Difference between revisions of "Newest Paranormal Reviews"

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[[Category:New Reviews|Paranormal]]
 
[[Category:New Reviews|Paranormal]]
 
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{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE-->
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{{Frontpage
<!-- Maitland -->
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|author=Dean Koontz
|-
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|title=The Bad Weather Friend
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
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|rating=4.5
[[image:1472235878.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472235878/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
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|genre=Paranormal
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|summary=Benny is having a terrifically bad day.  He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck.  He is a nice person.  A really nice person.  So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person.  Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are.
 +
|isbn=1662500491
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|author=Ally Wilkes
 +
|title=All the White Spaces
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|rating=4
 +
|genre=Horror
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|summary=In post-WWI England, Jonathan Morgan stows away on an Arctic expedition led by the famous Australis Randall. For Jonathan, this adventure represents a chance for a fresh start, and the opportunity to live life as his authentic self and true gender, without the disapproval and constraints of his parents. However, Jonathan isn't the only one fleeing the confines of his past and the shadow of the war hangs like a funeral shroud over the expedition. Guilt, mistrust and grief stalk the party and, when disaster strikes and they are forced to overwinter on land, a menacing presence waits to prey on their darkness. If Jonathan is to make it out of the Arctic winter alive, he will have to face his demons once and for all, or risk making the barren, icy landscape his tomb.
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|isbn=1789097835
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= T L Huchu
 +
|title= The Library of the Dead
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|rating= 4.5
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|genre= Teens
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|summary= Ropa Moyo is a ghostalker, using Zimbabwean magic (and a bit of Scottish pragmatism) to take messages from the dead of Edinburgh for their living relatives. Ever since she dropped out of school, she's been using it to support not only herself, but her younger sister and her aging grandmother. However, there's an evil stalking the ruined streets of Edinburgh, targeting the city's children. Soon, Ropa is pulled into the search for a missing boy at the request of his dead mother. She will end up discovering an occult library and realise that the world of magic is far bigger and more dangerous than she ever could've imagined. Will she find the missing children and bring an end to this evil, or will it claim her too?
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|isbn= 1529039452
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}}
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{{Frontpage
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|author= Holly Rivers
 +
|title= Demelza and the Spectre Detectors
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|rating= 5
 +
|genre= Confident Readers
 +
|summary= Demelza Clock is a scientist, often staying up late to work on her various gadgets, much to her Grandma Maeve's irritation. However, she has also inherited a certain set of skills that are not especially scientific: Spectre Detecting, the ability to summon the ghosts of the recently deceased. Under the guidance of her Grandma Maeve, Demelza begins to master her newfound skills. However, there is a mysterious individual on the prowl, kidnapping young Spectre Detectors. It's up to Demelza and her best friend Percy to get to the bottom of this...
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|isbn=1912626039
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1473669065
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|title=Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel
 +
|author=Ruth Hogan
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Humour
 +
|summary=Tilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and misfits. A place where people can be themselves, and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, Tilda begins to pick apart the tricky and uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother.
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|isbn=williamabbey
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|title=The Pursuit of William Abbey
 +
|author=Claire North
 +
|rating=3.5
 +
|genre=Fantasy
 +
|summary=When William Abbey fails to prevent the lynching of a young boy in 1880's South Africa, he finds himself cursed by the grieving mother. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns the weight of the curse upon him, as the shadow of the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans and mountains in pursuit of William. As he finds himself unable to resist speaking the truths that he hears in others, he also learns that the dark shadow is deadly – and seeks to kill the one he loves the most…
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|isbn=Tudor Chalk
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|title=The Chalk Man
 +
|author=C J Tudor
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Horror
 +
|summary=''The Chalk Man'' follows a group of friends haunted by an eerily terrifying spectre, conjured during one fateful summer. By the time the new term begins, friendships will be fractured, and a girl will be dead. But who is the killer; is it The Chalk Man, whose dusty white grip squeezes ever tighter, or someone much closer to home? Thirty years later, Ed has tried to forget about that summer, about all the poisoned, sinister memories of The Chalk Man. However, someone seems determined not to let him and when the letters start to arrive, the past follows, plaguing him and dredging up the fever dream nightmare of the summer of 1986, populated by fairs, ra-ra skirts and death. Driven deeper into the mysterious events surrounding Ed's sleepy suburban life, the reader cannot help but wonder; who is The Chalk Man, and will he ever let Ed go?
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|isbn=Jester_Forever
 +
|title=Forever After: a dark comedy
 +
|author=David Jester
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Horror
 +
