Browsed by
Category: Ghost novels

reviews of ghost fiction

Ghost Novel: The Face

Ghost Novel: The Face

The Face by Dean Koontz Publisher: Random House Audio Format: Audio Recording Source: Pleasanton Library The Face is my second reviewed novel of The R.I.P. Reading Challenge hosted by The Estella Society. What it’s about: The Face is a poignant but darkly comic novel of suspense. The primary setting of Koontz’s book is the Southern California mansion Palazo Rospo where ten-year-old Aelfric (Fric) resides with a house full of staff but rarely his father, and never his mother. The title…

Read More Read More

The 20’s Girl, the Ghost, and All That Jazz

The 20’s Girl, the Ghost, and All That Jazz

The 20’s Girl, the Ghost, and All That Jazz by June Kearns Publisher: Amazon Digital Services Format: Ebook Source: Purchased What it’s about: Gerry is desperate for money. Her late aunt thought nothing of leaving their English village and sailing to parts unknown or taking up with a new love at the drop of a feathered silk hat. Along with mounting debt, Gerry has inherited her aunt’s stunning wardrobe and old bookstore. Unfortunately, Aunt Leonie ransacked the bookstore for valuable…

Read More Read More

Chasing Vito’s Ghost

Chasing Vito’s Ghost

Ghost novel review: Chasing Vito’s Ghost by G.R. Benyue Publisher: SDP Publishing Format: ebook Source: Netgalley via Book Review Buzz in exchange for an honest review Becka Brandt wants a new life. Grieving the death of her fiance in an explosion, Becka moves to New Bedford and rents a cottage. Once there, she discovers her new home comes with a cantankerous ghost named Vito. Becka has been able to see ghosts since childhood, a gift that has enabled her to…

Read More Read More

Ghost Novel: A Test of Wills

Ghost Novel: A Test of Wills

A Test of Wills by Charles Todd Publisher: Harper, 305 pages Format: paperback Source: Purchased What it’s about: The year is 1919. Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge has been sent into the countryside to investigate the death of a wealthy war hero. Rutledge’s superintendent hates him, and takes great delight in assigning the intelligent, well-bred Rutledge to a case he’s bound to mismanage. Both the victim and the prime suspect served in World War I and returned changed men, as…

Read More Read More

Ghost Novel Review: Practical Magic

Ghost Novel Review: Practical Magic

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman Publisher: Berkley Books, 317 pages Format: Paperback Source: Purchased What it’s about: Following the sudden death of their parents who were “so much in love they failed to notice smoke emanating from the walls of the bungalow where they’d gone to enjoy a second honeymoon” (5), Sally and Gillian move in with their mysterious maiden aunts in a gothic Victorian on Magnolia Street. The young siblings are horrified to discover their aunts are free spirits…

Read More Read More

Ghost Review: Maybe This Time

Ghost Review: Maybe This Time

  Review: Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie Publisher: Brilliance Audio Format: audiobook Source: Pleasanton Library What it’s about: When Andromeda Miller returns ten years’ worth of alimony checks to her ex-husband, she is met with a surprise. A job offer. A job for one month. Salary: 10,000 dollars. An offer too good for Andy to reject. Andy’s ex-husband North knows that when he sends Andy to the haunted castle she will figure out a way to handle any and…

Read More Read More

Review: The Dead Room

Review: The Dead Room

The Dead Room by Heather Graham Publisher: Mira, 379 pages Format: hardcover Source: Pleasanton library What it’s about: An explosion in the historic Hastings House of Manhattan has robbed Leslie MacIntyre of the love of her life, Matt Connolly. Leslie and Matt were attending a gala when the fire bomb erupted. As Leslie recovers from her injuries, she discovers her near death experience has left her with the ability to see dead people. This ability comes in handy in Leslie’s…

Read More Read More

Ghost Novel Review: Help for the Haunted

Ghost Novel Review: Help for the Haunted

Help for the Haunted by John Searles Publisher: William Morrow, 368 pages Format: hardcover Source: Guest review The premise of this novel attracted me right away: A married couple counsels people tormented by ghosts. This couple never knows when someone will call with an urgent need for help–often these calls come in the middle of the night. Imagine being the teen daughter of parents such as these. Help for the Haunted is a coming-of-age story with a supernatural twist. I’m…

Read More Read More

Review: The Haunting of Maddy Clare

Review: The Haunting of Maddy Clare

The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James Publisher: New American Library, 330 pages Format: paperback Source: Purchased I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but many of the ghost novels I’ve been reading lately are set in the 1920’s. The decades that followed the Victorian and Edwardian eras into the Interwar years were filled with mayhem and bloodshed and mustard gas and influenza. If ever there was a time for hurt and bewildered ghosts to wander, this was…

Read More Read More

Book Review: The Haunted House by Charles Dickens

Book Review: The Haunted House by Charles Dickens

Review: The Haunted House Publisher: Dover Publications Format: Print, 136 pages Source: Purchased The Haunted House is an anthology of connected stories, three of which Charles Dickens wrote, the others penned by writers of his time. The premise is that the narrator, for reasons of health (have you noticed how prominent discussions of health are in Victorian literature?) rents a country house for three months with his sister. They fall in love with the house and decide to invite their…

Read More Read More

Wings of Fire by Charles Todd

Wings of Fire by Charles Todd

Book Review: Wings of Fire by Charles Todd Publisher: St. Martin’s Format: Print, 323 pages Source: White Elephant Sale at the Oakland Museum In Wings of Fire by Charles Todd, Ian Rutledge is a damaged Scotland Yard inspector, recently returned from the horrific conditions of World War I. He’s something of a pariah in the stuffy bureaucracy, suffering from a debilitating case of “shell shock.” I must confess I did not fully grasp how horrific World War I was until…

Read More Read More

Review: Heartless by Gail Carriger

Review: Heartless by Gail Carriger

Heartless by Gail Carriger Heartless is the first novel I’m reviewing for the 2014 R.I.P. Challenge at Stainless Steel Droppings. image courtesy of Abigail Larson I made the acquaintance of the Parasol Protectorate series with the first book, Soulless. Alexia Tarabotti, a misunderstood misfit preternatural resides in an alternate, steam punk Victorian England replete with foppish vampires and rustic werewolves. (The werewolves are, after all, from the wilds of Scotland.) Soulless is a delight. Despite the smart beginning to the series, I…

Read More Read More

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

The departed have arrived in Unholy Ghosts. Summary from Goodreads: The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret: She owes…

Read More Read More