Review of That Devil Knows My Name by Kelly Lidji
A.E. Jackson Review Score: 3 / 5 Ravens
How was this review scored?
Fans of Kelly Lidji’s blend of historic and supernatural will be thrilled to rejoin Claire at Lums Pond State Park in Delaware in the second entry of the series.
Claire’s toddler Maggie loves going to Delaware sites, and enjoys the activities she’s introduced to - until they visit Lums Pond by boat. What is causing her baby’s distress?
Readers are introduced to the local legend of the Screaming Lady of Lums Pond and without delay Claire is pulled back into an unsolved ghost mystery. Will she be able to discover the true identity of the Screaming Lady?
Claire Mumford has had enough of the supernatural. The last time she tangled with a ghost almost got her killed. But the lure of an unnamed spirit haunting the waters by Lums Pond State Park is more than she can resist.
Can she discover the identity of the ghost who screams so plaintively in the darkness? All that may be left are rumors and speculation. Who was the poor woman who lost her life so brutally by the pond so many years ago?
Can the undeniable powers of her two-year-old daughter finally help her give a name to The Screaming Woman Of Lums Pond? Should Claire risk everything to find out?
Lidji’s split timeline is handled with superb execution. Readers are escorted through a living historic Delaware, while the author ratchets up the tension of the present day. The parallel journey that unfold together are a joy to undertake.
Lidji does well at bringing past culture and our ancestor’s daily activities to life once again in this work. As is often the case, what people did, and why they did them, often inform the legends, lore, and mysteries of ghost stories.
The author provides a good introduction of characters in their normal world. Then, a drastic change occurs for the family after a fire destroys their lives. There are also dramatic changes for Claire’s family - including another woman, and questions of infidelity.
Kelly Lidji has improved as an author in this second installment by providing and developing more complex characters. As each new character is introduced, the reader is led to put them under the spotlight of suspicion. Both the historic and contemporary characters feel alive. The scenes are vibrant with active settings and sensory details that draw the reader into the action.
Tension and conflict build at a steady tempo, while both internal an external factors are all handled well. There are fewer supernatural frights and scares than the previous novel, but much more mystery. By the end of the story the reader will feel good about the conclusion, even if a bit of deus ex machine is employed to resolve loose ends.
Kelly Lidji lives in Lewes, Delaware with Jason and her two macaws, Rufus and Finn. She grew up in the 80’s trying to raise the ghost of Maggie Bloxom with her friends out at Maggie’s Bridge in Woodland, DE.
‘Maggie I Have Your Baby’ is her first novel. She followed it up with ‘That Devil Knows My Name’, ‘Where The Eidolon Sleep’, and ‘81 Miles’.
Read more from Kelly Lidji at http://kellylidji.com and find her on social media at Facebook(kellylidjiauthor).