|summary=Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to sit on in their flat.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1785032461
 +
|title=The Girl at the Window
 +
|author=Rowan Coleman
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=Trudy Heaton is going home, to a house where her roots burrow back through the centuries and to a mother she hasn't spoken to for sixteen years.  Home, her refuge, Ponden Hall, where she can heal herself and try to come to terms with the traumatic loss of her husband.  She needs to build bridges with her mother and convince her grieving son that his father is dead.  Where better than the house full of light and shadow, that nurtured her throughout her childhood?
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1471407764
 +
|title=The Twisted Tree
 +
|author=Rachel Burge
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=Martha's world has changed. Blind in one eye after falling from a tree, she wakes with a disturbing gift. She can read people through their clothes, secrets tumble from the weave, revealing insights she doesn't really want, and knowledge she doesn't understand. She flees to her grandmother, Mormor's cabin, seeking answers no one is prepared to give, and stumbles into world of menace.
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}}
 +
{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1492687863
 +
|title=Bellewether
 +
|author=Susanna Kearsley
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=Flitting between the present day and mid-16thcentury, ''Bellewether'' tells the fascinating tale of the Wilde House and all its inhabitants. In the present tense aspects, the Wilde House is being turned into a museum due to the legacy left by Captain Benjamin Wilde. It is told from the perspective of Charley, the museum curator, who is intrigued by the ghost who haunts the house and their story; a tale that ends in a tragedy involving Benjamin Wilde's sister, Lydia, and a French-Canadian lieutenant, Jean-Philippe who was sent to live there. The perspective of the book is continuously shifted between Charley, then Lydia and Jean-Philippe. The latter two tell the truth about what was happening during this chaotic time in history, just as Charley is beginning to unravel it herself.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1473203287
 +
|title=Summerland
 +
|author=Hannu Rajaniemi
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=Imagine a world in which death was no longer something to fear but something to aspire to. After the discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, the Big Smoke for the recently deceased. In 1938 the British Empire is caught up in a race against Soviet spies and dealing with a mole buried deep in the heart of Summerland. When Rachel White, an ambitious SIS agent, becomes suspicious about the potential rogue agent, she must decide how far she is willing to go and how much she is willing to risk to uncover the truth.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1472235878
 +
|title=A Gathering of Ghosts
 +
|author=Karen Maitland
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=Witchcraft, the supernatural and the will to survive at all costs collide in a story that never shies away from the darker side of human nature. The land is unhappy, the old spirits want revenge and famine is kindling a resurgence of the old faith.  As fear rises, it is increasingly difficult for Prioress Johanne to ignore that something rotten has taken root. The sacred well is tainted, its healing waters run red with blood and strangers are blowing in on a wind of change.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1472234782
 +
|title=The Story Keeper
 +
|author=Anna Mazzola
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=Audrey, a complex mix of flights of fancy and seriousness, wanting, needing, to be more than what everyone expects of her, escapes from the straightjacket of her home. Where every action, every thought, every yearning is controlled by her father, who only once in his life threw caution to the wind and married way beneath him for love. Now a widower and remarried, he has rigorously returned to upholding what is right, what is proper, the bastion of doing what is expected.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=0751571229
 +
|title=When The Curtain Falls
 +
|author=Carrie Hope Fletcher
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=A thoroughly, magical and riveting story that hooks you in from the first page and takes you on a roller coaster ride towards the last. Fletcher weaves together a dash of ''Whodunit'' the thrill of romance, (the course of which never runs smoothly,) and an unpredictable ghost.  The ghost appears once a year, the principal star of her very own show, to meet with the love of her life and re-enact her death. A tragic accident with the roots buried deep within the whole array of human nature. Love, joy, care, friendship, jealousy, possessiveness, selfishness, cold ambition, all laid bare on centre stage.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=Aaronovitvch_Furthest
 +
|title=The Furthest Station
 +
|author=Ben Aaronovitch
 +
|rating=4
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=When local police find something weird - spectres scaring commuters on a particular part of the Metropolitan Line, for example - they call for PC Peter Grant of the Special Assessment Unit, also known as The Folly. Stray river gods, missing Victorian children, fleeting 18th century dispatch riders, they are all in a day's (or a night's) work for The Folly team, even if the team only has two official members and the filing system dates back 2 centuries. He may spend time pursuing supernatural offenders, but Constable Grant is a nicely wry and recognisable copper; health and safety rules annoy him and he is inclined to trust his hunches and park outside Chinese take-aways in the hope of a free meal.
 +
}}
 +
{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=Moore_Strange
 +
|title=Strange Sight: An Essex Witch Museum Mystery (Essex Witches Mystery 2)
 +
|author=Syd Moore
 +
|rating=5
 +
|genre=Paranormal
 +
|summary=Rosie Strange is back - recovering after her last escapade with curator Sam Stone, and figuring out what on earth to do with the Essex Witch Museum she's recently inherited. If Rosie had her way she'd be selling the museum and heading back to her flat in London - but when her Auntie Babs recommends Rosie and Sam to a local businessman, they find themselves embroiled in dark events once again. Something is wrong at Le Fleur Restaurant - blood leaking from chandeliers, scrawled messages in the rooms and apparitions walking through the walls. Before Rosie and Sam can start to look into these possibly supernatural occurrences though, events take an even darker turn when a very real body is found in the restaurant - and the owner's daughter swears that a ghost was to blame...
 +
}}
  
