The Mask Collectors is a murder mystery novel which spans continents and cultures. The depiction of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankaness of the story is unapologetically authentic. The plot, conceptually is interesting but I feel it falters in execution.
The story drags forever and for large swaths of the novel I had this feeling that nothing much of anything meaningful was happening. The author's writing style was a bit meandering and she tended to write long descriptions which felt like monotonous lists. The characters had the potential to have depth but I personally found them boring and 1 dimensional. The plot itself was a bit lacking and took ages to get going. The resolution was frankly a bit of a miss, it got a bit scooby doo level silly and frankly I found it unsatisfactory.
I wouldn't recommend this novel. It was too slow paced for me and not as engaging as I like my murder mystery stories to be.

This book was unusual but wasn’t what I expected from the title. It wasn’t thrilling and suspenseful but rather quite confusing. Readers should be aware that this is more of a medical story, but not a very clear one

A murder investigation becomes a dance with the devil in a breakthrough novel of illusion, conspiracy, and belief.

The alumni of an international boarding school have gathered at a campground in rural New Jersey when a scream breaks the silence of the woods. Classmates are shocked to find journalist Angie Osborne suddenly dead. The medical examiner’s report isn’t what anyone expects. Oddly, the death scene reminds anthropologist Duncan McCloud of a thovile, a Sri Lankan ritual he’s spent years studying.

When Duncan’s new employer, a pharmaceutical giant, sends him overseas under shadowy pretenses, and his wife, Dr. Grace McCloud, starts to receive anonymous warnings to doubt everyone and everything, the threads of a sweeping conspiracy begin to unravel. Risking more than their own lives, Duncan and Grace embark on a treacherous journey through occult ceremonies and their own hidden pasts to discover a secret worth killing for.

In taut, precise language, Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer’s debut novel The Mask Collectors tells a story about deception, the power of belief, and what is left unspoken between husbands and wives.

It's not often I leave a negative review of books but I am afraid on this occasion I have to which is diappointing as I had high expectations.
I found The Mask Collectors a struggle to read, the language didn't really flow and I found the characters quite confusing. I am sorry to say I didn't finish the book.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Such mixed feelings here. I would get very interested for a while and then it would kind of spin in place and then it would get interesting again. About halfway through I still wasn't sure what kind of book this was. That's not a bad thing by itself. But I still wasn't sure if I wanted to keep reading it. I did, though, and I'm glad for it.

This is a mystery with a lot of different things going on. I wish it had been more of a supernatural story and that could be because that's what my expectations were. The mask collectors are instead the pharmaceutical company owners. The people who actually, for some reason, all went to and international school in Sri Lanka aren't much interested in collecting masks, though it is repeatedly pointed out that tourists don't get the real thing anyway. The impression is that people who take real masks are being disrespectful to the people who believe in them. I get that. It's hard not to when it is beaten into you every few pages.

In the end, I wanted to see where this would lead us. Some very excited parts never really held the suspense, but the overall payoff was...OK. It's difficult to say much more without really being a spoiler. I'd recommend reading if you want to learn about Sri Lankan culture. Or if you want to read even more about how shady the pharmaceutical industry is.

*I received an earc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I'm not saying this book was bad. I even enjoyed the writing but it just wasn't grabbing me. I do think the book will appeal to certain people though and would be interested to see what else this author does in the future.

I really struggled with this book. I wanted to put it down and not pick it up again but I forced myself to finish it. I felt like I had no idea what was going on for the first half of the book, I had a very hard time liking the characters, at the beginning they totally bored me but as I got through more of the book and the writing started to flow better I didn’t mind them as much. The title The Mask Collectors is very misleading the book doesn’t have anything to do with masks. I wanted to try and give a brief preview of the book but I honestly don’t know what to write or how to explain what the storyline is for this book.
The book did eventually pick up and things started to make a bit of sense but then I found the chapters were ending abruptly and I felt like I was missing parts of the story when the next chapter would begin in a completely different scene.
I would not recommend this book I was very disappointed at the end of it.
I received an ARC from the publisher for an honest review.

I would like to thank Little A Publishing and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this riveting book to review.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. This book is everything. It is filled with mystery, suspense, a whodunnit storyline, conspiracies, spirits & demons, belief systems.

I’m a huge fan of the suspense/thriller genre, but this book takes it to another level. I’m pretty sure I suspected each of the characters of being the murderer at least once while reading the book.

Ata class reunion for a Sri Lankan boarding school, Angie Osborne, a journalist, is found dead by her former classmates. The medical examiner rules the death to be due to natural causes, but the other alumni are suspicious. Meanwhile, Duncan McCloud, an anthropologist who was laid off from his academic job, begins working for a large pharmaceutical company called Cinasat. What is an anthropologist doing working for a drug company? Duncan’s questions about his job description are answered by deflection and vague replies. He knows it has something to with his past work studying devil dancing ceremonies (Sri Lankan exorcisms), but can’t figure out what that has to do with the drug that Cinasat is in the midst of trying to market. When other people connected to Cinasat start dying, Duncan and his wife Grace get swept up in a vortex or conspiracy, deceit, and murder.

