Synopsis:

Could you survive a week in a haunted house?

Mara is the daughter of spiritualists. Her childhood was filled with seances, scam mediums and talk of ghostly presences.

When Mara finally left her family’s home, she vowed she would never allow superstition or false religion into her life again. Now she’s ready to start over with her fiance, Neil, in a world based on rationality and facts.

But her past isn’t ready to let her go just yet.

Mara and Neil purchase Blackwood House, a derelict property outside of town. They’re warned about strange occurrences in the crumbling building. Doors open by themselves, voices whisper in the night, bloody handprints appear on the walls, and cold spots linger in the basement, where the house’s original owner was murdered.

But Blackwood was dirt-cheap and came with a large plot of overgrown land. Mara loves her new home, and disregards the warnings.

Because ghosts aren’t real…

…are they? 

Genre: Horror, Paranormal
My Rating: *** (3 of 5 stars)

I was in the mood for a good ghost story and saw a shelf full of Darcy Coates books the last time I was in a bookstore. The covers looked like exactly what I wanted, so I picked one at random. I enjoyed the story but had a hard time really caring for the protagonist. Even though she had reasons for being so anti-ghost and anti-spiritual, it seemed a little much and made her hard to like. Other than that, it was a very spooky tale, and the author really made the house come to life. It wasn’t overly gory and was just creepy enough to keep me entertained while stuck inside social distancing. I will be giving another one of her books a try very soon.

Spoiler Alert: 
There is one thing that drove me crazy, and if you’ve read the book I’d love to know if you think I just missed something. I even went back and re-read several pages before and after to make sure I was reading it correctly. At one point Mara wakes up to a pitch-black room in a house with no electricity. She turns on a torch/flashlight to look around then takes it with her and ends up outside. When she looks back at the house, she can pick out her room because she left the light on?!? When back inside, it continues – her room is the most inviting because the space heater kept it warm and the light is on. Maybe I should just assume she had a portable lantern… 🙂