Ann knows her uncle's house is haunted. Things move by themselves, figures manifest in the dark, and voices whisper in her ear whenever she treads on the attic stairs. And that's about it for the story. Even if I was 12 years old I doubt I would enjoy this read. It lacked continuity, coherency and an interesting plot. I could see where the author was trying to go with this but she never quite made it. The whole time I was reminded of old Casper the Friendly Ghost episodes and I doubt thats what this author intended. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

This book reminds me of The Frighteners and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Its not scary, and any ghost/poltergeist that needs to say BOO to scare humans, is a spectre I simply can't take seriously. The story is quite predictable and one of the annoying things is how the whole book is written in either First Person Present or some other kind of Present. Sometimes I had trouble figuring out whose head we were in.

This book would be great as a teen horror. For teens who've grown up on Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark. But really, its barely a horror.

After reading the prologue, I was eager to see how the characters of Mr. Roberts, Ada, and Mr. Harris were involved in this novel. I knew from the book description that this was a book about a haunted house, the two spirits trapped in it, a girl named Ann, and her uncle Art. I was looking forward to the unfolding of this story. For me, there were several things that got in the way.
Except for Henry the poltergeist, the characters are static. He is the most motivated, rounded, and logical character. The descriptions of his visits, his sardonic and threatening dialogue, and the intensity of his emotions, are vivid and move the story along. However, uncle Art and Ann react are stuck in a reactionary loop of: notice a sulfurous odor; see red walls; get menaced; get beaten up; ask him, “What do you want”; be given the same two answers. Repeat. If these characters were more developed, they could do more than just be there for Henry to make his two requests time after time.
For example, Uncle Art is beaten often in this book; once so severely that he is sent to the hospital. Where does he convalesce? Alone in this house so he can still be victimized by Henry. His only visitors seem to be Ann, her sister Lou, and their oblivious mom, Lil. She is continually bringing the girls over to Uncle Art, even after this attack, and the attacks on Ann. Despite Ann frequently being thrown against walls, she never notices her bruises and pain. Why? Because we need her in the house so Henry will appear. If the characters were more developed, there would be some tension.
The book is written in very short chapters: they alternate between first person (Ann), and third person. I wonder what changing the perspective would do. If the entire book was written in third person, it would allow the story from the prologue to be develop slowly in longer, alternating settings (past and present) and in a less monotonous and disjointed way. The characters could be more dimensional, and involved.
The scene of chapter 10 has Ann and her younger sister, Lou, walking down a path behind the house. As they advance, Lou is scared. Her sister tells her: ‘Sticking together means nothing can happen to us”. If only this was allowed to blossom. This theme could have been developed through the book, easily with both casts of characters.

I was really looking forward to reading this book as I normally like a good ghost story, but I'm afraid to say this book did not live to my expectations. The ideas were there, the premises were good, but sadly the execution was poor.

It was repetitive (if I read another discussion between the girl and the poltergeist about the ring, or the bogey, or the bathroom I could have screamed), the characters were not developed at all, the violent scenes were not necessary and did not add anything to the spookiness of the book. I found myself just skimming through the pages because I wanted the book to end but nothing was really happening. I did not really care about finding out what was happening, because I did not like any of the characters,

Sadly, I would not recommend this book.

Thank you to publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am not sure how to rate this one. I tried to keep an open mind while reading it just never hit with me. I think this would be better suited for a teen reader. I am sure the younger reader will enjoy I however did not enjoy it as much as I hoped.

Thank you to publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read.

I was hoping for an atmospheric, haunted house story - think House on Haunted Hill or Mexican Gothic.

Unfortunately, this story isn’t like those at all. There’s small glimmers of promise - little snippets which could have been used to build atmosphere. But sadly, the potential is never realised.

The characters, including the children, and not well realised. And if I had to read about the ‘bogey’ one more time I might have screamed. The writing is naive and the entities haunting the house are extreme. The poltergeist is a violent man who abused his wife whilst alive (TW: there are scenes of violence and rape). The ghost is a wan servant who spends most of the time unable to remember who he is.

There was a lot of kids being thrown about and forced up stairs, which isn’t as unsettling or disturbing as the author thinks. There was also a weird obsession with bathrooms. I understand it was meant to be a place where the characters interacted with the ghost/poltergeist, but it seemed a bit like there were just constant references to people not wanting to use the bathroom.

This was very much a case of everything and the kitchen sink being thrown at a story. Haunted house, poltergeist, ghost, property owner whose wife had died, nieces who were able to communicate with the ghostly beings. The result was a mishmash of ideas that had the potential to be good, but was just boring. I didn’t care about any of the characters or the mystery of why the house was haunted.

1 star for me - I wouldn’t recommend this at all.