 
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Move on to [[Newest Pets Reviews]]
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|
 
===[[A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]]
 
 
 
Witchcraft, the supernatural and the will to survive at all costs collide in a story that never shies away from the darker side of human nature. The land is unhappy, the old spirits want revenge and famine is kindling a resurgence of the old faith.  As fear rises, it is increasingly difficult for Prioress Johanne to ignore that something rotten has taken root. The sacred well is tainted, its healing waters run red with blood and strangers are blowing in on a wind of change. [[A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland|Full Review]]
 
 
 
 
 
<!-- Mazolla -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:1472234782.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472234782/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Historical Fiction|Historical Fiction]]
 
 
 
Audrey, a complex mix of flights of fancy and seriousness, wanting, needing, to be more than what everyone expects of her, escapes from the straightjacket of her home. Where every action, every thought, every yearning is controlled by her father, who only once in his life threw caution to the wind and married way beneath him for love. Now a widower and remarried, he has rigorously returned to upholding what is right, what is proper, the bastion of doing what is expected. [[The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- Fletcher -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:0751571229.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0751571229/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[When The Curtain Falls by Carrie Hope Fletcher]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Women's Fiction|Women's Fiction]]
 
 
 
A thoroughly, magical and riveting story that hooks you in from the first page and takes you on a roller coaster ride towards the last. Fletcher weaves together a dash of ''Whodunit'' the thrill of romance, (the course of which never runs smoothly,) and an unpredictable ghost.  The ghost appears once a year, the principal star of her very own show, to meet with the love of her life and re-enact her death. A tragic accident with the roots buried deep within the whole array of human nature. Love, joy, care, friendship, jealousy, possessiveness, selfishness, cold ambition, all laid bare on centre stage.
 
