The Red Thread

by Roderick Townley

How do you avenge -- or forgive -- your own murder four hundred years after it happened? Prompted by recurrent dreams, sixteen-year-old Dana Landgrave uncovers an ancient crime that has drawn the same souls together through three lifetimes. There's nothing sinister about the girl's sunlit twenty-first-century American life in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Yet, centuries ago, terrible things were done -- by someone she knows! Could it be her easygoing, easy-to-look-at boyfriend, Chase? Or her younger brother, Ben, who has been confined to a wheelchair since a school bus accident? What about Gianna, her inscrutable enemy on the yearbook staff? Or her eccentric psychotherapist, Dr. Sprague? As Dana summons courage to reenter the past, each incarnation propels her to new discoveries -- and new suspicions -- until the threads of all three lives converge in a devastating revelation.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Supernatural, Teen

292 pages, Hardcover

First published March 6, 2007

About the author

Roderick Townley is an American author of juvenile, young adult, and adult books, including books of poetry, nonfiction, and literary criticism. He received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and was for many years a poet and fiction writer, and for a time lived in New York City and wrote for TV Guide, The Village Voice and other publications. In 2001, he began the Sylvie Cycle, a metafictional series about the spunky, fictional Princess Sylvie who lives her life in a book.

Reviews

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dana has disturbing dreams about a boy being murdered centuries in the past. Her psychologist hypnotizes her to help access memories from her previous life, and discover the origin of the nightmares. Dana begins to realize that people from her past lives are still nearby, involved in her modern-day life. Her father and mother, her little brother, her boyfriend, and even her rival at school might all be reincarnations of people she knew in her past lives... and one of them is a murderer.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of the mystery, as Dana uncovers more memories from her past lives. At first, it only comes in little bits and pieces, so we don't know much about what truly happened in the past. Then Dana begins to discover some things about the past that really scare her and reveal some disturbing truths about herself. Events that happened in the past begin to leak into her present, and the danger becomes real and immediate. The suspense was wonderful, but there are a few violent scenes that were upsetting to read. It got to the point where I didn't want to read this book at night, for fear that it would give me nightmares, because I'm a big scaredy cat.

I really liked Dana's character. She is sensitive and artistic. She has a temper, but holds everything very close inside. She spends most of the book lost in introspection, and analyzing the people around her, just the type of psychological mystery that I enjoy. The mystery hinges on the personalities of the people around her.

The writing is excellent, and it draws you into every emotional scene. This author really knows how to paint a scene with very few words, drawing attention to little details that make it feel real and full of meaning.

[Marianne Robin-Tani · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was interesting enough--a whodunit throughout time in different reincarnations-- but the writing and writing style really wasn't very good.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so different from what I usually read. It was such an interesting concept to have all of these characters tie together in the present and in the past. Plus, it was an adorable little love story all throughout the book. I really liked the main character. The ending was definitely shocking when the therapist gets taken over by his past incarnation and tries to murder her brother. I king of liked him and was sad to see him go.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This must be about the weirdest books I have ever read in my life, but I liked it. Her second life was my personal favorite to read about and was sad that there wasn't very much on it, but it really made me think about who I could have been and what I could have been like if there are such things as previous incarnations.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book had promise or at least it sounded interesting from the back flap but ended up disappointed.
Maybe it was just the writing style and how the story unfolded, it didn't flow naturally to me and things were half explained or perhaps thrown in just for dramatic thought, even the main character didn't feel well-rounded or even real. She was very flip-floppy and not overly considerate of other people, other than herself I mean.

But this is my opinion and I hope others might enjoy it where I did not.

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of the book was good, the second half, not so much. Too contrived, too unbelievable. I liked the characters, until they behaved out of character. This could have been done so well, I'm disappointed.

[Mary Fahnlander · Rating 4 out of 5]

YA book but still enjoyed it.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis:
Dana Langrave is a troubled teen who is having recurring, terrifying nightmares. Under the care of a psychologist, she is hypnotized repeatedly to reveal that she has had at least 2 past lives. Startlingly, the same souls keep popping up through these 3 lives and are out to finish some unfinished business. The question is, who’s the bad guy? Could it be Dana herself?

____________

Ok so a little disclaimer to put my 3-star review (Goodreads) in perspective because really it’s more like a 2.5 star review. I do not like “paranormalish” or “fantasyish” books. I want books that are paranormal or fantasy or books that are based in reality. Meaning, I don’t like books that get really close to things people really believe. I want a paranormal book that is something I have to stretch my mind to believe. I want a fantasy that is something my brain has to suspend my present reality to dive into. I also don’t like strictly plot driven books. I want the characters, especially the main character, to be someone I would want to sit and have a conversation with, someone I enjoy being “in the brain of.” The Red Thread gave me none of these things. That being said, you may enjoy the book immensely. This is totally my humble opinion.



Let’s start off with what I liked about the book! The plot was a sit and savor pace which can be nice after reading many “hanging on the edge of your seat” type books. I enjoyed the descriptions of places and times. The one character I absolutely adored was Chase Newcomer, Dana’s boyfriend. Dana’s dad was great but I wish he was more developed. I also really liked a fellow named Graham Dunn, a museum curator who plays a big role and then disappears frustratingly. He’s a person I would have loved to see more of. Yep, that’s about it.



Ok, so now for the stuff I didn’t like. I want to try to leave out spoilers but at the same time adequately describe why I only gave the book 2.5 stars. So, you might want to skim this if you really want to read this book. I got very confused by the narrator’s “voice.” I don’t know if I can adequately describe this. The narrator kept switching from sounding American to British to Old Worldish. I could not get a grasp on his/her voice…almost like Townley was trying too hard. The whole time I felt like I wanted to know more. More about the past lives. More about who Dana is now. More about Chase. More about her mom. More, more, more. It just didn’t feel complete. That’s one of the biggest things that bugs me about a book. I want to feel like it’s complete. The Red Thread left me wondering at the end…is that it? It had the feel of a series without the pacing or even the promise of it. I don’t like books like that. It either has to leave you feeling like it’s done or the promise that there will be more in the next book. You feel like Townley is bringing it all to a nice, neat conclusion and then he all of a sudden shifts gears in the last three sentences leaving you wondering, “What? Why did you do that?” I still, a week later, can’t decide if I even liked the book. Also, this book pushed the limits of psychology, almost equating schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder and reincarnation. Very odd. Dana keeps seeing people from her past lives in her present and you sort of expect that that’s where the fantasy stuff will come in however, it’s explained away as just part of the hypnosis and remembering the past lives. The action really gets going at the end and then suddenly…The End. I was left scratching my head going um…?



In short, not my favorite book that I’ve read lately.

[TheKBSeries · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this book i one day. i flew through it. i thought it was one of the most different plots i've ever read. WARNING!!! This book is a real page turner!! My mother even read it and thought it was good.

I found this book at Barnes and Noble one day. I was just looking at books and stumbled upon The Red Thread. It just came out within the last day or two so i caught it brand new to the world. I was so interested in that i bought it and read it. I loved it so much i emailed the author. I told him how much i loved it and I congratulated him on his publication of his book. We emailed each other for a few months then I eventually did an email interview with him. I'll have to post it somewhere. I will comment back when I've found a good home for the interview.

hope to see more from Mr. Townley. This one was phenomenal! I asked him if he was going to write anymore YA novels (cuz i told him he should)and he said that it would be a few years before he writes another YA novel. He likes it, but he has some children books he needs to write before he can think of something else for the YA audience. I thought it would be cool if he were to do a sequel to The Red Thread (if it would be possible to get another novel out of that same story. would be nice if he could! love that book so much)

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dana is having recurring dreams, dreams of someone, of something happening and she just can't shake it. But with the help of her psychotherapist, Dr. Sprague, Dana begins to unravel why she is having these dreams. They are from the past, not her childhood, but another lifetime.

I thought the book started out slow and wasn't enjoying it too much at first. However, I kept reading and it most definitely gets better the further you read. The story is quite interesting. It is about Dana, who is sixteen, and is apparently remembering one of her past lives. Reincarnation has always interested me and I like reading about it, but usually it's nonfiction books I find about it. I liked to find a fiction book and it was quite a good read. Suspenseful, intense and I just kept wanting to read to find out what happened next.

It's a good story with likable characters. I really enjoyed this, much more than I originally thought I would.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know if I would like this book when I first started reading but to my surprise I liked it quite a bit. It's not a very fast pased book but the flow of the story kept my interest. I was curious as to how the author would incorporate all the past lives into the present day story and have it all make sense but he did and in my opinion he did a good job, it worked for me. There's also a cute little love story mixed in that I really enjoyed, for those who like that sort of thing in their books. All in all I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick easy read and it is an interesting story.

[Julie, · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Horrible book. I was so excited to start it, because I thought the story was a great concept... but WOW. It was like 5 bazillion stories all tossed in my Ninja blender and thrown together at random. There was no discernible POV in any of the chapters, and the author spent a great deal of time TELLING the story instead of SHOWING. I had to flip through several useless pages at a time, because--thank you very much--I don't care how she got dressed, ate breakfast, went to the park, and AFTER all that, FINALLY got to the point where the action really started.

