Must admit that I approached this book knowing nothing about it, although the book comes with a high degree of provenance, as author Hays has a background of working in real museums and with art. It certainly shows in the elements that infuse this book. This is an author who gives the impression that her characters know what they’re talking about, whether it be Tarot cards or Renaissance artifacts.

The setting is wonderful. The Cloisters – whether real or not, I didn’t know – gave a real feeling of a safe haven in the middle of New York City in the Summer. The book begins in July and ends in September with all of the sweltering conditions and noise that this busy metropolis seems to offer. By contrast, The Cloisters are quiet, serene, and filled with quiet alcoves and shady retreats that must be a balm for anyone uncomfortable with the climate or the noise.

It is certainly something that our main character, Ann Stillwell seems to appreciate. Coming from the remote backwater of Walla Walla, she soon revels in the wealth of material and the atmosphere therein. Hays tells this story from her perspective, a person in need of escape from her troubled family background, who is desperately keen to make a new and fresh start in New York, working in an area of expertise that she loves. Ann is someone who doesn’t makes friends easily, nor does she usually make much of an impression. In fact, at the beginning of the story she is on the verge of being told that, despite expectations, there is not a Summer position for her at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Luckily for her she is taken under the wing of Patrick Roland, the curator of The Cloisters, although the reasons for this are initially unclear. Ann leaps at the chance to work at The Cloisters for not only is it a job opportunity, albeit just for the Summer, but also that The Cloisters is a museum quietly famous for its medieval and Renaissance collections, Ann’s area of expertise.

At the Cloisters Ann meets the outwardly confident Rachel, who seems to be the opposite of Ann in most things – personality, status and wealth. Working together, Ann finds herself desperate for Rachael’s attention but also to emulate her wealthy lifestyle. We come to realise that this means that the story then becomes not just a story of “What Ann did next”, but also a story about ambition, social climbing and power games, especially when Ann realises how the other people around her interact. It seems that Patrick and Rachel have a thing going – or have had in the past – but also Ann finds herself attracted to Leo, the Cloister’s full-time gardener, responsible for producing ancient herbs, plants and poisons at the Cloisters.

The plot thickens when Ann discovers a deck of 15th century Tarot cards that seem to suggest that during the Renaissance Tarot divination was much more important than has previously been proved. Like others around her she begins to question their power – can the cards define her own future? Are they steering events towards something that is not happenstance but ordained? Or is it just coincidence?

The development of these complicated relationships and the toxic friendships that may result are much of the middle part of this novel. The last part of the book becomes a murder-mystery when a death at the Cloisters puts all of them and their complicated histories under suspicion. One of them just might be a murderer – but why? And how?

Whilst there are elements that seem to be remarkably convenient or coincidental for convenience, it must be said that these didn’t detract too much from the overall  feel of the novel. I did find plot points were left unresolved, though – this is not a story for those who like tidy endings. Most of all, at the end I was left wondering whether what was told was entirely true. The Cloisters does work on that aspect of “unreliable narrator” quite well.

The importance of the Tarot cards is also intriguing, as the reader is left to decide whether they shape our destinies, can be used to determine future actions or are simply a relic from an ancient age. It is perhaps this occult aspect of the story that genre readers may appreciate most, although in the end it is less important than it may at first appear to be. Like a lot of things in this novel, things are rarely what they seem to be.

This also applies to the characters.  I think it would be fair to say that I can see that some readers may find them unappealing, even unpleasant, and yet at the same time they have a draw that is undeniable. As the story progresses, the point of interest seems to be whether Ann is drawn into their world or whether she is an instigator of events, something the reader is left pondering up to the end. And it is this aspect of toxic relationships that kept me reading until the end. It all felt rather Hitchcock-ian at the end, which is no bad thing in my book.

In short, The Cloisters is a modern book set in an ancient setting for a literate and informed  readership who relish moral ambiguity and complexity. It reads very well and kept me guessing to the end.  The Cloisters lures you in, with its talk of books, ancient artifacts and shady nooks and keeps you reading until you can’t put it down. Not my usual kind of reading perhaps, but I’m glad I did. This is what Peng Shepherd’s The Cartographers should have been like, but sadly wasn’t.

A dark academia turns murder mystery of a read. It was the blurb for this that originally caught my attention, as it sounded very to my taste. However, I did find myself skimming parts of it and I put it down more than once just to come up for air.
Elements of the story were also very predictable; I knew what was coming a fair bit of the time. Occasionally it felt like I was receiving a lecture, rather than trying to immerse myself in a story. I did find the characters very stereo-typical, it essentially felt like a lined up “Cluedo” bored but they were still engaging enough that I finished the book.
That all said it was a perfectly fine read. Elements of it are done well, and while predictable the story was engaging enough to hold my attention.
For me it was a not terrible but also not great read.

