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Four "Spooky Suspense" Stars
Mysterious Haunting!
A small taste of what lies within:
The story follows two timelines.
1916 Timeline:
Dr. Henry Abberton is a doctor in World War I and his wife, Elizabeth and three children are having to get along without him the best way they can. Elizabeth ends up hiring a man (Michael) to help out around the place but one thing leads to another and they have an affair which leads to gossip in their small town. Henry and Elizabeth write letters quite often and Henry does know about Michael as Elizabeth tells him about the handyman helping out. Henry will be coming home eventually and Elizabeth will need to make a decision of what to do!
2016 Timeline:
Adam and Catherine along with their daughter Bella move into the Abberton House to get away from the city life. The house is perfect for them but their daughter has an imaginary playmate named Charlotte. Adam and Catherine think nothing of it till they start hearing a child's laughter and running feet on the landing which it turns out is not Bella! As time goes on there are faces in the window, banging noises upstairs, and other paranormal activity throughout the house which they learn is the Abberton family. What they don't know is why they are haunting the house but they finally go on a search of what is causing the haunting.
That is about all I can hand out without giving away spoilers, so if you are intrigued then go read this book!
Thoughts:
I love a good ghost/haunting story and this one delivers on all counts for me. Both timelines are written well and there is quite a bit of backstory for the timeline in 1916 which I loved as you get plenty of details of the family and what unfolds within the household. The backstory for the family in 2016 is just as detailed and I became attached to both families and their lives.
The author keeps the mystery of the haunting a secret up to the very end which I also loved because sometimes the secret is revealed too soon and then you are left wondering how the story will end, but not this book as the author just kept me in state of suspense of why the Abberton family was haunting the house.
The book is not scary but the mystery of the story is what kept me wrapped within its pages. I would consider this book more along the lines of a supernatural/paranormal suspense novel even though some readers have it shelved under horror. Horror has such a broad scope now days as there are tons of sub-genres under the actual word "horror" that as a reader there is quite a bit of flexibility with what type of books are considered horror. Ghosts and hauntings usually fall under horror but also it can fall under mystery and suspense as well. It is all about the reader and what they come away with after reading a book that has to do with hauntings and ghosts.
This story kept me in a state of total suspense as I kept wanting to know the "why and what happened" for the ghost haunting. The author delved deep into the storyline and I felt that the story kept up its pace with the haunting. Things happen slowly at first with a slight buildup of suspense and then as the story progresses the haunting activity increases. This was my first time reading this author and will be keeping an eye out for this author if she writes anymore ghost stories.
Attached is the author, Debbie Ioanna, profile page from Goodreads:
Attached is the author, Debbie Ioanna, profile page from Amazon:
Attached is my review from Goodreads:
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