“𝙾𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚎.“

Wow, this one had me hooked from the very first page! It was everything I love in a gothic horror and more. This atmospheric ghost story introduces us to Cecily, who begins her tale in the prologue as a child recalling the lonely , nomadic life she has been living with her mother, Sandrine. Sandrine’s family and past are haunted by a curse that has all but destroyed her ancestors and shows no signs of giving up its hold on the LeClercq lineage. This is more than obvious to us very early in the narrative.
 
“𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚍𝚘𝚣𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕. 𝙸𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝙲𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚕𝚢‘𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚖𝚎.“

Getting a peek into the childhood of our main character helps us formulate an understanding of who, and why, they are. In Cecily’s case, her present is inescapably intertwined with her past. Trauma is a thief, something Cecily knows all too well.

“𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚖𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚖𝚊.“

The rest of our story follows Cecily, now an isolated, young woman, as she travels from Charleston to Paris to meet a great grandmother she has never known. While in Paris, we become immersed in our surroundings through the beautifully written imagery and the artfully descriptive language.
 
“𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚌𝚑 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚛𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛.“

This story was an easy, quick, and thoroughly entertaining read full of glorious scenery, creepy subject matter, and likeable characters. Although it did become a little confused and repetitive in later chapters, and a few small reveals were somewhat predictable, it was frightfully delightful and well worth the read. I must warn you, however, if you are expecting a bright and cheery happy ending, this story is not for you. In a refreshing twist, we do not get a happily ever after here. Not even close.

Wraith is a horror mystery novel. When the wraith is in a scene, you have more of a horror story, then in between wraith visits, we get the mystery part of the story where Cecily tries to discover why her family line has been cursed.

I really liked this book. The first 30% of the story was a bit slow, but when Cecily leaves for France is when this story really picks up and gets interesting. The characters are wonderful. Any scene that the wrath is in (short scenes scattered throughout) is amazing. The author really brought her to life. The wraith brings with her a level of tension and creepiness.

I really enjoyed reading this book and would definitely read more by this author.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand. I will post my review on Goodreads, and Amazon.

#NetGalley #Wraith

When she was young, Cecily witnessed her mother die during a hurricane. As horrific as that sounds, nothing is more horrific than the creepy wraith that follows her family. Years later, Cecily must travel to Paris when she becomes the sole heir to her estranged grandmother's estate. In a chateau in the woods, Cecily learns the truth about the wraith and the curse that follows her family.

I'm giving this book three stars because I did feel bored with it, unfortunately. It has the bones of a good story, but the main character was annoying and I felt as though she was always complaining instead of getting anything done. I also couldn't really get over how everything was perfectly normal after the airplane scene in the beginning. If that happened to me, I'd probably die.

Thank you NetGalley and Mark Wheaton for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review. This review has also been added to my Goodreads account at this link https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4580189016

I didn't know what to expect going into this. I have not heard of this author before and no one I follow has this shelved on their TBR. What I ended up getting out of this novel wasn't bad at all, as I thought it was a pretty solid horror story even given how short the book is.

This story follows Cecily, whose mother sacrificed herself when she was young in order to protect her from a wraith. The wraith is said to be the curse of the LeClercq family, and if you see it, your days are numbered. I thought that it was a simple concept that was executed well enough. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the direction the story went in, but I am not mad at it at least even though the ending was a bit rushed.

My only reason for not giving this a higher rating would be because of some irrational actions on the part of Cecily. Also, because it was so short, there was only so much you get out of it which could lead to some disappointment.

Overall though, as I said, this was a decent horror novel and it is short, so you can get through it pretty easily. There are trigger warnings for suicide though, so keep that in mind before going into this.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this in advance.

Thank you to NetGalley & Mark Wheaton for an ARC copy of Wraith.

I would agree with most reviewers on the fact that this novel is more on the Gothic Horror side of things than General Horror. It has an old-fashioned feeling similar to The Haunting of Hill House, which I feel is such great quality. Not only that, I really hope that Wraith becomes a movie as this is something I would love to see on screen played out.

Regardless, this was the novel that I didn't know I was waiting for. It has been some time since I felt so drawn to a novel and didn't know how it was going to end. Wraith is fast-paced, Mark Wheaton does well with making the world real without having to slow down and provide backstory. Everything you need to know is rolled out at a beautiful pace and you know what you need to know when Wheaton wants you to know it.

