White Pines by Gemma Amor

Synopsis:

A woman, returning to her roots. A town, built on sacred land. A secret, cloaked in tradition and lore.
Welcome to White Pines.
Don’t get too comfortable.
White Pines is the new cosmic-folk-Celtic-cult-horror novel from Gemma Amor, the Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Dear Laura, Cruel Works of Nature and Till the Score is Paid.

Edition:

E-book

My Thoughts:

White Pines kind of checked all my boxes. I don’t really want to tell you why, since for once I’m finally faced with a book whose synopsis doesn’t spoil any major plot points. So I’m just going to say that I have boxes, and they got checked.

It begins when Megs moves out to the seaside home she inherited from her late grandmother. From the home she can see a strange island that seems to be calling to her. In fact, she can see the island from damn near everywhere in town. And when she can’t see it, she develops debilitating headaches. Seems completely aboveboard, right?

And what’s the deal with the weird triangles everywhere?

Triangles are tied to weird happenings, if you weren’t aware. So I guess it makes sense that there are triangle symbols all over the place. According to runelore.it the triangle is a symbol of the divine. So, yeah – divine weirdness. And the Scots must have seen something they liked in the triangle anyway if places like Caerlaverock Castle are anything to go by.

Well, everything comes down to the island. Gruinard Island is a former government test site, and was contaminated by Anthrax during government testing years before. The island was later deemed safe enough for sale, it is now the home of an entire community surrounded by white pines. Oh, and there are cairns dotting the island, and you’ll never guess what shape they’re laid out in. Unless you guessed a triangle, in which case good job.

Because I’m so fearful of spoiling this fantastic story, I will just tell you that some bad stuff goes down when Megs gets to Gruinard Island. And it’s up to her to try to fix it.

My Rating:

I really, really loved this story. In fact, I love Gemma’s work, period.

White Pines
By Gemma Amor
Independently published
EAN: 9781793845610
Published: March 24, 2020
E-book, Paperback
444 Pages
Author's Amazon Page