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The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael
Paulette Kennedy
Lake Union Publishing
Published March 10, 2026
250 Pages
I was captivated by the mood of this novel. If you look up the word gothic in the dictionary, you will find this book as the definition. Ms. Kennedy provides a setting that is detailed and lush and makes the reader nervous from the very beginning. I can say this because it happens at the very start, so it is not giving anything away that the reader will not find out in the first five minutes, but there is no opening quite as unsettling as someone being buried alive. I was not sure initially if the protagonist was buried alive or if she was a ghost. This matter was settled relatively soon.
I was enthralled with Lillian and her survival by her wits as everyone believed she was dead (with good reason). Lillian was remarkably resourceful. I loved Lillian’s character. Then, there is the introduction of Kate, a woman who acts as a woman or a man, depending. The reader should be forewarned that there are spicy sapphic scenes between Lillian and Kate, which did not offend me in the least but which I thought detracted from the story because it shifted the focus. In general, I found Kate to be thoroughly unlikeable, which I suppose was the point but which bothered me for some reason. It seemed that she was not nuanced and thus a bit flat. I did love the vampire part of the plot, and will keep it at that, for readers to explore.
The gothic mood was kept throughout and given Ms. Kennedy’s earlier books that I have read, this is a talent of hers. Were it not for the last third of the book, I probably would have found it to be perfect. While the resolution of the mystery did keep me guessing, I felt like it was rushed. Things suddenly happened toward the end that should have been foreshadowed earlier. The events and turns of characters picked up too much pace. Very rarely do I think that a book should have been longer but this is one of those situations. It seemed as if Ms. Kennedy grew tired of the story and blurted out the resolution to the reader. I think that the ending would have made more sense if she had taken more time. Nonetheless, considering that I am not always a fan of gothic novels, this was a superb one for the first two thirds of it, with the protagonist being someone that I would be fascinated to have a cup of coffee with.
Thanks to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with advanced copies of this book. All of the opinions herein are my own.
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