HURRICANES, CUBAN SORCERY, AND SINISTER TYRANNY — A Review of “Bloodprint”

From Cuban Santeria rituals to Key West Florida, and then to the ancient city of Bath, the story sweeps across history and cultures to tell the tale of a family, its secrets, and the mysteries that lurk behind certain events.

Hurricane Angelina ravages an island – Key West – and destroys homes, lives, and rips apart one woman’s future. After losing her husband Forrest in the hurricane, Madeleine Frank returns to Bath, where she grew up and where her mother resides in an expensive nursing home. The old woman has always been a little “mad,” but when she began sacrificing animals and burning ritualistic shrines, her ex-husband, Neville Frank, a famous and wealthy artist, arranges for her commitment.

Meanwhile, Madeleine has turned from a life of art – painting and studying ant colonies – and taken up psychotherapy. One day, she meets a strange and compelling patient – one to whom she feels connected from the very beginning. Rachel Locklear has been attempting to break free of Anton, her dangerous lover and the father of her son Sasha, for many years. She has fled from their life together more than once, only to have him reappear and force her back into his web.

When Madeleine begins to suspect that the connection between her and Rachel is more than a “psychological” one, she starts retracing the paths her own life has taken and strives to unearth the many betrayals of her past.

As the reader pursues these paths with Madeleine, the quest will be to uncover the true connections between the women and to finally break the chains that have irrevocably bound Rachel to Anton and his sinister world.

Suspenseful, mysterious and compelling, Bloodprint: A Novel of Psychological Suspense kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning.