Last night Rebekah tried to murder me again.' So begins Gabriele’s haunting reimagining of Daphne Du Maurier’s original thriller, Rebecca (1938). In this version, an orphaned young woman begins a passionate affair with Max Winter, a widowed, wealthy New York politician. After a whirlwind romance, Max proposes marriage and invites her to move to his Long Island mansion, Asherley. She agrees and is thrust from a life of servitude into a world of wealth, glamour, and loneliness, as Max is often away, leaving her to roam the halls of Asherley and obsess over his first wife, the beautiful, tragic Rebekah ... This retelling, updated with Instagram stalking and magazine photo shoots, retains the allure and gothic tone of the original, while remaining a page-turner for newcomers to the story.
When the narrator first meets millionaire New York State senator Max Winter...and although old enough to be the narrator's father...the two are launched almost instantly into a smokin' hot affair that soon enough leads to a diamond ring and a return to Asherley. There, she must contend with the specter of Rebekah, the woman who nabbed Max the first time around and who has left behind her unbelievably bitchy and precocious daughter. Dani texts her father as soon as she gets word of the new relationship: if you bring ur fucking fling home daddy ill kill myself. Just wait till you get a load of the kid's 31,000 follower Instagram account. A harmless parlor game of a book but a little lacking in the skin-crawling suspense department.
The Winters plays off of Rebecca, but with a darker twist. While Daphne du Maurier’s novel was plenty spooky, Lisa Gabriele’s reimagining takes spooky to a whole new level. If you’re a true thriller fan, you’ll want to spend this Halloween month checking out what’s happening with the Winters at Asherley.
When Max Winter, a New York state senator, comes into the life of the insecure 26-year-old unnamed narrator of this creepy, atmospheric homage to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca from Gabriele, she’s working at a boat charter in the Caymans. After only a month, they’re engaged and heading off to Asherley, Max’s secluded Long Island estate, where his 15-year-old daughter, Dani, awaits ... Faced with Max’s frequent absences, the narrator feels alienated at Asherley, which seems to be infused with the very essence of its former mistress, yet she seems to be making progress with Dani ... Gabriele keeps the tension high up to the surprising and satisfying final twist. Du Maurier fans will be pleased.