 
 
<!-- Tudor -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:Tudor Chalk.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0718187431?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0718187431]]
 
 
 
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===[[The Chalk Man by C J Tudor]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Horror|Horror]]
 
 
 
''The Chalk Man'' follows a group of friends haunted by an eerily terrifying spectre, conjured during one fateful summer. By the time the new term begins, friendships will be fractured, and a girl will be dead. But who is the killer; is it The Chalk Man, whose dusty white grip squeezes ever tighter, or someone much closer to home? Thirty years later, Ed has tried to forget about that summer, about all the poisoned, sinister memories of The Chalk Man. However, someone seems determined not to let him and when the letters start to arrive, the past follows, plaguing him and dredging up the fever dream nightmare of the summer of 1986, populated by fairs, ra-ra skirts and death. Driven deeper into the mysterious events surrounding Ed's sleepy suburban life, the reader cannot help but wonder; who is The Chalk Man, and will he ever let Ed go? [[The Chalk Man by C J Tudor|Full Review]]
 
<br>
 
 
 
<!-- Jester -->
 
|-
 
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[[image:Jester_Forever.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1510704361?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1510704361]]
 
 
 
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===[[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], [[:Category:Horror|Horror]], [[:Category:Fantasy|Fasntasy]]
 
 
 
Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to sit on in their flat. [[Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- Aaronovitch -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:Aaronovitvch_Furthest.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1473222427?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1473222427]]
 
 
 
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===[[The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Crime|Crime]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
When local police find something weird - spectres scaring commuters on a particular part of the Metropolitan Line, for example - they call for PC Peter Grant of the Special Assessment Unit, also known as The Folly. Stray river gods, missing Victorian children, fleeting 18th century dispatch riders, they are all in a day's (or a night's) work for The Folly team, even if the team only has two official members and the filing system dates back 2 centuries. He may spend time pursuing supernatural offenders, but Constable Grant is a nicely wry and recognisable copper; health and safety rules annoy him and he is inclined to trust his hunches and park outside Chinese take-aways in the hope of a free meal. [[The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- Moore -->
 
|-
 
| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|
 
[[image:Moore_Strange.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/178607205X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=178607205X]]
 
 
 
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===[[Strange Sight: An Essex Witch Museum Mystery (Essex Witches Mystery 2) by Syd Moore]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]], [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]]
 
 
 
Rosie Strange is back - recovering after her last escapade with curator Sam Stone, and figuring out what on earth to do with the Essex Witch Museum she's recently inherited. If Rosie had her way she'd be selling the museum and heading back to her flat in London - but when her Auntie Babs recommends Rosie and Sam to a local businessman, they find themselves embroiled in dark events once again. Something is wrong at Le Fleur Restaurant - blood leaking from chandeliers, scrawled messages in the rooms and apparitions walking through the walls. Before Rosie and Sam can start to look into these possibly supernatural occurrences though, events take an even darker turn when a very real body is found in the restaurant - and the owner's daughter swears that a ghost was to blame... [[Strange Sight: An Essex Witch Museum Mystery (Essex Witches Mystery 2) by Syd Moore|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- Parkin -->
 
|-
 
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[[image:Parkin_Winter.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785079034/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[The Winter's Child by Cassandra Parkin]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
''A modern Gothic tale of twisted love, secrets and hauntings'' it says on the cover. I'll go along with that. Suzannah Harper doesn't believe in life after death or gypsies being able to tell the future, but that hasn't stopped her spending a fortune on psychics and fortune tellers in the desperate hunt for her son. Joel has been missing for five years. He skipped out of school one day after an argument at home and has not been seen since. [[The Winter's Child by Cassandra Parkin|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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[[image:Singh_Silver.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473217571/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[Silver Silence A Psy-Changling Trinity Novel by Nalini Singh]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
Jump straight into a rich and diverse universe at this designated jumping on point. Visit a world of humans, changelings and Psy. The world the books have set in has faced a dramatic change and a new world-order of peace has been declared. The peace is painful and not universally loved. Into this world a bear falls in love with an emotionless Psy – how'd ya reckon it'll turn out? [[Silver Silence A Psy-Changling Trinity Novel by Nalini Singh|Full Review]]
 
 
 
<!-- McGarry -->
 
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[[image:Mcgarry_Ghost.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846973791/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[The Ghost of Helen Addison by Charles E McGarry]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
Leo Moran is a gourmand, sleuth and seer of visions. Beset by ghoulish dreams and apparitions of a terrible crime he leaves the safety of his extravagantly furnished Glasgow apartment and sets out to Lock Dhonn to aid the police in their investigation of the murder of the eponymous Helen Addison. Along the way he is visited by the phantom form of Helen and is besieged by evil forces before tumbling into a rabbit hole of deceit, mystery and the dark forces of the occult. In a race to solve the case and stop the wrong man being accused of such a ghastly crime, Leo must draw on all his skills and convince the police that the killer is still at large and waiting to strike again. [[The Ghost of Helen Addison by Charles E McGarry|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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[[image:Shaw_Strange.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0356508870/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[Strange Practice: A Dr Greta Helsing Novel by Vivian Shaw]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
''I don't suppose it's worth trying to convince you it's too dangerous?''<br>
 
''Not in the least.''
 
 
Meet Dr Greta Helsing, a highly talented, well respected physician with her own specialised medical practice, known and adored throughout London for her great work… well, at least amongst the supernatural community. Greta is in fact a descendent of the vampire hunter Professor Abraham Van Helsing, but family relations with the undead have improved since then and she now spends her days carrying on her father's legacy treating vampires, werewolves, mummies, ghouls and the like. So early morning emergency calls are not uncommon; what ''is'' uncommon however, is a vampire's stab wound that won't heal. [[Strange Practice: A Dr Greta Helsing Novel by Vivian Shaw|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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[[image:Denning_Warlock.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1783299738/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[Warlock Holmes - The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles by G S Denning]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a lot of Sherlock Holmes stories, but not that many novels. Holmes adventures were mostly kept to a short story length that allowed a quick build up and reveal that would fit into an episodic telling. The best known novel is The Hound of the Baskervilles and anyone who parodies the great detective would eventually need to cover the tale of the cursed Baskerville family. They don't come more parodic than Warlock Holmes and although he may have died at the end of the last book, this won't stop him investigating one of his greatest cases. [[Warlock Holmes - The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles by G S Denning|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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[[image:Moore_Essex.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1786070987/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]
 
 
 
 
 
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===[[Strange Magic: An Essex Witch Museum Mystery (Essex Witches Mystery 1) by Syd Moore]]===
 
 
 
[[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
Rosie Strange doesn't believe in ghosts or witches or magic. No, not at all. It's no surprise therefore when she inherits the ramshackle Essex Witch Museum, her first thought is to take the money and run. Still, the museum exerts a curious pull over Rosie. There's the eccentric academic who bustles in to demand she help in a hunt for old bones, those of the notorious Ursula Cadence, a witch long since put to death. And there's curator Sam Stone, a man about whom Rosie can't decide if he's tiresomely annoying or extremely captivating. It all adds up to looking like her plans to sell the museum might need to be delayed, just for a while. Finding herself and Sam embroiled in a most peculiar centuries-old mystery, Rosie is quickly expelled from her comfort zone, where to her horror, the secrets of the past come with their own real, and all too present, danger as a strange magic threatens to envelop them all. [[Strange Magic: An Essex Witch Museum Mystery (Essex Witches Mystery 1) by Syd Moore|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Kill the Next One by Federico Axat]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Thrillers|Thrillers]], [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
After getting started with the opening chapters of Spanish writer, Federico Axat's ''Kill the Next One'', you might be forgiven for thinking you are stuck with one of those machismo riddled tales where a middle-aged man with a mysterious past is forced to shoot or blunder his way through a by-the-numbers thriller. The spectre of Lee Child's successful Jack Reacher series creeping in around the edges of the page. The novel opens with Ted McKay and his Browning pointed to his temple. He has the perfect life, including a beautiful wife and two adoring children, but has discovered that he is also in possession of an untreatable tumour buried deep within his brain which is slowly killing him. However, right before he decides to take the shot and end his life, there is a knock on his door. Standing behind it is a man named Justin Lynch who tells Ted that he represents an all-knowing organisation that turns would-be suicides into opportunities to correct the imbalances of the law. Ted, instead of killing himself, could kill someone who really deserves it. [[Kill the Next One by Federico Axat|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Otherworld Chills by Kelley Armstrong]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]
 