DNF

I expected more earlier than the book gave me. The character felt a little flat and not much happened in the pages I’d read. The prologue was good but after that it flopped.

I really wanted to like this but it took too long to get to anything remotely interesting and creepy.

Well, unfortunately this one was a disappointment. I am a sucker for dark academia so this book seems the right one for me. But there is not much dark academia here and even less mystery. And it is sooo slow.

The main character, Ann, has absolutely no personality and I wonder what the illusive circle of people saw in her. Patrick, the curator of The Cloisters is researching ancient divination. That sounds interesting but unfortunately we here not much about it. It’s the same with Tarot. It seems to me that those topics are thrown in to make the blurb interesting but the story is more about toxic friendships and who is sleeping with whom. The story itself makes no sense to me and I am not sure if I understand what they were really looking for (and lost interest in finding out). The occult, art and tarot are only dealt superficially with. If you are drawn to this book because you are interested in those things, you will be disappointed.

Beside the lack of story and uninteresting characters, the book is just boring and slow. There is no mystery, no sinister atmosphere or even suspense. There is not even a surprise at the end. Honestly, this was a waste of time.

A gothic, slightly otherworldly psychological thriller.

Ann Stilwell feels a bit lost. After four years as an outsider in her undergraduate class, the only student of a professor who has never before taken on a advisee, she's struggled to find a place as a doctoral student to study medieval history. And, when her only acceptance, a low-paid summer associate position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art falls through at the last minute, she has no idea how she'll avoid returning home to the house haunted by the sudden death of her father three years before.

Out of the blue another opportunity comes along, a space has opened up at The Cloisters, an adjunct of the Met. It seems like a dream come true, but was it luck, fate or something darker that has bound Ann's future up with the small team The Cloisters.

Reading this in the strange in-between time after Christmas and before New Year may have added to the slightly ethereal quality of the story telling. Even before the secrets in the book begin to emerge it all feels a bit unreal, but in a really compelling way.

Ann has always been a bit of an outcast, and how she settles in to life in the Cloisters is very believable. When someone who has never felt that they belong is welcomed with open arms it makes that place and those people very special in their mind.

A bit of a mystery with elements of a whodunnit, actually the resolution never felt urgent, although the pace of the story pulled me along to the extent that I read this through in a day. A really interesting tale and while I'm not sure the particular blend of plotting, pacing and characters could ever be replicated, I'm intrigued to read what the author does next.

Yes, it was The Secret History reference that drew me in. The Cloisters does indeed share the brooding menace and world of niche privilege of that book but had its own unique feel too.

Ann is our fish-out-of-water lead character, who takes a summer internship in New York. Through circumstance she end up at The Cloisters, a high-brow art institution that deals in more obscure pieces. It is historical tarot cards that take centre stage in the story, alongside the shady ways people get them.

At The Cloisters, Ann is taken under the wing of Rachel and Patrick but they have other motives and Ann needs to navigate her way in this cut-throat world. Does she have what it takes?

The pace could have been a bit spikier in places but I enjoyed the overall story - the descriptions and settings were excellent.

Really enjoyed this one - an excellent book for me to finish the year on.

A short overview….Ann (our leading lady), unexpectedly starts an internship at The Cloisters, and gets involved in studying tarot cards - for both her, and her colleagues, this turns from study into an obsession..

This is an exciting and very dark story about obsession, friendship, with a tiny bit of romance added in. I never expected this to go where it did, it surprised me a number of times. It is deliciously dark, and a truly excellent read!

My thanks to Netgalley. My review is based on an advance copy that I received from the publisher.

There is less about the tarot cards and more of a chick flick creeping to a murder solving cases. I feel the writing for this book is a bit rushed. There were loads of gaps in the story that needed to be filled in more detail. Honestly, this book had the potential to be more gothic and dark, with the tarot cards. I hope in the future the author will carry on with the story as this has left to be continued.

The Cloisters is a great balance of modern thriller and obscure art historical pursuit in an academic setting – right up my street. It has a strong opening: the prologue provides a glimpse of the events to come but doesn’t spoil anything. We know there’s going to be a death and police involvement but Ann’s musings on luck and fate nod to the depth of her learning too.
It’s easy to see why she might want a fresh start, away from her mother’s grief and from small-town small-campus life. I warmed to her even more when faced with the arrogance of the privileged: knowing someone is coming across the country for an internship it’s really not acceptable to wait until they’re there to let them know it’s no longer happening. Talking of privilege, clever, rich and beautiful Rachel has it in spades, and the confidence to go with it. But she can also be kind and she takes Ann under her wing.
I’ve long wanted to go to the Metropolitan Museum (and the Frick and the Guggenheim) in New York but now I know it exists, I really want to go a bit further north and visit The Cloisters. Perhaps one day Fate will take me there too.

https://lynns-books.com/2022/12/22/the-cloisters-by-katy-hays/
4 of 5 stars
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Dark Academia meets Secret History

I will say before I start this review that I really enjoyed this. It’s my kind of story tbh. Beautifully written, gothic and mysterious. A very impressive debut that took me down a book wormhole that I was often reluctant to crawl out of.

