Could you survive a week in a haunted house?
Mara is the daughter of spiritualists. Her childhood was filled with séances, 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 fiancé, 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?
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['You're gifted my dear. The spirts are clamouring to speak with you. Come']***
(Candlebreak, 20 December 2015, borrowed from Prime Reading)
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The Haunting of Blackwood House is an average haunted house story but nothing special or original.
I love haunted house stories. When they're done really well they can blow you away. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is a brilliant example of this genre.
This novel is well-written but very bland as far as haunted houses go, full of clichés and poor set up's which become ever more disappointing.
The author's tries to bring some originality by revealing how Mara's past is linked to the house but this comes too late to save this dead fish.
The characters are bland and forgettable as well. Mara is a typical sceptic of the supernatural until quite predictable 'supernatural' events change her little mind. Neil is just, ugh, a nice guy who will probably be eaten during the zombie apocalypse and I don't even care.
Even the so-called haunting of Mara's new house is lacklustre Oh listen, footsteps upstairs where nobody is! Is that a ghostly figure I spot hovering over there? Bleugh!
I love horror fiction but am starting to get put off because so much of it is just rubbish.
There are sequels to this novel. I think I'll pass.
