When she was a teen in Norway, Little Brunhilde was brutally beaten by a man who had impregnated her. Since she was a servant at his fancy home, she had little chance for retribution. Except, that is, to slowly poison him to death, which she did while waiting to immigrate to America. Once she arrived with her kind sister Nellie (formerly Big Brunhilde), Little Brunhilde renamed herself Belle and hoped for a fresh new start with a wealthy Christian man. Unfortunately, he didn't live up to her standards, and she returned to her old method of dealing with unpleasant men. And then, well, she developed something of a taste for murder, though she convinced her foster children and her sister that all was well, despite their suspicions.
I absolutely loved Bruce's chilling and haunting You Let Me In, and was hoping for a similar atmospheric creepfest here. Unfortunately, the attempt at providing empathy for the actual real-life serial killer Belle Gunness falls flat for me. Instead, it comes across as a justification for her cruelty and the gaslighting of her sister. It was chilling, yes, but with the slow dreadful march toward the inevitable finish, this wasn't quite the historical thriller I thought it might be.
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