The Bleeding by Johana Gustawsson

Synopsis
1899, Belle Époque Paris. Lucienne’s two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them.

1949, Post-War Québec. Teenager Lina’s father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina’s life in the darkest way imaginable.

2002, Quebec. A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband – a famous university professor – to death. Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation.

Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism … and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love…

My Review
The Bleeding is the first book I have read by Johana Gustawsson, but after reading this I will definitely be looking for her other books. The Bleeding has three timelines and in those timelines there are three very different heroines. In Paris, 1899 Lucienne is grieving the loss of her daughters in a house fire, refusing to believe they are dead. In Lac Clarence, Quebec, teenager Lina is missing her her father who died fighting for the Resistance in the War. She is also being bullied at school, and is uncomfortable in her changing body. In the rest home where her mother works she befriends an elderly Lucienne, who takes an interest in Lina and takes her under her wing. In 2002, Maxine, newly returned to work in her role as a police Lieutenant after maternity leave, finds herself investigating the murder of Professor Phillipe Caron, with his wife, Maxine’s former teacher the suspect. As the plot progresses these three women’s lives intertwine in what becomes a chilling and shocking tale of murder, witchcraft and the occult.

The glue that joins the three narratives in The Bleeding is the Quebec town of Lac Clarence and that all three women are facing a loss of some kind . The main plot line is Maxine’s investigation of the murder of Phillipe Caron, and the subsequent arrest of his wife Pauline. This is Maxine’s first case since her return from maternity leave, and it was Pauline who asked for Maxine. Maxine has lost her husband, just had a baby and also has a teenage daughter, Charlotte, whom is becoming more distant. Maxine’s first thought of this open and shut case soon turns into something a lot darker, as the bodies pile up. It is this murder case that draws attention to Lucienne, her time at the rest home and her grooming and friendship with the vunerable Lina.

Johana Gustawsson’s writing and plotting is masterful in The Bleeding what seems to be a simple murder case suddenly takes a turn into something dark and sinister. She lulls the reader into a false sense of security, having empathy for the characters and their situations before completely turning the plot on it’s head. The last third of the book is unnerving and menacing, and the shocking revelations kept coming until the last sentence of the last page. I admit that it was these revelations that had me completely engrossed and my head buried in this book. I also really enjoyed Johana Gustawsson’s sense of place, taking the reader from late nineteenth century Paris, building up to the Exposition Universelle, to Quebec, it’s freezing temperatures, and changing face of the once psychiatric hospital. The research done into this novel historically, and into the occult, it’s symbolism in art and text is obvious in the desriptions in the book, making it easier to understand for the lay person.

I found The Bleeding to be an intriguing and mesmerising read. As the book progressed I found it harder and harder to put down with it’s revelations and many shocking secrets, and development of the characters. Full of suspense with a twist of black magic, this is a compelling and at times gruesome read that I highly recommend; a deliciously dark read.

I would like to thank Orenda books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour in return for my honest review.