This story is told from the alternating points of view of Duncan and Grace. It contains a surprise at every corner; I couldn’t put it down. I kept guessing what would happen next – but I was always wrong. The story contains a lot of talk about the thovil, devil dancing ceremony used to cast out demons in Sri Lanka, but the author describes it in a way that is easy for the reader to understand.

The characters’ personalities honestly weren’t largely developed and I found myself hating each of them at some point during the story. Together, however, in the context of the full story, their faults worked and the story flowed succinctly. This book would make an awesome movie. If you love a good conspiracy, I urge you to pick this up and give it a read.

The writing was not good. I don’t like to leave bad reviews, so I will just say that it was not what I expected.

Review coming soon. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I DNFed this after about 20% and I got to admit that I was lured by the cover.
I didn't enjoy the writing style. I found it quite abrupt and confusing and I found myself needing to re-read sentences.
For me that doesn't count as having a great reading experience and I also didn't care for a single character.
Not for me, but others might still enjoy this.
If you have the chance, read a chapter or two before you're buying it to make sure it's your cup of tea.

This story begins like many other thrillers/mysteries: with a murder. But then it shifts gears into a tale filled with secrets, intrigue, conspiracies, and ancient Sri Lankan traditions.

Duncan is a former anthropology professor who has been sought out by an unlikely source - a pharmaceutical company. They give him a high-paying job on their marketing team but are very hesitant to tell him what his job actually entails. All he knows for sure is that he needs the money and they’ve expressed an interest in his specialized knowledge about Sri Lankan exorcisms.

From these building blocks, the Sri Lankan-born author builds a fascinating story that isn’t afraid to alternate between quiet moments and fast-paced chapters. This isn’t your typical thriller/mystery. It involves a lot of Sri Lankan history and culture, and it also takes a more literary approach to the genre. For some, like me, this is a very good thing. For others, it may make the story feel slow or a bit off putting at first.

Yes, some of the resolution may seem far-fetched at a first glance, but is it really that hard to believe? When compared with the real world elements that are discussed in the book, it actually seems more likely that someone would try to do such a thing than not. Whether or not they’d succeed is an entirely different question.

Ultimately, this was an enjoyable ride. I did feel that some of the ending wrapped up a bit too conveniently, but that’s a minor quibble that didn’t stop me from racing through this book in three sittings.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Honestly, I think I’m being a little generous with giving this book a three-star review, considering I marked it as DNF at 24% completed.
I had such high expectations for this book specifically when I found out I had been approved for it. It sounded like something I would really enjoy! Dark, mysterious—I sort of got Mara Dyer vibes off of it in the beginning, when I began reading! It talks about how the book was researched and accurate when discussing different cultural practices that are alluded to within the plot.

What made me want to stop reading was the writing style. It may work for some people, don’t get me wrong! I just found that the author struggled to focus on one plot and jumped around a lot, which left me confused as to what the main story-line was supposed to be. I settled on murder/mystery and then it turned to some sort of business deal and then it dappled with some secrecy?? I don’t know, it left me confused, but it may work for some people! I’m sure all of it was supposed to tie together, but I just ended up losing patience with it.
As for the characters, I had a hard time connecting with any of them. None of them seemed unique, none of them seemed interesting enough to leave an impression on me, they all seemed kind of bland to be completely honest.

Like I said, it had a lot of potential! I just wound up losing patience. Too little time to spend on books you’re not totally invested in!

The Mask Collectors was a mixed bag for me. On the plus side, the story held my interest and I enjoyed the incorporation of Sri Lankan folk belief, about which I knew nothing prior to starting this book. The pacing, on the whole, was good, and although I guessed some things, a few reveals took me by surprise. On the downside, I would have liked to have seen the folk rituals incorporated more. From the title and blurb, I had expected them to be the main focus, whereas they are really only a side element. There were also some things that felt a little contrived and convenient as the plot progressed. So this was a 3.5 star read for me. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't rave about it. If you like mysteries with folkloric overtones, give it a try.

DNF 10%

I usually try to read more than 10% before abandoning a book but in this case I struggled to read the very first few pages, and I know that my opinion of the book won't improve further along the way so I am calling it quits.
I love the cover, the title, and the summary is intriguing enough. My 'issue' is the writing style. What should have straightforward scenes or observations seemed to be written by Yoda. The opening chapter is needlessly confounding almost as is the author equates lack of clarity with a suspenseful atmosphere.
I doubt that the writing style will drastically change so I am doing myself a favour by putting this book on the side.