 
 
I came to Armstrong's ''Otherworld'' quite late in its development and it seems that she's now wrapping it up to move on to other things. Billed as the 'final collection' of stories Chills allegedly completes several storylines of her best loved characters. I'd disagree. If Sherlock can survive Reichenbach then I'm sure Werewolves, Vampires and demi-demotic Angels can survive whatever state they may have been left in. [[Otherworld Chills by Kelley Armstrong|Full Review]]
 
 
 
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===[[Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong]]===
 
 
 
[[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Paranormal|Paranormal]]
 
 
 
Liv Taylor-Jones has come a long way since she discovered her parents were not her biological parents – that her biological parents were in fact convicted serials killers. But while she's coming to an understanding about her fae heritage, the strange visions that are a part of that, she's not yet ready to make the choice that destiny would have her make. [[Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong|Full Review]]
 
 
 
 
 
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Latest revision as of 13:10, 2 January 2024

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Review of

The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz

4.5star.jpg Paranormal

Benny is having a terrifically bad day. He loses his job, he loses his fiancee, and his house gets trashed. Oh, and someone has delivered a really weird, disturbing coffin-sized object to his home, and it's possible that whoever or whatever was inside is the thing that has trashed his house! The thing is, Benny is the very last person to deserve all this bad luck. He is a nice person. A really nice person. So fortunately for Benny it turns out that the delivery to his house is a new friend, a bad weather friend called Spike, who has been sent to help him since Benny is clearly under attack from nefarious forces for being a good person. Spike is going to take care of Benny, and will certainly take care of Benny's enemies, if he, Benny, and Harper (a waitress slash Private Investigator who finds herself roped into Benny's wild adventure) can figure out who exactly they are. Full Review

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Review of

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

4star.jpg Horror

In post-WWI England, Jonathan Morgan stows away on an Arctic expedition led by the famous Australis Randall. For Jonathan, this adventure represents a chance for a fresh start, and the opportunity to live life as his authentic self and true gender, without the disapproval and constraints of his parents. However, Jonathan isn't the only one fleeing the confines of his past and the shadow of the war hangs like a funeral shroud over the expedition. Guilt, mistrust and grief stalk the party and, when disaster strikes and they are forced to overwinter on land, a menacing presence waits to prey on their darkness. If Jonathan is to make it out of the Arctic winter alive, he will have to face his demons once and for all, or risk making the barren, icy landscape his tomb. Full Review

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Review of

The Library of the Dead by T L Huchu

4.5star.jpg Teens

Ropa Moyo is a ghostalker, using Zimbabwean magic (and a bit of Scottish pragmatism) to take messages from the dead of Edinburgh for their living relatives. Ever since she dropped out of school, she's been using it to support not only herself, but her younger sister and her aging grandmother. However, there's an evil stalking the ruined streets of Edinburgh, targeting the city's children. Soon, Ropa is pulled into the search for a missing boy at the request of his dead mother. She will end up discovering an occult library and realise that the world of magic is far bigger and more dangerous than she ever could've imagined. Will she find the missing children and bring an end to this evil, or will it claim her too? Full Review