I honestly cannot describe in words how much I enjoyed Wraith and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Gothic Horror.

Loved it, although I did not find it frightening. Good characters, more of a gothic horror so not fast paced but very enjoyable.
I received this book from the publishers via Netgalley for a review.

“Ours is a life in constant motion, Sandrine once told her, you and me against the world”.

Trying to piece her life together after a traumatic childhood event, Cecily lives an isolated exhistance preferring the quiet company of plants. However, there are some things you simply can’t run from. With the arrival of a stranger, Cecily’s life is about to be drastically turned upside down when she is faced with a lineage of dark family secrets.

This book had so many aspects to it that I enjoyed. I found that the writing and detailed descriptions made the story all the more realistic and easy to envision. The plot flowed easily, which in turn made the story that much more engaging. I would have enjoyed a bit more in depth history of the family members, specifically more background information on key characters, but found that the length of the book was just right for a “finish in one sitting” read.

In its entirety I found it to be an exhilarating and riveting read, and would recommend to readers who enjoy horror/thriller genres.

Mark Wheaton’s “Wraith” had an intriguing premise set in an atmospheric location with the promise of a contemporary gothic ghost story. In the end though, it left me underwhelmed. It’s one of those reads that floated somewhere in the “meh” realm.

Most horrors move pretty quickly, but this one felt like more of a slow burn mystery than a horror. While the scenes with the wraith/ghost clearly put it into the speculative fiction genre, I can’t help feeling like it was more of a mystery than full blown horror. I am a huge gothic fan and while this one certainly has elements of it (and yes, I know gothic horror is typically slower burn), it was all in all a bit forgettable. The earlier parts of the book were the best, with more focus on the wraith haunting and terrorizing our characters but the latter part was more dedicated to uncovering secrets of the past and solving the family curse. There wasn’t a ton of character development, so I was a bit disconnected from Cecily but I will say the character of Rene is not one I will soon forget. He was definitely a stand out player who stole the show. I did like the theme of family and identity. Cecily’s desire to break a generational curse was also commendable. Wheaton utilized nature a lot and I have to say that may have been my favorite part. The setting was well written—haunting and descriptive and definitely gothic. The ending was a bit frustrating in that it felt like nothing was accomplished. Yes some loose ends were tied up, but really, Cecily is right back where she started although with a touch more optimism.

If you’re a gothic fan, this one will definitely be worth giving a read. Just be prepared for more mystery and less horror.

“Wraith” by Mark Wheaton is a powerful, bold statement about what it means to carry a family legacy that is anything but heroic and admirable. Set in Paris, the city d’amour, this suspenseful story follows the last LeClerq heir on a journey that is anything but romantic or extraordinary.

After witnessing her mother’s death at a young age, Cecily LeClerq has whittled herself away to a remote area in California. She has a pretty sweet job that allows her to explore her interest in plants—especially the endangered ones. Though she hasn’t fully healed from her past trauma, she’s completely in her element working with nature.

Until a stranger arrives from Paris, telling her that a distant relative has requested to meet with her before she dies. After some hesitation, Cecily travels to a historical home located deep in the woods. When she arrives, she learns of a morbid curse that has taken the lives of the LeClerq family for generations. Cecily is warned there is no undoing the curse, that once the wraith comes to visit, her days are numbered.

This is the perfect mix of murder-mystery, horror, and paranormal. It’s full of gruesome deaths and a tragic history that creates a surreal picture of what Cecily’s fate will look like if she is unable to stop the family curse. Readers will be held in anxiety-inducing tension as they follow Cecily on her journey to finding answers and to save whatever family is left from a terrible and morbid end.

Without giving too much away, the wraith is an interesting figure. The idea behind it is fascinating, both its existence and capabilities, as well as its purpose in reference to the LeClerq family. Not only will the mystery aspect draw readers into Cecily’s grizzly affairs, as well as the beautiful descriptions of Paris, but the originality behind the wraith will appeal to many paranormal/horror fans.

Sometimes the attention to detail can slow the pace of the novel. There were times when there was too much description of the plants or scenery that didn’t feel out of place but was a little too lengthy. If the detail were to be cut back a bit more in a few places, the pace would have a continuous flow instead of going back and forth from intense to casual.

