The Guardian Stones

by Eric Reed

1941 Britain: Children are vanishing from the village. Is it the powers of an ancient stone circle at work, or a modern predator? In mid-1941, children evacuated to the remote Shropshire village of Noddweir to escape the Blitz begin to vanish. It was not uncommon for city children faced with rural rigors to run away. But when retired American professor Edwin Carpenter, pursuing his study of standing stones, visits the village and discovers bloody clothing in the forest, it is clear there is a more sinister explanation. The village constable is away on military duty so the investigation falls to his daughter Grace. Some villagers see the hand of German infiltrators bent on terror. The superstitious, mindful of the prehistoric stone circle gazing down on Noddweir, are convinced malevolent supernatural powers are at work. And Edwin, determined to help Grace find whatever predator is in play, runs into widespread resentment over America's refusal to enter the war. This atmospheric mystery will appeal to readers of Rennie Airth, Maureen Jennings, and both Ann Cleeves and Ann Granger.

Genres: Mystery, British Literature, Historical

260 pages, Hardcover

First published January 5, 2016

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

www.melissa413readsalot.blogspot.com

I really thought I would like this book from the blurb, but I couldn't get into it myself, but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that will like it so you decide for yourself.

*MILD SPOILERS IF THAT*

The book is happening during 1941 and the people of the little village area of Shropeshire are worried about Hitler finding them and bombing them every day. At night they keep the lights to a minimum.

Then you have this retired professor from American just moseying on over to study these stones called The Guardian Stones. Now I don't know about you, but if Hitler was still around causing trouble, I sure as hell wouldn't be going over to look at some stones, but I digress.

The town has taken in some children from town hoping they can keep them safe, but most of those kids are evil little jerks! I won't tell you all the stuff they did, you will have to read that for yourself, but you will want to lock them up in some kind of boot camp.

The whole time Edwin (the professor) is there they are looking for a missing child named Issy. They think she may have just ran off to live in the cities when they can't find her. Then other kids start going missing. Something is just weird in this town and some of it's people. There are also weird stories about the stones.

I mean can all the kids be traipsing off to the city or can they?

I definitely wasn't expecting that ending. It was crazy and totally turns things around in the story.

I did like some of the characters in the book, the professor (Edwin), Grace, who's home he stayed in while he was there and Jack the blacksmith. These were all strong characters in the book.

I really wished I could have liked the book more.

*I would like to thank NETGALLEY and POISONED PEN PRESS for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book for my honest review.**

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

GUARDIAN STONES, Eric Reed, 2016. #1 Grace Baxter, WW2, rural Shropshire England, 1941. A tiny village, "odd" inhabitants, much darkness and sadness, mixed with a stalwart young woman and a tired and damaged Visiting Academic. Unsettled times and places indeed, especially so once the children begin to vanish... Interesting setting and characters, and a good plot, but a somewhat sketchy execution at times. Entertaining, but I had hoped for a bit more substance: 3-and-one-half out of five stars.

It's a society falling to pieces, falling into darkness, hurting all that come within reach, a truly diabolical - and unsettling - story; a darkly atmospheric thriller set at a time when all the world (at least in Europe) seemed to be falling -literally- to pieces. And the village of Noddweir most of all. Known (mildly) in Academic Circles for its standing stones, no-one appears to have investigated them in centuries, well, not "properly", that is. So Professor Carpenter comes to the village to look them over and perhaps excavate a bit, learn the history of the village, and The Old Ways and mores of The Locals. He gets more, finds more, than he had bargained for. He meets Grace, for one thing, and she's quite a handful, as are her family and friends. With no police in or nearby the village, investigating the odd - and then deadly - happenings as they escalate, falls to Grace, daughter of the former Constable. She has a far better grip on both reality and on the local mysteries both past and present, than does the putative Law officer sent to investigate.

The pacing is fairly good, and the plotting is very good, spiraling and twisting around several mysterious themes: missing children, robberies, possible sex crimes, a fire, a murder. Another murder. Another murder, or, maybe not. A missing adult, then another. A great set-up, in fact, and the denouement was sharply drawn and extremely dark. However:

There were many small things that distracted me from the flow of the story, particularly the use of very short chapters, each with a "thrilling hook!" meant to pull the reader on to the next bit. And the use of italics as a change in viewpoint for A Mysterious Observer was incredibly annoying as well. The short short chapters mixed with the multiple abrupt changes in viewpoint were terribly distracting, and never allowed me to actually "get into" the story. Unfortunately, those sorts of techniques are far overused in general these days, and remain "Pet Peeves" of mine. They broke any chance at a reading "flow" and didn't allow the developement of deeper emotional connections with Grace or the Professor, although the characterizations were generally good. I enjoyed the slight bits of personality shown, but they felt like chess pieces, not people in trouble.

