Quiver

By Holly Luhning

In 16th-century Hungary, Countess Elizabeth Bathory tortured and killed more than 600 servant girls in order to bathe in their blood. She believed this practice would keep her beauty immortal.

Quiver captures the chilling legacy of the notorious Countess Bathory through the modern-day story of Danica, a young forensic psychologist. Danica works at Stowmoor, a former insane asylum turned forensic hospital, where one of her patients, Martin Foster, is imprisoned for murdering a fourteen-year-old girl. Danica suspects that Foster may have belonged to a gothic cabal idolizing Bathory and reenacting her savage murders.

When Maria, a seductive archivist with whom Danica has had a complicated past, contacts her to claim she has found Bathory’s long-lost diaries, Danica is drawn into Maria’s glamorous orbit. Soon Danica is in too deep to notice that Maria’s motivations are far from selfless, and that they may just cost Danica her life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781443405416

Holly Luhning

HOLLY LUHNING was raised on a farm in Saskatchewan, and holds a PhD specializing in 18th-century literature, madness and theories of the body. Currently, she is a Leverhulme Fellow at the University of Chichester, England. She has received a Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor’s Arts Award, and her collection of poetry, Sway, was nominated for a Saskatchewan Book Award. Visit her online at www.hollyluhning.com.

Reviews for Quiver

[pdbkwm-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis:

“In sixteenth-century Hungary, Countess Elizabeth Báthory tortured and killed over six hundred servant girls in order to bathe in their blood; she believed this brutal ritual would preserve her youth and beauty. Danica, a young forensic psychologist, is drawn to Báthory’s legend. She has moved from Canada to England to work at Stowmoor, a Victorian insane asylum turned modern-day forensic hospital. One of her patients, the notorious Martin Foster, murdered a fourteen-year-old girl in homage to Báthory. He cultivates his criminal celebrity, and Danica struggles to maintain a professional demeanor with the charismatic Foster as she begins to suspect that his activities may be linked to a cabal that idolizes the countess.

Danica’s life in London becomes increasingly complicated when Maria, a glamorous friend from Danica’s past, arrives to do archival work in the city. She claims to have discovered Báthory’s long-lost diaries and she slowly reveals to Danica the horrific, yet fascinating passages. As Danica’s career and her relationship with her artist-boyfriend, Henry, falters, Maria lures her into a complex social sphere. Unsure of whom to trust as her professional and personal lives become dangerously entwined, Danica must decide what she is willing to risk to satisfy her attraction to Báthory’s ominous legend.”

-.-

I can understand why one might compare it to the Historian. Both deal with historical figures and the drama surrounding them and the present time. But where the Historian excelled, Quiver kind of falls flat.

Quiver follows Danica a forensic psychologist who has been given the go ahead to interview Foster. Foster is a man obsessed with Countess Elizabeth Báthory, aka The Blood Countess. She was one of the most prolific serial killers. Stories have been written about her. Myths have been made. Bits of Dracula have been inspired by her. So Foster decides to take his obsession with her to the next level. How you ask? By killing a virgin girl of course.

He's captured and Danica now has job to evaluation his mental state while trying not to get charmed by him. You see, Danica is also somewhat enamoured by Báthory as well. I mean, why would someone of that status go out of her way to kill what is rumoured to be over 9000! 600 girls?

Now I know what you're thinking.

Danica sits down with the famed school girl killer. Alone in a room she conducts her interview trying to get Foster to repent and come to terms with what he’s done. He says what she wants to hear, but starts to ask questions of his own. When she asks why he did it, he mentions ‘Have you ever been so in love with someone that you would do anything for them?” Taken back by his confession of love, she asks who he’s talking about. He starts talking about Báthory and Danica’s eyes start to change. Foster notices that she’s as much into Báthory as him, starts to use this to his advantage. The mind games begin and Danica starts to fall lower and lower into the hole Foster digs for her. She starts obsessing even more over Báthory and loses her boyfriend, her friends, and almost her jobs due to it. At the end, the dark world of the Countess comes to life with Danica, while Foster, who remains behind bars, smiles as he hears about the series of murders spreading throughout the city. The book ends.

So does this happen?

No.

No. Nope. Nada.

Despite how the synopsis sounds, there is hardly any interaction between Danica and Foster. She meets him once and nothing happens. She meets him again, nothing. The third time was a meeting only in passing. And the fourth didn’t really do both parties any favours.

Due to the little screen time he’s provided, we don’t really see anything to be at awed at when Foster is mentioned. So is he charismatic? No, in fact I don’t think you can even call him charming. He does spend one part complaining about his ginger hair and freckles, so I guess that gives him some depth…My only feeling for Foster was that he's just some sick Báthory otaku who thought it would be fun to kill in her honour. Usually, when it comes to books like these, you'd expect more from a killer. But no. He just didn't do anything for me.

Thankfully, the book isn't really about Foster. It's about Danica....and…um…ah! It’s about meeting her friend Maria. You see, Maria is a master manipulator, narcissistic, and kind of a sociopath. Someone you are drawn to, but wary of at the same time. Danica, who is pretty weak willed, knows all this, but still allows Maria to play puppeteer over her life. Why would someone do this you ask? Well, it’s quite simple really. Maria loves the Blood Countess as much as Danica and to top that all off, she claims to have found the rumoured Báthory's diaries. Diaries that Danica has been wanting to read for years!