As the story begins we meet Ann, desperate to get away from her hometown since the death of her father she’s on her way to New York to start an internship at the Met. Of course, things go almost immediately wrong. The post has become redundant almost overnight but before Ann can be delivered her marching orders serendipity steps in and an alternative position is offered at the Cloisters. Ann jumps at the opportunity, not eager to return home quite so quickly, and so begins her sojourn within a mediaeval museum that practically oozes antiquity and is the perfect setting for a group of researchers passionate about their quest to uncover knowledge from the past.

I will address the elephant in the room. Yes, this undoubtedly has Secret History vibes. We have a young woman, quite out of her comfort zone, awkward and a bit gauche, taken under the wing of an ambitious professor and his trusty researcher. Ann is keen to fit in and anxious to please and the circles she now moves in pull her along into situations that are unfamiliar and heady. She is in awe of everyone and everything and soon finds herself being dragged into a race against the clock to uncover information until death comes calling. So, yes, similarities without doubt – but – I don’t see this as a problem as the story very much follows its own path and it’s so atmospheric and beautifully written that I was simply entranced.

The characters. We have Ann. Socially awkward and taken under the wing of the beautiful, enigmatic and exquisitely rich Rachel. The two are both remarkably intelligent and driven and although Rachel has taken Ann under her wing there’s an underlying tension of rivalry that always seems to be first and foremost. You’re never quite sure if Rachel is simply keeping Ann close in order to observe her more easily. Rachel is something of an ‘it’ girl. She has a rather dark history. Her parents died in a boating accident leaving her a fortune. She’s very driven with an almost casual confidence that drips with entitlement. The way she is written puts me in mind of something I’d expect from DuMaurier and in fact the story gave off that strange gothic mystery vibe that she was so good at nailing.

The setting is wonderfully drawn and easy to imagine. Hays, almost casually pulls you into her different settings with remarkable ease. The hush hush of the wood panelled Cloisters, the stacks and the mediaeval garden packed with dangerous specimens. We take a trip to one of Rachel’s countryside abodes and then on the alternative side we mix and mingle with Ann’s love interest. The broody gardener from the cloisters.

The plot revolves around the search for an old pack of tarot cards and basically boils down to ambition and rivalry, the desire to be the first to uncover something new and exciting but mixed in with that are a few additional red herrings that help to muddy the waters, particularly after one of the characters is found dead under suspicious circumstances. I don’t want to give anything further away because there are a couple of twists involved as the story unfolds.

In terms of criticisms. I don’t really have any as such although I felt that some of the reveals were rushed over a little bit, I felt like I wanted a little more time to really reflect, that moment when you cast your mind back and realise that those odd feelings of uncertainty or curiosity that you were sometimes niggled by were in fact leading to something after all. As it is it felt like the ending was delivered a little like a bombshell, although it did have the effect of bowling me over – so there is that.

All told, I loved reading this and I would be very keen to pick up more books by this author.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

The blurb is interesting - a mystery set at The Cloisters, a gothic museum in New York. The book starts well as Ann Stilwell leaves her hometown to intern at MOMA but discovers there's no place for her and she ends up at The Cloisters. I enjoyed the intrigue of the world of academia, the setting, and mystery of the tarot cards being researched. But the characters felt formulaic making it hard to connect with them and they are not able to lift the book to make it a special or memorable read. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I was very quickly drawn into this novel and it’s an enjoyable read but I did find it began to taper off for me before the end. It’s a little bit too concerned with foreshadowing and superstition and the plotting gets a little lazy as a result of that - by the end it had become somewhat melodramatic. It doesn’t reach the heights of The Secret History, which is surely where comparisons will be made, but on the whole it’s worth a read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Full review to come on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I found The Cloisters a bit of a mixed bag. The story centres on Ann, girl from small town who comes to NY to work at the Metropolitan Myseum of Art. She ends up working in a small out of the way place, the cloisters, with a bunch of oddballs who are researching the origin of Tarot cards and their influence in Medieval times. There’s a lot to like about the book; it’s beautifully written and there’s a haunting and atmospheric feel to it. Katy Hays captures a sense of mysticism and there’s underlying menace. Ann seems just a little too naive and I found it diff to engage with her as a character. The weird bunch she’s working with have their own secrets and again, they’re intriguing, but not totally compelling.

