HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A 17th-century woman (witch?) with her eyes and mouth sewn shut roams the town of Black Springs. With it, comes what is known as the Curse of the Black Rock Witch: From the moment you buy a house there, there's no going back. You'd be under the curse forever, as will any future kids you may have, as they would be born into the town and thus, cursed by default.
The witch whispers too. Listen to whatever she's saying, and you'll be overcome by this strong urge to kill yourself. And chances are, you will. Hence, her mouth being sewn shut (doesn't seem to stop her whispers from being heard though ).
And let's face it; even before reading the book, we'd know that somehow, somewhere, an idiot (or a 'rebel', some might argue) will at least try to get those incisions open. And so all hell will break loose.

Having said that, this book still packs a punch, with twists at every corner. In the first chapter itself, the slow burn for the foreboding that is the witch had already begun. Heuvelt makes sure that readers get the idea of how it feels to have a century-old witch, eyes and mouth sewn shut and arms and feet in chains, randomly appear throughout the town; yes, even in people's homes. Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the witch right beside you? *shudders*

The climax is full of tension, so palpable that you can feel it just by reading the words on the pages. However, there was a small detail that had been totally unpredictable (at least to me), but in a pleasant way. There are some stupidity by some people that frustrated me so much that I was cursing and gesturing wildly by myself as I was reading (and we all know that that's the marking of a really great book, to be able to invoke such a response).

Also, read the acknowledgements.
Trust me. It isn't like usual acknowledgements where an author commonly bores the reader (as acknowledgements normally just involve the author thanking whoever needs to be thanked in the process of making/publishing the book). I read the entire thing; something I've never normally do.

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