Needless to say... I do NOT recommend this book.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read The Red Thread in about four hours. It's such an easy, enticing read. It's so gripping, I didn't even realize that i hadn't put it down until about two hours into it. The characters were very real, the ones from the present AND the past. I did feel bad for Dana at parts, but that only means I was really into the story.

The Red Thread is a mystery, a romance, and a historical novel all mixed in one. It's a combination of nearly every book I can't put down and I was doomed from page one. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes any of those subjects.

[Sanika Bhargaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really cool. I thought it was a really interesting idea.
The main character is a sixteen-year-old girl named Dana. She keeps having these weird dreams about a little boy she thinks she knows.
She goes to a therapist to help her figure out why she's getting these dreams. And then she finds out that she has at least two past lives and she can remember them through hypnotism! She finds out that people from her current life have been in her past life too.
Basically, it's a mystery. It's really hard to explain but it's a really good book!

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dana Landgrave has this nightmare that she keeps having. She tells her therapist about it, and he tries hypnotizing her to figure out if she has a past life. She does. Two, actually. This book is great, relating all the people presently in her life to the people in her past lives, her boyfriend, her brother, and even her therapist, who, by the way, is an evil schizophrenic who attempts to kill her brother.

[Lncropper · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a book club. I liked the idea of it, which tells the story of mothers in China who gave up their baby daughters and those in the U.S. who received them. However, there was too much sex in it for me! In the group of adoptive members, one mother and one father (not, obviously, part of the same couple) wind up sleeping together. Honestly!

I started "The Knitting Circle" by the same author, hoping it might be better, and abandoned it after 25 pages.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd recommend this book for teens and tweens that are sophisticated enough to know (or learn) about Calvinism and the persecution of Catholic priests in the 16th century. The reincarnation plot is an interesting idea for a mystery and it has a little romance as well as the usual teen angst sub-plots. It is set in Portsmouth, NH but it doesn't tie in much with the story--which I was a little disappointed about.

[Linnae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dana's nightmares are getting worse, so she starts going to a shrink, who is convinced that they are not just dreams, but memories from a past life. Through hypnosis, she explores her past lives, while trying to make sense of her life in the present.

An interesting presentation of Eastern philosophy. I had Jason read it so I could discuss it with someone.

[Ashley dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

After i read "Reincarnation", i read this one.
I remember i was staying with my friend Hellen when i read this and she says it was weird how into the book i got.
I completely refused to put the book down and had it with me at all times.
I was sitten in taco bell eating when i finished it and already i had cried a few times from it.
It was a really good book.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

so i couldn't procrastinate any longer...finally sat down and read this book in one day...wow, was it a good one! a murder mystery that unfolds over three different generations, it is set in 1500 and 1700's London as well as modern day Portsmouth...three great stories that are woven together beautifully!

[Ms. Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sixteen-year-old Dana Landgrave has a recurring nightmare. Her therapist uses hypnosis to help her, and thinks that it may be related to a past life. Lots of connections are revealed between her current and past life, including who her boyfriend was, her brother, and her therapist. A pageturner that will appeal to both girls and boys.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dana suffers from insomnia, claustrophobia, and dreams of a young boy buried behind an altar. It is getting worse, and only sessions with Dr. Sprague give her hope. Dr. Sprague tries past life regression on her, revealing two past lives, a painter Hannah, trapped by her uncle, forbidden to marry the man she loves, and a Flemish tapestry artist, but is Dana also a murderer?

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice paranormal mystery for teens with a NH connection.

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mystery about a girl who discovers that her nightmares aren't just dreams, but memories of her past lives. It was suspenseful and kept me guessing.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this more than I expected to. Interesting YA book suspensefully told. Great to have the Portsmouth seetting!

[Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyable. teen's first novel about past life regression. not very encuraging about mental health problems.

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had an interusting plot but is deffinently not my favorite

[T.M. Carper]

Suspenseful and full of twists. It's a mix of a historical read with a modern day mystery and is aimed at teens. A very quick read despite being 200+ pages.

[Monique · Rating 1 out of 5]

Man, a lot of people liked this one, but I could not figure out how it all went together! It felt so disjointed, random, and hectic. It seemed like three different stories thrown in a blender.

[Emily Dusicska · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it interesting to learn of her past lives and how it's similar to her current one. It made me wonder if I had any past lives...