4.5 out of 5 stars
On Amazon (universal link)
On Goodreads
How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.
In a Nutshell: Timeslip terror, Pandora's Box opened...
A most interesting and unusual book. Obsessed with seeing the place of her birth, a ghostly, derelict German military hospital near Berlin, Marion has no idea what will happen to her once she is inside, and what she will uncover, later.
I loved the timeslip element of this story, with Marion travelling back in time to the First World War, and finding herself working at the hospital as a nurse, tending to the injured men. One in particular sends shivers of repulsion through her, though she doesn't know why; I liked how Ms Osipova endowed her with vague recollections about her life before, frustrating to her. She knows something about various people, various elements of her life, but not what those 'somethings' are. In the case of this patient, we know who he is, but Marion does not.
There are other truths to uncover about her present day life, as age-old documents are unearthed and she seeks the horrifying truth about the handsome young doctor she fell in love with during her dip back into the past, before the mind virus of Nazi Germany infected so many previously sane people.
This book is gripping, masterfully atmospheric, and unpredictable throughout - I thoroughly enjoyed it.