Sepulchre

February 11, 2008
Contrivance, cliché and expository overkill overwhelm bestseller Mosse’s tale concerning a rare tarot deck that helps link the lives of two women living eras apart. In 1891, Parisian teenager Léonie Vernier and her brother visit their young aunt at an estate in southern France. After finding a startling account of her late uncle’s pursuit of the occult, Léonie scours the property for the tarot cards and Visigoth tomb he describes, unaware that more tangible peril in the form of a murderous stalker is seeking to destroy her loved ones. Present-day biographer Meredith Martin is in France finishing a book and tracing her ancestry when she sees a reproduction of the same tarot, which bears her likeness. She investigates the connection when she, too, arrives at the estate, now a hotel in which a new battle between good and evil rages. Mosse (Labyrinth
) conveys so much unnecessary information through so many static scenes of talk, reading and interior monologue that the book’s momentum stalls for good soon after its striking opening. Mosse’s fans will hope for a return to form next time.

Both parts of this story take place in France, so there's quite a lot of French spoken, and it's a pleasure to hear the always delightful Donada Peters's pitch-perfect handling of this beautiful language. It's easy to see why Peters is an audio listener's favorite for her unfailing ability to deliver fully realized characters. In October of 1891, Anatole Vernier and his family attract the wrath of one truly evil, syphilis-riddled psychopath. Witnessing the devastation he causes, sister Leonie is forced to consider turning to the supernatural for help. In 2007, Meredith Martin, an American researching Debussy, stumbles upon Leonie's story through a pack of tarot cards painted by Leonie herself. D.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine