I'm a bit disappointed, not about the story itself but because of high praises in several reviews, talking about unexpected developments and surprising plot twists. Maybe I'm becoming a bit blasé about scary findings in cellars, having seen too many Horror and Thriller movies. In other words, I was simply expecting too much. My score 6/10 is due to several unclarities, for example in suggested links between father and son, e.g. Common heart problems. This seemed completely unnecessary for the plot, but many reviews talk about it, so I'm left wondering what I missed.
Storytelling wise, I'm at a loss about a suggested connection between Ellias' heart problems, something he seemed to share with his father, and what he discovered in the cellar of his father's house that he inherited without asking for it. He himself showed obvious physical problems dealing with the (indeed) unexpected, in itself more than enough to digest by anyone healthy. (SPOILER ALERT: He found a woman in a concealed part of the cellar, held there in captivity.) After the initial shock, his first reaction was very correct and a very sensible thing to do: calling 911. He disconnected at once when a voice responded. As a service, 911 called back to ask what was going on and why he prematurely disconnected (maybe he could not speak freely??). Alas, he denied having a problem and hung up. After that, he started a series of actions, with the best intentions but mostly ill-advised and potentially risky (in spite of the helmet he did put on his head before entering). It all went nowhere, making things more than worse. And eventually the situation became irreparable.
What I'm still not certain of was whether the woman in the cellar was the missing daughter of his father's friend. If that really was the case, this is indeed an unexpected (and very tragic) plot twist. It may explain the continuous sobbing by Ellias during the funeral service, which could not have been caused by grief, as he did not see this father in 20 years, so no real family bonding to speak of. The friend of his father held a speech about how thankful he was for our Ellias' father support after his daughter went missing, and I assume Ellias realized that his former actions in the cellar, prevented a nice solution for the problems his father's friend had, knowing the woman was now buried and was never to be returned alive. However, all this is a reconstruction after the fact, on the lookout for what I think I missed in the story (did I not pay enough attention?? Or was the story telling too obscure??).
Many of the problematic actions by Ellias, no matter how illogical, were a direct consequence of the very confined time frame he had: flying to Canada, reading the will, preparing the funeral, and clearing out the house he inherited. He gave all inventory to a charity who picked It up the same day, in order to put the house on the market and allowing him to return home and to his company. It all caused still more pressure on him, because he did not want them to discover the secrets he found in the cellar. While dealing with all that, he had to also pay attention to the publications around his recent fashion show. In short, no time to breathe and no time to contemplate about doing the right thing. The probably well-meant contact attempts of the woman living next door as well as his father's friend, were effectively only a nuisance and a distraction, creating extra pressure on his timelines.
All in all, I'm not certain I missed something important, hence the 6/10 score. The story contained several illogical and unexplained events. Still, I'm left confused due to the various high praises from reviewers.
Storytelling wise, I'm at a loss about a suggested connection between Ellias' heart problems, something he seemed to share with his father, and what he discovered in the cellar of his father's house that he inherited without asking for it. He himself showed obvious physical problems dealing with the (indeed) unexpected, in itself more than enough to digest by anyone healthy. (SPOILER ALERT: He found a woman in a concealed part of the cellar, held there in captivity.) After the initial shock, his first reaction was very correct and a very sensible thing to do: calling 911. He disconnected at once when a voice responded. As a service, 911 called back to ask what was going on and why he prematurely disconnected (maybe he could not speak freely??). Alas, he denied having a problem and hung up. After that, he started a series of actions, with the best intentions but mostly ill-advised and potentially risky (in spite of the helmet he did put on his head before entering). It all went nowhere, making things more than worse. And eventually the situation became irreparable.
What I'm still not certain of was whether the woman in the cellar was the missing daughter of his father's friend. If that really was the case, this is indeed an unexpected (and very tragic) plot twist. It may explain the continuous sobbing by Ellias during the funeral service, which could not have been caused by grief, as he did not see this father in 20 years, so no real family bonding to speak of. The friend of his father held a speech about how thankful he was for our Ellias' father support after his daughter went missing, and I assume Ellias realized that his former actions in the cellar, prevented a nice solution for the problems his father's friend had, knowing the woman was now buried and was never to be returned alive. However, all this is a reconstruction after the fact, on the lookout for what I think I missed in the story (did I not pay enough attention?? Or was the story telling too obscure??).
Many of the problematic actions by Ellias, no matter how illogical, were a direct consequence of the very confined time frame he had: flying to Canada, reading the will, preparing the funeral, and clearing out the house he inherited. He gave all inventory to a charity who picked It up the same day, in order to put the house on the market and allowing him to return home and to his company. It all caused still more pressure on him, because he did not want them to discover the secrets he found in the cellar. While dealing with all that, he had to also pay attention to the publications around his recent fashion show. In short, no time to breathe and no time to contemplate about doing the right thing. The probably well-meant contact attempts of the woman living next door as well as his father's friend, were effectively only a nuisance and a distraction, creating extra pressure on his timelines.
All in all, I'm not certain I missed something important, hence the 6/10 score. The story contained several illogical and unexplained events. Still, I'm left confused due to the various high praises from reviewers.
