Folly

Folly by Laurie R King
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Bantam (May 28, 2002)
ISBN-10: 0553381512

Amazon.com Review

"The thing about madness was, it just took so damn much energy, and it was so thoroughly tedious in the meantime." Master woodworker Rae Newborn knows madness intimately, with every bone, every pore, every particle of her being. At 52, with three suicide attempts, extended hospitalizations, the death of her husband and daughter, and a vicious attack behind her, Rae has come to Folly Island, far out in the Straits of Juan de Fuca, to rebuild her life by building a house:

She would pull herself together, she would go and rebuild Desmond's house, she would lift his walls and dwell within them quietly all the rest of her days. Everything that House was lay there waiting for her to take it up: House as shelter, House as permanence, House as a continuation and a legacy, comfort and challenge, safety and beauty, symbol and reality joined as one.

Bequeathed to Rae by Desmond Newborn, a great-uncle she never met, Folly Island is lovely indeed. But when Rae discovers Desmond's journal in the 70-year-old ruins of his house, she learns that Desmond had his own internal horrors to confront on the island. As she labors in solitude, her prickly nature deterring all but the most determined of her would-be neighbors, it's not just her well-being that's at stake. Rae must prove herself sane if she is to have any contact with her beloved granddaughter Petra. So when the "skin-crawling feeling of being watched" doesn't fade, she does her best to ignore it. But does paranoia have its roots in reality? And is Rae doomed to repeat her ancestor's tragic end?
So effectively does King weave together past and present--the shrouded history of Desmond's life and death on Folly, and the tense, dusty, exhilaratingly panicky account of Rae's wrestling with old demons and new timber--that the future seems less important than the author might have wished. In other words, the eventual unmasking of Rae's watcher pales in comparison to the gradual revelation of Rae herself within King's haunted and haunting narrative. But with such a strong character and such moodily lovely prose, readers shouldn't miss the denouement-driven trappings of standard suspense. --Kelly Flynn
This is an older book that Laurie R King wrote as a stand alone book, and I have to say... I am really glad I found it!  I could hardly put the book down. I wanted to know more and more and what was going to happen next to the main protagonist Rae.  And, Oh! ..shocker of all shockers, the main protagonist was in her 50's!!! That's darn near unheard of! 
Well, of course I don't expect the lead characters to be older if I am reading a YA book, but still, to find middle aged or older lead characters is really rare.  And I loved that Laurie R King made this woman, who was suffering from deep depressions and had even tried to commit suicide multiple times, a person who was stronger than  she gave herself credit for!
The story goes from Rae and her very serious depressions to a mystery about what happened to Desmond  Newborn.   You get two mysteries for the price of one.
Laurie R King has a great perception of how fast or slow to unravel mysteries.  A good part of it you know before Rae knows (obvious).  But only  part of it... not all of it. It has some unexpected twists and conclusions before the book is over.
I've needed a book that grabs me for a while now, so this book was a surprise and pure pleasure.  If anyone had told me I'd enjoy a book about a woman who suffers from depression I'd have said they were nuts.  I tried this book purely because it was written by Laurie R King who's Mary Russell/ Sherlock Holmes books I enjoyed before.  This is the second stand alone book of hers that I've enjoyed so much ..the first was Touchstone.
So if you like any of her other books and missed this one.. pick it up, you won't be disappointed.