This plot was strong, and *should* have been absolutely terrifying - all the right bits for that were present, but the ending was rushed, and not enough attention paid to what really matters most in this kind of psychlogical-based thriller story: we needed to fear for, hope for, Grace and/or Edwin, but all we were given were tiny glimpses into their selves; so many people died or went missing that it seemed as though Grace and/or Edwin would be next, and that this would have been just another chess piece so as to move The Plot along!

And there was, alas, yet another Pet Peeve of mine: The Big Twist was slyly and well-hinted at throughout the novel, but we were never led to believe that it actually *was* a possibility. It's potentially an enormously emotional and evocative ending and concept that ought to have ripped my guts out; when it actually arrived it was with a big "Ta-Da!!!" and only seemed thin, not truly horrifying. The revulsion and horror I ought to have felt at the denouement, the sadness and hurt I ought to have felt for the villagers that I had rather liked at times, seemed to have faded into pastel. This ought to have had a Technicolor strength of feeling.

BUT. Mary Reed and Eric Meyer ("Eric Reed") are superb writers, justly renowned for their many wonderful books. So perhaps I am grading too hard? It's true: I had *expected* something superb in this first-in-series, and what I read was good entertainment; that disappointed me rather. Yet, Grace Baxter is an intriguing character; I liked her. This series has many places it might go, many stones it might look under (sorry, couldn't help it), much darkness and upheaval in a world and at a time when nothing - and no-one - seemed secure. That holds promise.

[NOTE: not for the squeamish, a goodly amount of blood'n'guts, plus there are children and vulnerable elders in much fully described danger and then there's the particularly harrowing bits about a dog...]

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you, NETGALLEY and POISONED PEN PRESS, for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.25 stars.

Children are disappearing from a rural English village during WWII. Did they run away or is someone or something more sinister afoot? Are the mysterious stone monoliths known as "The Guardians" in some way responsible for these disappearances? Readers will be entertained by local lore and superstitions contributing to the deepening mystery.

It was a joy to explore the personalities of the villagers of Noddweir. Readers will meet the visiting professor, the shopkeeper, the local witch wise woman, the drunken blacksmith, the village bully/bobby, the wheezy vicar, volatile couples, rowdy children, the schoolmarm, and the peddler of black market contraband. Each character is painted with sufficient detail to provide an essence of the person without a lot of the backstory that tends to bore or overwhelm readers.

I'll keep an eye out for the final publication and future works by this debut author. There's talent here, particularly in character development and the escalation of conflict.

[Fictionophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel speaks to the irrationality of folklore, the social aspects of war, the effect environment has on people, and the universality of loss.

I enjoyed the setting, the time period, and the initial premise of the novel. I was disappointed in the novel's ending and I never really connected with the characters. I found the pace slower than I would like.

The novel could do with additional editing. Missing words in several instances interrupted the flow of the narrative for me. I read a digital advance reader's copy so I'm hoping that this didn't carry over to the finished book.

I would like to thank NETGALLEY and POISONED PEN PRESS for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
My rating: 2.5 stars

For my complete review of "The Guardian Stones" visit my blog: Fictionophile

[Mary Jensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really isn't a mystery, just a cover up for one of those icky black magic in the village type stories.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In mid-1941, children evacuated to the remote Shropshire village of Noddweir to escape the Blitz began to vanish. It was not uncommon for city children faced with rural rigors to run away. But when retired American professor Edwin Carpenter, pursuing his study of standing stones, visits the village and discovers bloody clothing in the forest, it is clear there is a more sinister explanation.

"The village constable is away on military duty so the investigation falls to his daughter Grace. Some villagers see the hand of German infiltrators bent on terror. The superstitious, mindful of the prehistoric stone circle gazing down on Noddweir, are convinced malevolent supernatural powers are at work. And Edwin, determined to help Grace find whatever predator is in play, runs into widespread resentment over America's refusal to enter the war.
~~back cover

I liked it and I didn't. I always like mysteries set in English villages, and preferably no later than 1955. I didn't like the supernatural bits, which of course turned out to be quite human. So this book was a mixed bag, but very well written, well plotted, and very well characterized.

[Ann Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed THE GUARDIAN STONES... It was exactly what I needed to read and "fall into" when I picked it up. The plot was twisty (I didn't guess "who done it" until close to the end), I liked the characters (and was *very* appreciative* of the "Cast of Characters" listed in the front of the book, and found the historical setting intriguing--a small village in Britain, at the start of WWII.
All in all, a very pleasant read, and I plan to pick up the next book in the series, RUINED STONES.