It’s well plotted, but lacks real surprise and the pace at times is just a little slow. I wanted a little more in terms of tension and suspense that would sit well with the introspective and claustrophobic setting. Somehow it didn’t quite hit that spot and I’m disappointed. I love the cover of the book and found much of the Tarot stuff fascinating. Based on this, I’d look for more from this author. A generous 4 because it’s so well written.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

The Cloisters was a book that I thought sounded fantastic when I read the blurb. Even though I love reading crime and mystery books set in academia, this book just wasn't as wonderful as I expected. The story and the characters really didn't captivate me, but I kept on reading to find out how it would all end and it did provide an interesting twist.

The major problem I had with the story was that it was pretty obvious, there weren't enough twists. And, I just found Ann, the main character to be a pretty boring character. Isn't it so typical? I lost count of how many books I've read when the main character is the bland one with so many colourful characters around him or her. And, as the story progresses she starts to open up. Sometimes it works great, but not when it comes to this book. No, I just didn't like Ann that much to be honest. The Cloister was a so-so book in my opinion.

I loved the premise for this book (gothic museum setting, dark academia, tarot) and the setting itself was beautifully described in detail, it created a great atmosphere for the book and actually made me want to visit the museum! Unfortunately the rest of the book fell a little flat for me, this books suffers a bit with its pacing and lack of depth which made the story drag at times. The slow burn was a little too slow. I loved the tarot aspect, but I was more interested in trying to learn more about Tarot itself rather than being invested in Ann’s story, none of the characters were particularly likable. Her weird co-dependent relationship with Rachel is intriguing at first but once again felt drawn out and unsatisfying. Ann’s final twist along with a few other in the book seemed almost unnecessary and quite predictable.

A most thoughtful and interesting story of Anne a Graduate student of Medieval history from small town America going to NY to join the Met for a summer job only to find it no long open, then by chance to be given a job with the Cloisters, a museum specialising In medieval art and architecture. Joining a small close knit of the curator and his assistant becoming involved with research into the origins of Tarot cards and their influence in Medieval society. Working in a peaceful tranquil in a restored medieval monastery surrounded by medieval artifacts and manuscripts an age away from the hassle of NY.AS she becomes more integrated with the the team she gets more and more drawn into their experiments into reading Torat cards and even partaking of hallucinatory herbs from the garden in doses made by the gardener. Soon lost in a mystic world with dangerous under currents and dangers that she some how survives.

Firstly I have to say this book has such a beautiful cover. There were lots of lovely descriptions of The Cloisters itself and the gardens.
From a young child, Ann has been interested in art and languages, encouraged by her late Father. She is assigned to working on the history of tarot cards, and when her mum sends her some of her dad's papers she discovers a link between his work and hers. But there is tension and obsessive behaviour between the researchers which culminates into tragedy. Ann comes across as rather naive and gullible especially in comparison to the scheming Rachel.
This book was not really what I was expecting but I enjoyed it nonetheless
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the advanced copy

This novel promised so much And should have been the perfect fit for me. What wasn’t there to like - dark academia ,a wonderful atmospheric museum ,family mystery and the dark forboding horror of the tarot cards. However I thought the book was overall too long and the story slow and very drawn out in places. I had worked out the twist/mystery long before the end. However I did love the description of the cloisters and the slightly menacing atmosphere of the unknown within the book.. I can’t quite put a finger on why the story just didn’t click for me although the writing was good and I wanted to finish the book – maybe all the hype and the wonderful cover led me to expect too much. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review

Oh this is a difficult one to review - so good, yet so tedious, yet then so intriguing...
A novel based on a premise of both murder mystery, dark academia and in some ways a journey of self-discovery. Perhaps too much going on, and it's execution just somewhat missing the mark.

A well-executed narrative trajectory, along with a set of lead characters who do intrigue and cause empathy along the way. The narratology of this novel works on both a level of suspense and intrigue, but also in. a quieter way that lives in the authenticity of Ann's story and experience - particularly with Rachel. Exploring the journey a disillusioned academic takes from the New York museum scene to one with prospects of a much more exciting and fascinating opportunity at the revered Cloisters. From there we follow along as not only her career, but life and perspective are shifted thanks to a developing friendship with Leo and Rachel. Initially this premise works SO well - dark, cool, charming. But the shift that initially draws us in, remains in a one-note status for the remainder of the novel; even with the key pivotal events which occur in the second half.

The promise of divination and the theme [and threat!] of the tarot, serves it's purpose as the lynchpin of mysteriousness in the plot overall, though it was at a mid-point of the novel that this began to wane and lose it's intrigue - overlong is perhaps the best way I could sum up the time spent in Ann's world. As much as the sexiness of intrigue lasts in the first instance - especially revolving around Rachel, it felt too long drawn the later I got into the novel.
If perhaps a snappier approach had been adopted between Hays' initial installation of the story's nuances, tarot-linked events and the darkness that reliance on centuries old practices offers; this novel overall would have, for me, achieved a better longevity through the whole book.