The Blood She Wore
A Sarah Greene Supernatural Mystery
In the chilling novel The Blood She Wore, strong women and strange spirits dominate.
In Steven Ramirez’s horror novel The Blood She Wore, a close-knit group of friends works to destroy the evil that is plaguing their small town.
Violent crimes are on the rise in Dos Santos, including the mutilation of animals and people. While Lou, the police chief, engages in earthly detective work to figure out what is happening, his friends, Sarah and Carter, suspect that something supernatural is at work. Sarah and Carter are gifted with psychic and paranormal powers, and the demonic energy that is corrupting their town has particular plans for them. By putting faith in God and trust in their friends, these protectors of Dos Santos find strength while facing the fight of their lives against an army of the dead.
Sarah and Carter are capable, selfless women who strive to understand their powers and use them for the good of their community. Their religious beliefs, especially for Sarah, play a central role in their decision making, and their thought processes often turn to prayer as they confront increasingly dangerous challenges. Their unwavering friendship, defined by being fiercely protective of each other, centers the story, even more so than Sarah’s renewed relationship with her ex-husband, Joe. While Sarah and Joe’s love for each other is made clear through their direct and romantic conversations, it is dampened by Joe’s hesitance to understand or support Sarah’s powers and responsibility to use them.
Dos Santos is filled with a large cast of supporting characters; they are difficult to track, and some mentioned characters have vague connections to the story. Sarah and Carter’s main circle of support is fleshed out and includes intriguing Alistair. Boasting powers and a dry British wit, Alistair steals his scenes, injecting levity into the dark narrative. And Lou provides the grounded police process that balances out the otherworldly aspects of the case, which are driven by the origin story of Dos Santos’s founder turned evil entity. John Dos Santos’s tale is established through flashbacks and visions; it hints to even more powerful beings, though the book’s final battle is concluded in a hasty manner.
This novel picks up where a previous one ended, and the events and implications of the previous story aren’t detailed. Faith is a recurring theme in its development: Lou is uncertain about his beliefs, Carter learns to believe in herself, and Sarah struggles with the fact that doing good in the name of God does not always stop bad things from happening. The hellish creatures that test their faith are described in an illustrative, entertaining, and frightening way, and the book’s suspenseful subplots come together thanks to surprise developments. Some concepts and characters are forgotten by the book’s end, which leaves room for continued adventures.
In the chilling novel The Blood She Wore, strong women and strange spirits dominate.
Reviewed by
Delia Stanley
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