“Wraith” by Mark Wheaton is a must-read novel for those who enjoy horror, paranormal ghostly figures, and mystery. This book is set to be published on April 13th, 2022. Save the date and add it to your reading lists!
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an e-arc of this novel and the chance to share my honest opinion in this review.

I really enjoyed this book from the beginning where Cecily watches her mother die and uncovering so many twists and turns in France. This was a trilling suspense read for me but still trying to figure out why the Wraith is still appearing to Cecly.... What or who is the Wraith?
Thank you for letting me read this prior to releaes date

I'm going to be honest...when I started reading this book, I wasn't sure about it. I didn't care for the main character so much and the plot seemed a little old-fashioned.

But then I met (and loved) a certain salty Frenchman and I was in - so in!

I'm happy to say that Cecily grew on me, I became thoroughly involved in a certain truly dreadful family curse, and there was one purely iconic scene that involved bones and more bones and more bones.

This ended up being such a fun book and I'm glad I stuck with it!

*ARC via Publisher

For some reason, I had a really hard time getting into this book. I felt that I had a hard time truly getting to know the characters and wish that I was able to get more of a feel of Cecily really was. I did love the scenery and imagery that I was able to get out of this novel. Is was very haunting and beautiful. I am someone who has a fear of flying, so the turbulence part on the plane, so that alone really had me on the edge of my seat and I audibly gasped. All in all it was a pretty good novel, especially if you are a gothic horror fan.

DNF. There were a number of mistakes in the first chapter (missing / wrong words) and it was jarring enough to take me out of the story. The premise seems interesting but Sandrine's words & actions seemed melodramatic and illogical.

Wraith is a fast paced, paranormal thriller by Mark Wheaton, with an unexpected focus on botany. The writing keeps the story moving smoothly and I found the main character interesting & relatable. Having grown up with my family owning a florist, I genuinely enjoyed all the informative tid-bits about plant life. While the ending wasn't a cliffhanger, it definitely left room for a sequel or ten.
Having suffered early childhood trauma due to seeing the suicide of her Mom, Cecily LeClercq keeps herself well hidden from most of the world. One day at work a stranger arrives with a message. He wants Cecily to go with him to Paris to see her Great Grandmother, whom she's never had any contact with, whatsoever. Heck! She'd assumed that she was already dead. Now the old lady simply must see her as soon as possible.
Soon Cecily will find herself traveling to an old fortress that's hidden deep in a ancient French forest. There, her Great Great Aunt warns her of a familial curse that has haunted their ancestors for centuries. Now it's up to her to try and stop the curse on her own.

Thanks to NetGallery for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A quick read. I enjoyed the ride even though I felt the story and characters lacked depth. We don't really get a sense of who Cecily is outside of what purpose it serves for the story. The side characters besides Rene were hard for me to keep track of. Everyone was introduced quickly and seemed to form connections quickly despite the language differences. There is a lot of "tell" instead of "show" in this book as we learn about why the family is cursed and as Cecily explores her family ties. That being said, there is some really creepy scenes and imagery. I felt like this would perhaps even be better suited if adapted into a movie. There is a lot of visual horror that is well described.

I particularly like the scene on the plane during turbulence with the flight attendant shifting into the wraith. That was the strongest part of the novel for me. So well done and disturbing. It really burned an image into my mind. I liked the ending as well and thought it was well handled. The book isn't as well fleshed out as I would have liked, or as it might have been as a film, but it served the purpose of a face paced thriller. Something was always happening and a lot of descriptive horror. It had some unexplored potential for me but it wouldn't prevent me from recommending it to a horror fan. I'd check out more of Wheaton's work as well.

Cecily knows very little about her relatives, but she gets a crash course when it turns out that her great-grandmother is about to die. Cecily is taken to Paris to meet her, but she dies before the plane can land. Although this seems like a simple thing that will cause her to go back to the US immediately, she gets roped into her family’s curse. The question of whether it’s real or just something she psyches herself into seeing will be answered by the end of the book.

Wraith was a perfectly adequate paranormal mystery. The best part is in the very beginning of the book. After which, it became much more interested in the reasons behind the wraith than in delivering scares. There’s nothing wrong with that, although I was hoping for more scares.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

This is the best horror I've read since Hetty (Eddie Generous) and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a supernatural/fantasy/sci fi read. At around 200 pages it did not at all feel like a short story. The plot was fully developed, the characters were rounded and the mystery took quite a number of turns. The descriptions were vivid and I was really able to visualise and almost smell and feel the forest and underground scenes.

