Review: Palace of the Drowned

Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC for this book.
It is hard for me to figure out how to review this book. It was well-written. The setting was incredibly evocative. The characters were strangely compelling.
But I didn't just didn't like it. The story of author Frankie, and what happens during her (perhaps forced) sabbatical to (a surprisingly dismal!) Venice during the off-season in the mid-sixties really did transport me there. The descriptions of everything from the decaying palazzo to the stench of the water at high tide to the fizzy Prosecco drew me into the book. And the promise of a dark and twisty mystery kept me there. But I kept waiting for the dark and twisty mystery to actually...start.
And it got harder and harder to wait, because not only were the descriptions of how doleful everything was in Venice--from the miserable weather to the rotting buildings--verging on redundant, I just didn't like the characters. I kept trying to like Frankie, but just couldn't. I didn't like Gilly AT ALL. Jack was a horrible friend. Even Harold and Maria seemed miserable. And I just felt bad for Leonard having to put up with all of them.
I know that the relationship...friendship?...between Frankie and Gilly was intended to be ambiguous, nebulous, and uncertain. But I just couldn't figure out how Frankie, who seemed to be an intelligent person, would put up with Gilly, not to mention allow the young girl into her life. It just made me feel sorry for Frankie and what her once promising life had devolved to, which perhaps was the point.
I really contemplated not finishing the book, not because it wasn't well-written, but because I just didn't like the characters or their almost repetitive desultory conversations in various cafes and landmarks. Once the torrential rain storm began, the action picked up, and I continued reading with a bit more anticipation, because I was wondering how everything would turn out.
But to me, this book was just depressing--which again, was perhaps the point--and when I finished, I was underwhelmed. The ending felt sadly predictable.
As I said, I am not sure how to rate this book. I didn't like the story or characters. I never want to visit Venice because it seems like a water-logged, decaying, stinking place full of rude people. But maybe all of that is a testament to how well-written the book is. I don't think I would recommend it--at least if you are after a twisty suspenseful mystery. That is not what this book is at all.

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