing her grip on reality out here in the wilds, where the pounding of the waterfall never, ever fades. As she investigates the beautiful valley and the crumbling resort looming over them all, she unearths a chilling past that refuses to remain buried . . .”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this as an eGalley from NetGalley.
Thoughts: This was a bit of an odd book. At first it seems pretty straight forward, scary haunted mansion type of vibes. However, mid-book things get pretty odd and the ending felt very unsatisfying. Prior to this I have read Dawson’s Blud series (which I liked) and her Hit series (which I liked but she never finished). I have also read a number of her short stories, which range from okay to good.
Sarah is trying to start over. She has fled her abusive boyfriend and her alcoholic mother and is taking up pottery again (something her boyfriend forced her to give up). To do this, she has applied for and won a place at Tranquil Falls, a secluded artists’ colony. However, Sarah starts having weird dreams and finding dead bodies. Then things start to spiral out of control when the other residents are acting strangely possessed. Sarah’s only bright spot is a young photographer, Ingrid, who loves the macabre and is determined to explore the old resort on the property.
This started out very creepy and atmospheric. It was odd how many dead bodies Sarah got involved with right away in the story. I loved the creepy little cabins and enjoyed when Ingrid and Sarah started exploring the mysterious old resort building. Unfortunately, things start to get weird and not make as much sense as the story continues, and I can’t really get into that without spoilers. I will say that there is a ton of sexual abuse of women by men in the second half of this story, which was disturbing.
The ending also felt just very unsatisfying in general. The main characters just kind of leave and don’t find out what happens to the other artists or the colony. Now on to spoilers…
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SPOLIERS START
Sarah starts having strange dreams about being sexually abused by her husband (she doesn’t have a husband) but she seems to be in the body of a girl from the past who stayed at the resort. The only explanation we get for this is that Sarah’s boyfriend was also sexually abusing her (which Sarah doesn’t know at the time) and somehow this made her receptive to the spirit’s influence. We never really understand what the spirits want; maybe it’s for people to know the resort wasn’t only a resort? This feels really unresolved.
Then there is the whole twist at the end where Sarah’s boyfriend manages to track her down to the middle of absolutely nowhere and tries to drug and rape her again but the spirits get involved and possess her somehow. I also never understood why the girls’ spirits were randomly possessing the other artists. That hadn’t happened in previous years but why was it happening now?
If this all sounds confusing, that’s because it was confusing and nothing really made sense.
SPOILERS END
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My Summary (3/5): Overall this book was a bit disappointing to me. I loved the creepy atmosphere and the character trying to rebuild her life in the beginning. However, the strange sexual abuse and possessions that started taking place in the second half of the book were never explained well and felt odd. Some of the twists at the end felt very contrived and the ending was very unsatisfying. Dawson has always been kind of hit-and-miss for me and her more recent books have been more miss than hit. I probably won’t seek her books out in the future.
