Fog Island

Fog Island #2

by Marilyn Ross, W.E.D. Ross (AKA)

Stella knew she would be a prisoner of fear in the eerie mansion - until she uncovered its dread secret.

Genres: Gothic, Historical Fiction, Horror

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

William Edward Daniel Ross, W. E. Daniel "Dan" Ross (born 1912) is a bestselling Canadian novelist from Saint John, New Brunswick who wrote over 300 books in a variety of genres and under a variety of mostly female pseudonyms such as Laura Frances Brooks, Lydia Colby, Rose Dana, Jan Daniels, Olin Ross, Diane Randall, Clarissa Ross, Leslie Ames, Ruth Dorset, Ann Gilmer, Jane Rossiter, Dan Ross, Dana Ross, Marilyn Ross, Dan Roberts, and W.E.D. Ross. As Marilyn Ross he wrote popular Gothic fiction including a series of novels about the vampire Barnabas Collins based on the American TV series Dark Shadows (1966-71).

Reviews

[Criss Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this years ago when I randomly found it in my parents home and have loved it ever since. It's a very well thought out thriller as you question if Stella is just crazy or if something really is going on. Wish this had been made into a movie!

[Adrian Griffiths · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another formula gothic. Stella comes to Fog Island to live with her long estranged family and is met with all the required elements: 1 remote, sinister mansion, 2 potential suitors to choose from, 1 ghostly figure, 1 sinister neighbour... and multiple attempts on her life!

It's all very fluffy, however the writing style of W.E.D. Ross is better than usual, without the over-use of exclamation points and cliff-hanger chapter endings. But I'm getting a bit fed up with gothics that depict the heroine blithely stealing the boyfriend from her only significant female friend, and the feelings of the other woman barely get a mention.

Apart from that, you get everything that the genre would typically promise, except this one is not very exciting, and has a very weak climax that jumps from impending death, to "suddenly waking up on a sofa because rescued". I felt a bit cheated.

[Mark H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not read any Marilyn Ross for a few decades, but this wasn’t impressive at all. The main characters seemed to be carried over from the Dark Shadows books. The central mystery set up in the first chapter doesn’t really get investigated until the last chapter. There are several more novels in the Fog Island series, but while the titles are enticing, I suspect that the stories aren’t!