It is the 1960s and Ben a boy of ten, now orphaned moves into his aunt and uncles home with two ready made cousins. At the beginning he is awkward with the comfort and opulence of his surroundings but then grows into it comfortably.
Fast forward a few years and human bones are discovered. The forensics will eventually identify the victim, but Ben knows at once who the victim was identified by him by the shoes. The French tutor brought in by his Aunt, also sacked without a seemingly apparent reason by his Aunt. She was last seen with his cousin who supposedly dropped her at the station.
The Mask in the story seemed a bit out of place for me. Its seemingly supernatural powers attributed to the family did not quite gell with the rest of the story. The characters themselves were very good with the Aunt and Uncle indulgent, self satisfied that their position in the county would protect them from the law. When it did catch up with the Drummond family it was a surprise for them.
For Ben it became a choice of family versus others. Others included justice which was not served for the nanny and Benjamin was manipulated to the end.
The obvious suspect was very apparent from the beginning but the actual suspect was totally different.
Excellent reading with lots of twists and turns set with perfect characters to suit their respective roles.
Sent by Fairlight Books for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.
Sounds like this one could have been a little better.
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