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Review of

Demelza and the Spectre Detectors by Holly Rivers

5star.jpg Confident Readers

Demelza Clock is a scientist, often staying up late to work on her various gadgets, much to her Grandma Maeve's irritation. However, she has also inherited a certain set of skills that are not especially scientific: Spectre Detecting, the ability to summon the ghosts of the recently deceased. Under the guidance of her Grandma Maeve, Demelza begins to master her newfound skills. However, there is a mysterious individual on the prowl, kidnapping young Spectre Detectors. It's up to Demelza and her best friend Percy to get to the bottom of this... Full Review

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Review of

Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan

5star.jpg Humour

Tilda returns to Brighton, to tidy away the remains of her mother's life after her death. Whilst there, she returns to the Paradise hotel, a haven for eccentrics and misfits. A place where people can be themselves, and let go of thoughts that torment them elsewhere. Little wonder that Tilda cannot forgive her mother for banishing her as a child, from this place of wonder. With the help of Queenie Malone, caring, and gregarious, Tilda begins to pick apart the tricky and uncertain relationship she had with her sometimes cruel and distant mother. Full Review

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Review of

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North

3.5star.jpg Fantasy

When William Abbey fails to prevent the lynching of a young boy in 1880's South Africa, he finds himself cursed by the grieving mother. A naïve English Doctor, he slowly learns the weight of the curse upon him, as the shadow of the dead boy begins to follow him across the world. Never stopping, always growing – it crosses oceans and mountains in pursuit of William. As he finds himself unable to resist speaking the truths that he hears in others, he also learns that the dark shadow is deadly – and seeks to kill the one he loves the most… Full Review

link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/Tudor Chalk/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21

Review of

The Chalk Man by C J Tudor

5star.jpg Horror

The Chalk Man follows a group of friends haunted by an eerily terrifying spectre, conjured during one fateful summer. By the time the new term begins, friendships will be fractured, and a girl will be dead. But who is the killer; is it The Chalk Man, whose dusty white grip squeezes ever tighter, or someone much closer to home? Thirty years later, Ed has tried to forget about that summer, about all the poisoned, sinister memories of The Chalk Man. However, someone seems determined not to let him and when the letters start to arrive, the past follows, plaguing him and dredging up the fever dream nightmare of the summer of 1986, populated by fairs, ra-ra skirts and death. Driven deeper into the mysterious events surrounding Ed's sleepy suburban life, the reader cannot help but wonder; who is The Chalk Man, and will he ever let Ed go? Full Review

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Review of

Forever After: a dark comedy by David Jester

4star.jpg Horror

Michael Holland is a cocky and brash young man who dies and gets made the offer of his lifetime; immortality. We follow Michael, a grim reaper and his friends Chip (a stoner tooth fairy) and Naff (a stoner in the records department) as they grapple with their long lives and finding a clean surface to sit on in their flat. Full Review

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Review of

The Girl at the Window by Rowan Coleman

5star.jpg Paranormal

Trudy Heaton is going home, to a house where her roots burrow back through the centuries and to a mother she hasn't spoken to for sixteen years. Home, her refuge, Ponden Hall, where she can heal herself and try to come to terms with the traumatic loss of her husband. She needs to build bridges with her mother and convince her grieving son that his father is dead. Where better than the house full of light and shadow, that nurtured her throughout her childhood? Full Review

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Review of

The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge

5star.jpg Paranormal

Martha's world has changed. Blind in one eye after falling from a tree, she wakes with a disturbing gift. She can read people through their clothes, secrets tumble from the weave, revealing insights she doesn't really want, and knowledge she doesn't understand. She flees to her grandmother, Mormor's cabin, seeking answers no one is prepared to give, and stumbles into world of menace. Full Review

