The Maze At Windermere

I am really on the fence about The Maze At Windermere (#756) by Gregory Blake Smith.  I almost gave up reading halfway through, but I pressed on, only to find that only two of the five interlocking stories all set in Newport, Rhode Island throughout the centuries, were resolved.

Windermere here is a Gilded Age cottage, and it does, in fact, have a maze planted by the original owners, based on the one in Hampton Court, England.  Since three of the stories here - the first about a Quaker girl in the time of the Salem Witchcraft trials, the second about a mentally disturbed British officer (not a gentleman, despite his claim to be!), and the third about the future novelist Henry James during the Civil War - take place before the maze was even planted, the reader is given to understand that the Maze of the title is metaphorical.  The remaining two tales concern the hunt for an heiress during the time of the Robber Barons by a debonair man-about-town, and a fading tennis star in the not-distant-past who falls into a couple of casual summer affairs with consequences.

Each of these plots are interwoven, going backwards in time in the same sequence until the very last section of the novel, when snippets are thrown at the reader in seemingly random order.  The action is revealed bit by teasing bit, but there are references to the other on-going stories sprinkled throughout the narrative - repetitive names, locations and themes, that appear to connect them, but, in fact, do not.  They seem just to be the blind turnings of the eponymous Maze.  The theme that does tie all the stories together is sexuality, although that is not at first apparent.  I suppose it's cleverly done, but I was disappointed that there didn't seem to be any there there at the end.  Can't say I recommend this one.

On the other hand, I would be remiss if I did not mention the intriguing cover art on this volume.  I found myself studying it at some length.  It wasn't until I read the credits for the cover design that I even realized that a seascape by one of my favorite artists, Martin Head, was cleverly worked into the composite images.  Definitely worth taking a look at, even if you don't peruse the contents.  Kudos to the designer!