The Ghost Orchid

Not quite my favorite Goodman, but still a great mystery.

Carol Goodman always has an unparalleled way of transforming a location in a book into a beautifully haunted atmosphere. Her descriptions jump from the page, and every time she sets her novel in a new location I know it's going to be lush, decrepit, gothic, and wonderful.

Her location in The Ghost Orchid is no different. Set at the upstate New York sprawling aged and crumbling Bosco Estate, Goodman unites an intriguing cast of characters amid the ivy-covered statues and dry fountains. Novelist Ellis Brooks has hoped her acceptance into Bosco's notorious writing program would allow her the freedom to pursue her novel in peace. But the past pursues her instead, and she soon finds that the residents of Bosco were not brought together by chance.

At times a romantic mystery, at times a suspenseful thriller, Goodman deftly weaves between an ages old missing child case, and the present day sleuthing Ellis is forced to undertake into the people and places around her. Always intriguing, I never want to finish a Goodman novel. Though the writing in this, her fourth novel, occasions into the trite and predictable, I was still engrossed by the scene set before me.

I had one issue with the end of the novel and a short side-tracked path that Goodman decided to briefly explore, but it was not the focus of the novel so I can set it aside as author-folly. Overall, I still love her novels and find them to be uniquely mysterious and haunting. I haven't read many other authors that can successfully pull off a mystery while still making it literary. In this day of mass-market quick-publications, I delight in the fact that there are authors like Goodman who take suspense to another level.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Couldn't put it down!!!

I read this book in 2 days!! I loved it even though at first meeting all the characters at once was a little hard to follow! Once it got going though there was no putting it down! Definitely a beach novel during the summer and a cozy book to warm up with during the winter!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Enthralling

If you are drawn to beautifully written literature with an intriguing, intense, web-like plot, romance, and supernatural overtones, this is the book for you! I am an avid reader and enjoy many books, but I have never been so impressed with a book that I felt I needed to write a review about it encouraging others to read it as well, but that is exactly what I am doing now. I started and finished the book yesterday, and I woke up still marveling at the complicated beauty of it this morning. This is truly a book that you can't go wrong with.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Worst of Carol Goodman

Simply not her best. Too much going on....inadequate scene description makes this a bit confusing at times.

Haunting and poetic

Of the thousands of books that I have read, an odd few have stayed with me long after most of the words fade. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was a child, The Shadow of the Wind(sold, the moment I opened the book and began the first chapter entitled, The Cemetery of Lost Books), a few others in various genres in between, and recently, Ghost Orchid. It captured me on the first page, drawing me into the spidery weave of the author's prose, wrapping around and filling my head with imagery and lush emotion. A sense of atmosphere survives; of still being in that place the book took me away to when I conjure up a passage of finely drawn description.

Beneath the pretty language is an atmospheric ghost story, a love story transcending time, and a finely crafted mystery. It is centered on an artist's retreat called Bosco. A landmark of history and beauty catering to an artistic chosen few, invited to stay at the estate each season. Bosco allows them to live and dream in a somewhat structured regimen encouraging unhindered creativity without worrying about the mundane facets of existence. For over a hundred years, Bosco has inspired wonderful works, a testament to its picturesquely crumbling architecture and overgrown gardens complete with statuary, underground complex of fountains, and a veiled garden maze.

Five people have been invited to Bosco this season. Of the five, the story is largely seen through the gaze of Ellie Brooks who plans to write a book on the catalyst of events of a certain historical summer in 1893. Her counterpart narrator in the past is a medium called Corinth Blackwell, invited to Bosco to contact the spirits of the three dead children of the owners, the Lathams. Corinth's tragic story intertwines with the sadness and deaths that occur at Bosco in the twilight of the nineteenth century. Along with Ellie in the present, is Bethesda Graham a biographer, David Fox a landscape architect, Zalman Bronsky a poet, and Nat Loomis a novelist.

It seems that all the beauty created, inspired by Bosco, is penance for the secrets that lie underneath. When the current assemblage of five distinct personalities congregating at Bosco begins to research the history and delve into its secrets, a supernatural doorway opens, enveloping their lives as the past converges on the present. Ghost orchids appear in the gardens, their elusive blooms signifying the change in the air, as the spirits awaken and insist that their stories be told. The past events reenact, charging the air with otherworldly danger. This leads to a volatile sequence of events, and ends finally, on a satisfying note.

Read Ghost Orchid, and allow it to take you on a beautifully written, haunting journey.

I love this book

Thia book is a real page-turner. The two stories follow each other perfectly. Every time I read it I discover something new.

History, romance and mystery all rolled into one!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this combination mystery, historical fiction and romance novel all rolled into one. I loved the vivid descriptions of the crumbling Bosco estate with it¿s own beauty of overgrown gardens and crumbling statues. The ill-fated séance was an interesting twist. I did however have a bit of trouble at times with the rambling plot. I always enjoy novels set in the late 1800¿s to early 1900¿s and this was a good one. I would recommend this book to my friends and am going to read The Lake of Dead Languages, which has been on my list for some time now. I would rate this book 4 out of 5 for great writing and interesting plot

Carol Goodman's Writing Style 'grabs' my mind, heart and soul . . .

My saga with Carol Goodman began with THE GHOST ORCHID, and I followed it with every other book she has written. I cannot put her books down and long for the next one. I am so excited about discovering her books. All I can say is can we please have more?

Carol Goodman Rox my Sox

There are two separate stories and each of them were so interesting that I wanted to keep on reading them. But then they alternated every chapter so I was like URGG 'cause I wanted to read what happened next for one of the stories. I'd try to read that chapter quickly so I could continue to what I wanted to read, but then THAT chapter was interesting. So that cycle continues until I finished the book. Overall I thought it was the best book I read this year, but in the beginning where the scenery is being explained (even though it's really pretty sounding, don't get me wrong) it sounded a lot like the other settings that Goodman used. So if you like those settings then, it's a good thing.

her best yet

this was by far carol goodmans best. i own and have read her other three, but this one kept me up until 2 am two nights in a row so i could finish. i absolutely loved it! i would recommend this book to anyone in need of a thrilling novel, because this will do the trick!

A fun gothic like mystery

Ellis Brooks has been invited to stay at the Upstate New York Bosco Estate to research her first novel, a fictional account of what happened at the Victorian mansion in 1893. Aurora Latham, wife of wealthy timber merchant Milo, hired medium Corinth Blackwell to contact the spirits of her three dead children, who all died from a diphtheria epidemic. Instead, someone, probably the psychic abducts the Latham¿s only living child Alice.---------------- Ellis meets the other guests who are mostly writers of sorts with at least two working on somewhat similar projects involving the Bosco Mansion. As Ellis conducts on-site research her psychic roots as the daughter of a mystic begins to unravel what really happened in 1893 one paranormal escapade at a time.------------------------ Though perhaps there are too many mystical twists, fans will enjoy this fun gothic like mystery. The rotation between past and present is done smoothly with Ellis as the prime source between alternating eras. The cast in 1893 and today are fully developed to include a potentially haunted mansion and sinister gardens. Readers will take immense delight wondering until the climax as Ellis guides the audience through the estate whether this is a ghost story or not that is what makes Carol Goodman¿s thriller worth reading.-------------- Harriet Klausner

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