What I loved most? The full on Walking Dead vibes despite it not being a zombie adventure. The absence of an expected or neatly tied up ending...yet still fully satisfying.

I'm not even taking off any stars for the occasional use (Only twice I think) of blasphemy, a pet peeve of mine.

Perhaps an overused phrase, but I COULD NOT PUT THIS DOWN.

I will definitely be buying this for our library and promoting it to readers.

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Gothic Fan? Lite Horror? This super creepy book has all the elements you are looking for!
The WRAITH is a perfect creepy tale. Cecily LeClerq is living a reclusive life in South Caroline when she learns that she has distant relatives in Paris. More importantly, one relative needs to see her urgently. Cecily is overwhelmed and weary of flying but the assistant to the relative ( a lovely character) has been dispatched to assist her and off she goes!

Cecily arrives completely mesmerized in Paris. She is taken to an old chateau deep in the French woods where she learns of an ancient curse that has befallen her family. The Wraith is a mysterious ghostlike image that appears as a harbinger of evil. What happens when Cecily sees it?

Loved this novel! If you like gothic tales, creepy stories and lite horror then the #Wraith is for you #MarkWheaton #netgalley #netgalleyreads

I have to admit that I am disappointed upon finishing Wraith by Mark Wheaton. The description was what originally piqued my interest— a familial curse, a malevolent ghost, an old estate in the forests outside Paris? Count me in! However, the more I read, the more dissatisfied I became. The book starts with the traumatic death of Cecily’s mother, who commits suicide in the middle of a hurricane by walking into the ocean. The main character’s mother is killing herself in order to save her daughter— a truly harrowing start to any story— and yet I found myself hung up on details provided to the reader that kept snapping me out of suspended disbelief. I won’t give too many examples in order to keep spoilers at a minimum, but, for instance, how does an older child raised in the South not understand the difference between a Category 2 and Category 5 hurricane? And how can Cecily have any memories of her deceased father if he died shortly after her birth? The issue persists throughout the novel, particularly when the wraith is encountered.

I understand that saying “the wraith really only seemed like a plot device utilized to move the story along” sounds obvious at first, but bear with me. The wraith is, without giving too much detail, the reason that Cecily and other members of her family avoid crowds, yet Cecily frequently uses trains to travel to and from her family’s estate in the woods without encountering the wraith. The wraith is meant to appear when the death of a LeClerq is near, but the wraith appears at moments when Cecily is in no danger. The wraith is not a harbinger of death, such as a banshee, since the wraith actively tries to hurt Cecily. The wraith seems to appear at moments when the plot risks running stagnant, and I expected more from the eponymous character.

I was confused with the seemingly random appearances of the wraith, but I was even more confused by the ultimate characterization of the wraith as a dybbuk, a malevolent spirit from Jewish mythology. There is little to no reference to Judaism in the story until the 11th hour, and suddenly a Jewish spirit is the Big Bad of the book. Considering just how the dybbuk is implied to have come to be within the story, I found the choice to make the story’s primary antagonist of Jewish origin. This choice is then, not even two chapters later, made almost useless, as the climax of the story is revealed with little to no foreshadowing included in previous chapters.

Given everything that I just wrote, you may be wondering why I chose not to DNF the book. In short, I kept reading because I found Cecily’s quest to learn more about her great-grandmother, Margueritte, very interesting. Cecily is a very isolated character throughout the story, and she manages to find a small family of friends as she tries to learn more about the family her mother essentially hid her from. Cecily also finds similarities between herself and Margueritte, drawing connections between herself and this mysterious and famously unfortunate lineage of which she had no prior knowledge. For an orphan with no more links between herself and her mother’s past, I was interested to see how far Wheaton would go to highlight the similar paths Cecily and Margueritte took in life. Maybe I’ll reread Wraith at a later date— see if I missed anything that would have changed my opinion of the book. In the meantime, I remain disenchanted with a plot line in which I see so much untapped potential.

Wraith by Mark Wheaton was a interesting and very intriguing story.
An edge of your seat ride.
With suspense that keeps going till the very end. .I read this book in a matter hours.
Check it out...

Mark Wheaton,
Thank you for this eARC.