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Review of

Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley

4.5star.jpg Paranormal

Flitting between the present day and mid-16thcentury, Bellewether tells the fascinating tale of the Wilde House and all its inhabitants. In the present tense aspects, the Wilde House is being turned into a museum due to the legacy left by Captain Benjamin Wilde. It is told from the perspective of Charley, the museum curator, who is intrigued by the ghost who haunts the house and their story; a tale that ends in a tragedy involving Benjamin Wilde's sister, Lydia, and a French-Canadian lieutenant, Jean-Philippe who was sent to live there. The perspective of the book is continuously shifted between Charley, then Lydia and Jean-Philippe. The latter two tell the truth about what was happening during this chaotic time in history, just as Charley is beginning to unravel it herself. Full Review

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Review of

Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi

4star.jpg Paranormal

Imagine a world in which death was no longer something to fear but something to aspire to. After the discovery of the afterlife, the British Empire has extended its reach into Summerland, the Big Smoke for the recently deceased. In 1938 the British Empire is caught up in a race against Soviet spies and dealing with a mole buried deep in the heart of Summerland. When Rachel White, an ambitious SIS agent, becomes suspicious about the potential rogue agent, she must decide how far she is willing to go and how much she is willing to risk to uncover the truth. Full Review

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Review of

A Gathering of Ghosts by Karen Maitland

5star.jpg Paranormal

Witchcraft, the supernatural and the will to survive at all costs collide in a story that never shies away from the darker side of human nature. The land is unhappy, the old spirits want revenge and famine is kindling a resurgence of the old faith. As fear rises, it is increasingly difficult for Prioress Johanne to ignore that something rotten has taken root. The sacred well is tainted, its healing waters run red with blood and strangers are blowing in on a wind of change. Full Review

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Review of

The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola

5star.jpg Paranormal

Audrey, a complex mix of flights of fancy and seriousness, wanting, needing, to be more than what everyone expects of her, escapes from the straightjacket of her home. Where every action, every thought, every yearning is controlled by her father, who only once in his life threw caution to the wind and married way beneath him for love. Now a widower and remarried, he has rigorously returned to upholding what is right, what is proper, the bastion of doing what is expected. Full Review

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Review of

When The Curtain Falls by Carrie Hope Fletcher

5star.jpg Paranormal

A thoroughly, magical and riveting story that hooks you in from the first page and takes you on a roller coaster ride towards the last. Fletcher weaves together a dash of Whodunit the thrill of romance, (the course of which never runs smoothly,) and an unpredictable ghost. The ghost appears once a year, the principal star of her very own show, to meet with the love of her life and re-enact her death. A tragic accident with the roots buried deep within the whole array of human nature. Love, joy, care, friendship, jealousy, possessiveness, selfishness, cold ambition, all laid bare on centre stage. Full Review

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Review of

The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch

4star.jpg Paranormal

When local police find something weird - spectres scaring commuters on a particular part of the Metropolitan Line, for example - they call for PC Peter Grant of the Special Assessment Unit, also known as The Folly. Stray river gods, missing Victorian children, fleeting 18th century dispatch riders, they are all in a day's (or a night's) work for The Folly team, even if the team only has two official members and the filing system dates back 2 centuries. He may spend time pursuing supernatural offenders, but Constable Grant is a nicely wry and recognisable copper; health and safety rules annoy him and he is inclined to trust his hunches and park outside Chinese take-aways in the hope of a free meal. Full Review

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Review of

Strange Sight: An Essex Witch Museum Mystery (Essex Witches Mystery 2) by Syd Moore

5star.jpg Paranormal

Rosie Strange is back - recovering after her last escapade with curator Sam Stone, and figuring out what on earth to do with the Essex Witch Museum she's recently inherited. If Rosie had her way she'd be selling the museum and heading back to her flat in London - but when her Auntie Babs recommends Rosie and Sam to a local businessman, they find themselves embroiled in dark events once again. Something is wrong at Le Fleur Restaurant - blood leaking from chandeliers, scrawled messages in the rooms and apparitions walking through the walls. Before Rosie and Sam can start to look into these possibly supernatural occurrences though, events take an even darker turn when a very real body is found in the restaurant - and the owner's daughter swears that a ghost was to blame... Full Review

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