Where All Light Dies by Michael Penning

 

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Five "Ocean Depth Haunting" Stars

What Mystery Lies Within the Atlantic Ocean?

A small taste of what lies within:

Freya Keating, the commander of the U.S. Coast Guard along with her crew are on a mission to find out why a submersible is floating out in the Atlantic. No one seems to be able to get in contact with the crew of the submersible and no one has heard from them for a few days. 

The submersible was supposed to have been exploring a sunken ship called the SS Celestine - an old WWII passenger ship that had disappeared during WWII.  The real mystery lies within the submersible as when the crew from the Coast Guard check it out they find that the crew that had been aboard the submersible has disappeared. There is no sign of how they just vanished and then the mystery begins of what truly took place! 

When haunting music along with possible ghost sightings surrounds the vanished members is when Freya tries to find out what really happened as she doesn't believe in ghosts! 

That is about all I can hand out with a small taste so if you want to know more then go read this book!

Thoughts:

The story just grabbed me from the first chapter as something happens right away which kept me glued to my kindle for a little while. As I made my way through the story I found myself wrapped up with the characters as I was wanting to find out what happened to the vanished crew too! 

The author, Michael Penning writes in visualization as everything I read on the page I can see it happening in the story. I could feel the mystery, suspense, and the panic of the characters. The characters are brought to life on the pages of this book and everything they feel I could feel as well.  

Looking forward to more books by this author as everything I have read by him I have loved. 

Attached is the author, Michael Penning, profile page from Amazon:

Michael Penning

My review from Goodreads:

My Review

How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold

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Four "Nightmare Room Doomed" Stars

What Lies in Wait at the Queen Estate? 

A small taste of what lies within:

Mortimer Queen a horror author has died and he leaves a will to be read to seven horror authors. They all make their way to his estate thinking that Mortimer has left them something valuable in his will but what they find is anything of value and instead they are required to play a game which is solving a riddle/puzzle to be able to make it out of each room in the mansion.  

Little do they know that they will have to go through hell to escape each room and they learn quick that it will be a life and death situation to make it out of the mansion alive! 

That is about all I can hand out with a small taste so if you want to know more then go read this book! 

Thoughts:

This was my first time reading this author and I was drawn into the story right away as it grabbed my attention.  The book is like an escape room type of story - the characters have to solve a riddle to go to the next room.  I liked all the characters in this book but a couple of them started to get on my nerves and I kept wondering if they were going to make it out of the mansion alive with the antics they were doing. 

All in all the pace was fast and as the book rolls along I found out more about who the authors were and why they were brought to the mansion.  There are sections in the book that gives a background info on each author and how they came to know the deceased.  I love how the author wrote it that way as it gives more insight on each character in the book and how they are wrapped into the story. 

The only reason this book is getting four stars instead of five is because it just seemed that the characters would argue too much among themselves that it slowed down the story - there just seemed to be lots of time spent in one room with each of them trying to come to a decision of what to do next or how to solve the riddle or how to proceed to the next room. 

It was exhausting as it kind of reminded me of the horror movies where you have people that just want to go off and do their own thing but not listen to reason. That is what some of this book has within it - it kind of drove me crazy as I wanted the characters to come to a decision quicker and move along but they just wanted to linger around in each room trying to decide what to do next. 

However having said that I did love the writing style of this author and with liking her writing style I decided to grab another book by her since it is on the cheap side at the moment.  If you like escape room type of books then check out this book as it did have quite a bit of horror action that lit up the pages of this book.  

Amazon Author Profile of Mallory Arnold:

Mallory Arnold

My Goodreads Review: 

My Review

Widow's Point: The Complete Haunting by Richard Chizmar and W. H. Chizmar

 

Five "Freaky Found Footage" Stars

Do You Dare Enter Widow's Point Lighthouse?

A small taste of what lies within:

A team of paranormal investigators decide to stay a few days in the Widow's Point Lighthouse as they want to see if the local legends are true about it being haunted. Another paranormal investigator had disappeared from the lighthouse a few years before so this team wants to see if they can find out what is going on there. 

The team of investigators have better equipment and setup so they are hoping to catch footage of anything creepy and try to find out what happened maybe to the other investigator. Little do they know that something does lie within and it might not want them to leave! 

Lighthouse in the Fog

That is about all I can hand out with a small taste without giving away spoilers so if you want to know more then go read this book! 

Thoughts:

This book is told in two parts - one part is told with the first paranormal investigator and what he went through at the lighthouse which is only about 25% of the first part of the book. The second part is told with the new team of paranormal investigators and their findings of whether the lighthouse is haunted or not. 

The first part of the book seemed to move a little slow for me that was wrapped around the first investigator but when the second part opens up with the new team is when the book takes off.  I like how the story was written by the authors as each team member gets their take on what is happening around them. The pace picks up around the 50% mark and I had a hard time putting the book down. I ended up reading the last 30% in just a few hours and the story just blew me away! I loved this book! 

There is a movie out there called Widow's Point and I did watch it awhile back but that story is only wrapped around the first investigator and it doesn't involve this new team. There was another book that was written which was Widow's Point by the author, Richard Chizmar and that is where the movie came about however this book was released last year in 2025 with tons of more content including the new paranormal team. Loved the characters in this book even though a handful were kind of quirky but I felt that the book deserves the five stars for it's creepy and spooky atmosphere! 

Author Profile of Richard Chizmar on Amazon:

Richard Chizmar

Author Profile of W. H. Chizmar on Amazon:

W. H. Chizmar

My Goodreads Review:

My Review