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Summary
Summary
A mesmerizing novel...what begins as a gothic ghost story soon evolves into a wickedly twisted treasure hunt in The Supernatural Enhancements , Edgar Cantero's wholly original, modern-day adventure.
When twentysomething A., the European relative of the Wells family, inherits a beautiful, yet eerie, estate set deep in the woods of Point Bless, Virginia, it comes as a surprise to everyone--including A. himself. After all, he never knew he had a "second cousin, twice removed" in America, much less that his eccentric relative had recently committed suicide by jumping out of the third floor bedroom window--at the same age and in the same way as his father had before him . . .
Together with A.'s companion, Niamh, a mute teenage punk girl from Ireland, they arrive in Virginia and quickly come to feel as if they have inherited much more than just a rambling home and an opulent lifestyle. Axton House is haunted... they know it...but the presence of a ghost is just the first of a series of disturbing secrets they slowly uncover. What led to the suicides? What became of the Axton House butler who fled shortly after his master died? What lurks in the garden maze - and what does the basement vault keep? Even more troubling, what of the rumors in town about a mysterious yearly gathering at Axton House on the night of the winter solstice?
Told vividly through a series of journal entries, cryptic ciphers, recovered security footage, and letters to a distant Aunt Liza, Edgar Cantero has written an absorbing, kinetic and highly original supernatural adventure with classic horror elements that introduces readers to a deviously sly and powerful new voice.
Author Notes
Edgar Cantero is a writer and cartoonist from Barcelona. His books are written in Catalan, Spanish, and English. He is the author of "The Supernatural Enhancements" (2014) and "Meddling Kids" (2017). His book "Dormir amb Winona Ryder", won the 2007 Joan Crexells Award.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
An inheritance from a reclusive cousin brings 23-year-old student A. Wells and mute adolescent Niamh Connell from Europe to the Virginia countryside of 1995, where a missing butler, complex encryptions, and enigmatic letters hint at sinister doings. Catalan author Cantero (Valvi) employs visits with inquisitive neighbors, isolated high voltage readings, and increasingly frightening dreams and manifestations to suggest the presence of supernatural elements, although many of these events evoke stock haunted-house props. A.'s musings about the nature of the supernatural provide a rationale for Cantero's title: the mysteries of existence remain, no matter how one tries to explain the inexplicable. The merging of the otherworldly and the mundane, however, breaks down when a long explanation of a secret society's aims and history overwhelms the plot and paves the way to a deus ex machina conclusion. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Southern gothic meets Euro hipnessin Catalan novelist Cantero's inventive, enjoyable outing in postmodern mysterywriting.Take a mysterious mansion, "plus anoseless suspect, a dead criminal wanted in six states, one fugitive, a missinglawyer, seventeen people in the morgue, two in surgery, and lots of paperwork,"and you've got the makings of a scenario that's surely good for setting tongueswagging in small-town Virginia. Yet most of the good citizens of Point Blesshave long been unaware of the goings-on at the Wells mansion, where the ghostsof suicides wander among dark corridors and hidden rooms. Cantero lets us knowat the outset that we're in on a very long joke, with winkingthrough-the-fourth-wall asides ("I've noticed that all manuscripts are bad; anybook randomly opened in a friend's house is good; the same book in a bookstoreis bad. When this story is completed, that beginning will turn better"). Anystory that features a lawyer named Glew and a butler named Strckner isautomatically promising, never mind hesitant openings, and our protagonist'ssidekick is a welcome force of nature, a mute Irish girl who is both amanuensisand ninja. And if that protagonist starts off the proceedings wide-eyed and nave, delighted by such small things as rural cafes with "manysauce bottles and thingies against the glass," he emerges as a capable playerin a game of poltergeists, hollowed-out books, malevolent masterminds andsundry secrets in a setting that wanders between real and dream worlds,alternate realities blending with elective affinities.Freemasonry, of course, figures intothe equation. Quirky in presentation and good fun throughout, Cantero's yarnpleases at every turn. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Set in the mid-1990s, but feeling very much like a gothic ghost story, this is the first English-language novel by Spanish author Cantero. Told through diary entries, transcripts of audio and video recordings, letters, and other media, it's the story of a young man, A. Wells, who learns that a previously unknown relative has died, leaving him an estate in Virginia. Accompanied by his friend, a mute teenage girl, A. travels to Virginia, where he soon begins to get the sense that his deceased second cousin's home might be haunted. Did something some presence in the house cause A.'s relative to commit suicide? What's stowed away in the locked vault in the basement? And what goes on at the house each year around the winter solstice? Creepy and spooky stuff, a good bet for readers who relish haunted-house tales.--Pitt, David Copyright 2014 Booklist
Library Journal Review
When a young man of undefined European descent inherits an estate in the leafy Virginia woods from a cousin he never knew he had, he gets a lot more than he bargained for-and so does the reader. The cousin has dispatched himself in the same manner (and on the same date) as his father, the butler has vanished, and the maze in the garden is partly sealed. Spanish cartoonist Cantero blends the mores of yesteryear with the latest technology to create a decidedly different ghost story. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.