[Judy Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The English village of Noddweir has done its part, even if reluctantly, in accepting children from the big cities suffering through the blitz of German airplanes in the summer of 1941. These children do not always settle easily into the fabric of a small isolated village, so different from their city homes. The problems begin with mischief which the residents of the village lay firmly at the feet of the mischievous children who have been billeted in the village. Unfortunately, a local young girl disappears, then non-resident children begin to go missing. Have they run away or has something more sinister happened? When the pranks escalate to real damage and danger the villagers have no idea what could be happening in their isolated community overlooked by the mysterious Guardian Stones on the hilltop.

This novel is categorized by the publisher as British, historical, mystical mystery. I would like to add horror to that list. The tension in this story builds ever so slowly so that you get the full impact of the local superstitions as well as the privations of daily living in England in June of 1941. Small rural villages might not have been quite as hard hit by the food shortages and rationing because they had more opportunity to grow their own food, but life was still harsh and people were extremely wary of any stranger suddenly appearing in their midst. The main character in this novel is a recently widowed retired professor from the United States who has come to study the Guardian Stones. The official police officer of the village has gone to fight in the war and his replacement is definitely in need of instruction in how to investigate any kind of case, never mind something as serious as the cases which confront him here. There is a lot of unease built into this novel and you are definitely not going to be reading a standard mystery. There is nothing standard about this at all. This is the first novel featuring this character and I can't find any information that indicates it will become a series. Probably best as a stand-alone anyway.

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Eric Reed's' The Guardian Stones was not what I expected from Poisoned Pen Press, a publisher I associate with standard mystery series centered on a single detective. In The Guardian Stones, the "detectives," if I can call them that, are Edwin Carpenter, an American professor who has inexplicably decided to go to England in the middle of World War II to investigate the titular stones (think Stonehenge on a much smaller scale), and Grace, a resident of the village those stones "guard." A series of disappearances and other crimes has followed the arrival of several children who have been evacuated from Birmingham to the village as part of Operation Pied Piper, which was intended to protect England's urban children from bombing attacks, an ironic decision given the book's ending.

I found the clashing interactions between the street-tough children and their resentful (though mostly well-intentioned) hosts to be one of the most emotionally engaging aspects of the book. I also enjoyed the way in which Reed teases the reader with a variety of possible solutions to the crime wave, including a supernatural explanation, before the final reveal, which I thought was excellent. What brought The Guardian Stones down from 4 to 3.5 stars was its slow beginning, which might well have discouraged a less determined reader. I'm glad my persistence paid off in the end.

I received a free copy of The Guardian Stones through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery-cum-horror novel set in World War II England, in a small country village near Wales. A retired American professor, Edwin, with an interest in folklore arrives in the village to study standing stones and barrows which are nearby. He takes a room at the house of Grace Baxter, whose grandmother is a follower of the Old Religion and a "wise woman". Since it's wartime, children have been evacuated from cities and now live in villagers' homes. First there's the disappearance of the young daughter of the blacksmith, then other children, mostly the evacuees go missing. Bizarre murders of adults take place. Edwin and Grace become "detectives" and work together to solve these puzzles; practically everyone in the village is suspected at one time or another. The novel ended on a shocking note!

The author showed great originality and creativity in the deft crafting of his story. I was on tenterhooks. 3.5/5 raised to 4.

[Lynn Mccarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the English village of Noddweir they take children into there community from the big cities in the blitz.
A young local girl goes missing then children that are not local goes missing as well.The children that have been sent there are blamed for all the mysterious things that start to happen, have the children that are missing run away or something else happened to them?
The village is overlooked by the Guardian stones on the hilltop and the recently widowed professor has come to study them.
A good novel.

Thank you Netgalley the author and publisher for a chance to read this book.

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found myself enjoying this book much more than I had anticipated. Always a fan of historical fiction the setting in 1941 England promised much, but the aspect of horror attached to the story is fascinating. As children from bomb-threatened cities arrive in the village of Noddweir for their own safety, the disappearance of the village children rouses the superstitions of the villagers. Recommended.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the type of mystery I usually read, otherwise I might rank it higher. Very dark. Two drawbacks for me were the death of the dog, and the fact that the ages of most of the characters were unclear, which makes it hard for me to relate to it. Otherwise well-written.

Read this because I really like the authors' John the Chamberlain series.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure about this stand alone from the wonderful duo Eric Mayer and Mary Reed.

Lots of mysterious things are happening, and there are a lot of missing and murdered people from a very small village. It is at the end that the reality is revealed, and I was a bit disappointed.

I will continue to read their series however.

I borrowed a copy of this from the public library.

[John Sargent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much of a mystery. Overall, interesting but still not my cup of tea.

[Cyn McDonald · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bleak and depressing.

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A village mystery set in the England of the blitz and child evacuees flags when the plotting blends crime and primordial evil .

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring. Read the last 2 chapters save some time