Haunted - A Review

This was a doozy. I'm a sucker for ghost stories, and this was a psychological horror wrapped in a schizophrenic nightmare that is beautifully written. This story follows Phoebe and her family who move to her step-father's ancestral mansion in England. Not only can Phoebe not remember the awful thing she did which caused her family to move in the first place, but she's seeing and hearing things, finding herself going from place to place with no memory how she got there. On top of that she's being haunted by an evil beyond imagination.

I am not familiar with Lynn Carthage's work, but I especially love the way she uses all five senses to bring you into this world she's created. Set in a small town English countryside, it's isolated and dank with a fearful emptiness. The manor is a living entity modeled off the French Versailles. You can hear the organ playing when you shouldn't, feel the whisper of someone who shouldn't be there. I've said before I don't like it when author's baby the readers and tell us how the character feels instead letting the character speak for herself. Phoebe feels guilty, scared and discombobulated and we know this because Carthage lets us "travel" with Phoebe as she goes from random memory to memory, from the pool to her baby sister's bedroom with no control of where she goes and who or what goes with her. When she sees a ghost for the first time, it's scary because everything seems so real. Phoebe becomes an unlikely hero for both the living and the dead, along with her new friend Miles. The love story with him is incomplete and a little awkward, given the circumstances, but it works.

Madame Arnaud is an unseen enigma, you can count on one had how many times she physically appears to Phoebe. The rest of the time she's a notion or a memory through a diary entry. She's not one of those villains where you might feel sorry of them, she's just evil. Carthage made her beautiful, alluring, and tempting, someone children wouldn't resist and adults would never say no to.

I thought this was a well-rounded story that had my emotions all over the place. I was scared and confused, but by the end I was crying. For a minute I thought the ending was dragging out, but it was perfect. Apparently this is book one in a series, and I'm curious because what else could possibly happen? But I can't wait. Haunted hits stores February 24th. You can check out Lynn Carthage on these websites:

Official Website

Goodreads