It's through this that we get to see some of the more interesting and cruel aspects of the novel. The diaries provide a look into Báthory's mind as she recounting her time as a serial killer. Danica, at first, doesn’t trust that these are authentic. But she still can’t stop herself from reading it.

Flashbacks happen. Present stuff happens. Criminal behaviour is shown.

And near the end Danica figures out everything, which is great! She solves the crime and stops something terrible from happening. Sadly, for those reading, we figure out who is the mastermind behind this fairly early on. So instead of being surprised at what Danica uncovers, you’re left wondering how Danica could be so stupid.

I mean...she tells us that Maria is a sociopath and then follows her like sheep. Why would you do that knowing what you know? It was frustrating and just made Danica look naïve. Almost like a little kid stepping into the world of adults. The kid isn’t going to be smart, but you expect this. With Danica, you wonder how she went through life with this level of absentmindedness. I mean, she’s a forensic psychologist. How? How….

Quiver did pick up near the middle of the novel and I did enjoy reading it after that. The ending was a bit quick though and left me wanting more from this resolution. I almost feel like the novel could have been a bit longer, though not Historian long. Instead, Danica finds out the truth by accident, things happen fairly quickly after that and it just ends. This was the most disappointing part for two reasons:

1.And once Danica knows the truth I was hoping to see some mind games between her and Maria.

2.Because there was so much potential for Quiver to be a fantastic novel and once it starts to develop some life, it just ends.


Should you read this? If you like reading about Elizabeth Bathory then maybe you should pick it up. The diaries really are the best part of this novel. And if you want to check out a new Canadian author, who I suspect we’ll be hearing more from, then definitely give this one a look. But if you are looking for a thriller, a mystery, and a compelling lead character, then you might want to take a pass on this.

[anissaannalise-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

2.5 stars. I had this on my Kindle for about a year & have decided in 2013 to get some of the lingerers read & done. The best thing I can say is that my task was completed & I finished reading this book. It was well written but a true slog.

Dani annoyed me for much of the story because I was able to see that Maria was a serious problem & not a very nice person but Dani was pulled in & dismissed just about everything because she believed Maria's story about Bathory's diary. It just reached a point with the chaos ensuing that I no longer cared about Dani & her obsession. Foster was quite interesting but even that bit of the story unravelled for me. The excerpts of the diary were fairly harrowing but they didn't really anchor anything else going on with the story to feel to me as anything but a macabre sideshow. I lost the will to gawk long before Dani so it was a bit wasted on me. The epic finale/showdown fell a bit flat because of course that was going to be the outcome & the reader figured it out hundreds of pages earlier. That said, Dani does have growth as a character by story's end, so that's better than nothing.

[muddyboy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I will defer on the summary of the book to the previous reviewer as she gives a good assessment of the plot. I also started the book with high expectations although I had never heard of the mass murderer, Elizabeth Bathory but I also had some problems with the book. The first 80 pages I was really into it and looking forward to the rest. But then things break down for me. I have never read a main character with as little spine as the psychologist Danica. Everything her friend Maria tells her she believes and virtually everything Maria tells her to do - she does. Secondly, almost every character in the book knows about and is captivated by this obscure countess who died hundreds of years ago. - really hard to believe. Lastly, she telegraphs the ending like a slow fastball over the heart of the plate with about 150 pages to go. Readable but it sputters to its end.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: I already knew about Elizabeth Bathory and a thriller with a murder based on her crimes was one I simply *had* to read.Elizabeth Bathory was a 16th century Hungarian Countess who tortured and murdered young women and rumour has it bathed in their blood to keep herself beautiful. No one knows how many girls she killed but figures go as high as 650.In this book a man, Martin Foster, kills a 14 year-old girl and says it was in homage to Elizabeth Bathory. Canadian forensic psychologist, Danica, moves to England to work at the criminal hospital where the killer is being treated. She has followed his case since the day it hit the papers and is thrilled when she actually gets to start working on his team. Danica has her own thoughts on his crime though, that he may have not been working alone and that he belongs to some sort of cabal that worships the countess. At the same time, Danica receives a message from an old friend, Maria, that she also is in London. The two had a falling out several years ago when they were working together in Budapest looking for the lost diaries of Elizabeth Bathory with plans to write a book together if they found them. With Danica's strange relationships with Foster and Maria her life begins to revolve around Bathory and her clinical observations of killers may just bring her face to face with with a killer on the outside, in the real world.I had high expectations of this book and was really looking forward to the read. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The book is written in three points of view. The present from Danica's point of view, flashbacks to the recent past from an unknown source's point of view and excerpts from the Countess' diary. For me the book broke down with the second flashback as I figured out what the whole book was about and what the outcome would be at that point. Thus I found the rest of the book boring. Nothing really happens. There's a lot of talking and going places in the present, but no murders or crimes. The only crimes are the flashback to Foster's killing and then the diary excerpts; which are pretty gruesome reading but have no bearing on the plot, they simply are there for the violence factor. (No diaries have ever been really found.) The climax at the end is the only bit of excitement. I read the book through, though. I guess I must have found it engaging enough to do that, though I never found the book compelling or page-turning. I didn't particularly like Danica. She was weak, whiny and easily lead astray. Usually I would DNF a book like this but for some reason I read to the end. Sorry, but my final answer is ... Boring.

[bookishtexpat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Knowing little to nothing about Elizabeth Bathory, I enjoyed "Quiver." Though the end lacked a twist - I figured out the big twist before it happened - I wanted to finish the book and see what happened with the characters. Need a quick read that isn't trashy? Pick up "Quiver."