Review with spoiler alert: The Cloisters by Katy Hays

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

Timy reviews The Cloisters, a standalone mystery/thriller novel by Katy Hays.

About the Book
Series:standalone
Genre:Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher:Random House UK / Transworld Digital / Bantam Press
Date of Publishing:November 1, 2022
Trigger Warnings:death, drug use
Page count:320

Possible fit for The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge 2024 prompts:

Joker prompt that goes with anything: Now We Are Free

Anywhere Away From HereKiss My Ass
HandwrittenYou Are My Home
PsychoSummer Jam
AddictedNew Song
The MysticSay It
Queen of KingsThe Legend of Mother Swan
Accidentally in LoveThrough Glass
White FlagRoad to Joy
Sob StoryGive That Wolf a Banana
Always HalloweenKill Your Conscience
TherapyGhosts & Monsters
Low LifeChasing Stars
Book Blurb
The Cloisters by Katy Hays

The Secret History meets Ninth House in this sinister, atmospheric novel following a circle of researchers as they uncover a mysterious deck of tarot cards and shocking secrets in New York’s famed Met Cloisters.

When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination.

Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs.

A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Song of the Book
Review

Hoo boy, where to start? First off, I need to give you a warning here. This review is going to be spoilery. If you haven’t read the book but consider doing it one day, maybe don’t read any further.

The Cloisters, Katy Hays debut novel first came to my attention back in 2022. I requested it on NetGalley, but I was declined. Rude, I know. But I still was interested enough to keep it in my mind – or at least on my shortlisted TBR. And since I had a spare Audible credit, I decided to bump it up and read it now. I also have to mention, that I was only attracted by the blurb, and not the comps as I haven’t read either The Secret History or The Ninth House, so I have no idea how it actually compares. I sure hope not much, and that they are better than this.

It starts out well. Ann arrives in New York hoping to build a career in academia and get as far away from her small hometown as possible. But her job at the MET falls through the moment she arrives. Fortunately, the curator of The Cloisters happens to be in need of a researcher assistant, and so Ann gets whisked away to this Gothic place that specializes in medieval art within the MET. Here she meets the curator Patrick, a fellow research assistant Rachel, the gardener Leo, and the secretary (I think?) Moira – whom for some reason no one likes much, though it never was clear why. Well, maybe except the fact she is a bit of a gossip.

We get to this point pretty swiftly, and I enjoyed the descriptiveness of the writing and the whole atmosphere of The Cloisters. I was curious where the story would go and if the pace would keep up – it didn’t. I also sympathized with Ann, who lost her father about a year past and who felt trapped in her home. And then she suddenly finds herself in a place she didn’t expect to, being surrounded by people who felt superior to her. Being awkward and self-conscious are things I definitely relate to. But then, de further we got into the book, the more frustrated I got. Ann kept making decisions that didn’t seem to make sense to me, and the characters became less and less likeable.

There is Patrick, the curator, whose only role in this book is to be stressed out and increasingly demanding at work, oh and having an affair with Rachel. He also is something like a father figure to Ann, though for a while I couldn’t decide if Ann wanted to fuck him or what. Rachel, the super rich girl who gets everything she wants, and who shares some similar experiences with Ann. She lost her parents in a boat accident. She also takes Ann under her wings, although I’d rather say she literally claims her and controls her every step of the way without Ann realizing it – which is baffling, because… girl, a real friend wouldn’t order you around or would disregard your need, nor would be jealous if you want to spend time with someone else. It takes Ann to chapter 26 (out of 29) to say “oh, I think she’s been manipulating me all along with those gifts and kindnesses, and what not JUST AFTER MEETING AND KNOWING ME FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS”. No shit, Sherlock. Geez. Okay, I shouldn’t be too hard, sometimes we just want to believe people are nice like that, and sometimes they really are. But Rachel gives off a manipulative bitch vibe from the moment she appears. That’s her whole personality, and has no depth to her. And Ann is being warned about her by other people, especially a friend she’s known for years but drifted apart.

Ann blames her blindness on being “ambitious” and I swear to hell, if this is how people are in academics, then I’m glad I never chose that path. I think she mixes ambitiousness with selfishness, but that’s just my two cents. But then, she also is ready to throw anyone under the bus if that’s what she needs to get recognition from her peers and get a permanent position far from her home. At the end of the day, she is no better than Rachel. I could understand some of their choices, regarding keeping their discovery about the tarot deck they’ve been researching from Patrick, fearing they would only be a footnote next to him. But I’d like to believe there could be better options than the one that got picked.

And then there is Leo, the gardener, because there needs to be a guy the MC can lust after. Leo is supposed to be this, cool, edgy, smart guy character, but he comes off…I don’t know, a dick? Yeah, let’s go with dick. Once again, Ann does whatever this guy wants, being the one who makes all the compromises. He has nice moments tho, but I’m not sure I’d want to be a guy like that. And I never could decide if they are fuck buddies or they are having a relationship or what. Not that it matters, but Ann’s behavior sure wasn’t consistent around him.

I still could live with these characters, if at least the plot was interesting. The events cover a summer, and surprisingly not much happens. Sure, there is a death surrounded by a bit of mystery (although it’s not as mysterious as the author would like us to believe), and then there is this tarot deck that’s supposed to be the shit, but the author is way too focused on Ann and her being pulled left and right by Rachel and Leo for building that plotline up properly. We get some information here and there, but it never felt like it was all that important. Or rather, why it was so important. It could be that the info flew over my head, but still. It also could be that if I read The Cloisters BEFORE reading The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, my expectations would be much lower.

And while nothing much happens throughout the book, the last couple of chapters keep throwing revelations at you, some totally out of nowhere. I felt like everything needed a better build up overall. Nothing really worked quite as they were intended, which is a shame, because I think The Cloisters had a great foundation, it just never reached its potential.

Our Judgement
Into a Cell with Them - 2.5 Crowns

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