Little Eve is Catriona Ward’s terrifying second novel. The setting is a remote Scottish island–Altnaharra–where a terrible incident has taken place. Jaime McRaith stumbles upon bodies laid out ritualistically in the form of a star, near the standing stones.
The island’s occupants have always been a source of mystery; the four children attended school briefly and then disappeared. Though everyone believes that they are orphans, adopted by the kindly Uncle, they are actually adherents of a cult.
In this lyrical and profound novel, war alters and misfigures. The Uncle’s godly power causes the children to jostle for attention and love but ultimately destroys.
The novel is both a Gothic novel filled with secret hiding places and dungeons–the Wane–and also a high caliber mystery. The two protagonists, Eve and Chief Inspector Black, challenge and test each other to the bitter end.
Little Eve is a masterful dark mystery and suspense story that ask more questions than it answers.