Member Reviews
I liked the book. It kept me engaged. I read it pretty fast. Sometimes however I thought there was just a lot going on in the book. A lot of characters. It did flow nicely though. I didn't find it scary, but if you like spooky vibes I would recommend it. Especially for spooky season.
This was... fun? Should you really say a book about murder and dark secrets is fun? Oh well, I said it. Also, if I was a ghost and was tethered to the place I died, please let it be somewhere with a lot of people and drama, I don't want to be bored.
I enjoyed this story with all the characters within. The main character was Rachel Drake.
Rachel Drake is a widow that has been on the run from a man that murder her husband. She never leaves her apartment but one night she gets a call that makes her decided to leave. But she doesn't get far before something happens.
This was different then most thriller/ mystery story. Because the person that is murdered is the one trying to solve what had happened. This story had action, drama and suspense throughout. It had a few giggles throughout. It was fun trying to solve what had happened.
I received a complimentary audio copy via Netgalley. The narrative did a good job with the story. This is my honest unbiased opinions.
The audiobook was incredibly suspenseful. I loved the reader. The setting was fantastic and the characters were great. I loved their depth it really adds to an amazing thriller when you like the setting and characters. I felt like the book flowed and had a ton of plot twists.
I received a copy of this book to listen to in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.
***AUDIO BOOK VERSION***
The Ghosts of Thorwald Place is an eery, creepy thriller with some great twists and turns. We follow Rachel, a domestic violence helpline worker who works from her apartment in a fancy building with numerous amenities. Rachel chose this apartment as a safe haven after her husband was murdered to keep her safe from his killer. When Rachel receives a menacing phone call, she knows he's found her and tries to run for her life. Murdered in the elevator shaft, Rachel becomes tied to it as a kind of anchor, only free to wander where the elevator takes her up and down different floors in the building. Rachel tries to piece together who her killer is, but this doesn't come easy as so many potential suspects come crashing to the surface. Secrets are buried behind every apartment door casting suspicion on everyone who lives there.
This was such a good book to listen to on audio, and the narrator did a fantastic job enacting each and every character (and there are quite a few!). There were so many great twists towards the end that I didn't see coming too!
This audiobook was amazing. A totally different supernatural thriller. The other characters were interesting as well!
Its a definite must read or audiobook!
A small sypnosis, Rachel's husband was murdered by someone in the block of apartments. From that moment on she remained mostly within her apartment, even working by telephone from her apartment.
One day she was brutally murdered in the elevator within her apartment building. Immediately she finds herself as a ghost and pulled into the elevator whenever it's in motion, wondering who and if this is the person who murdered her. She had lots of fun with them and the narrator worked amazingly with each and every character voice to make it, at times quite humorous.
An audiobook with a differance. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher fora copy in returned for an honest review.
Loved the idea of point of view of a ghost. Very detailed and evolved characters. The end was a little anticlimactic.
I listened to the audiobook in February and it is one of the best audiobooks I have listened to. We follow Rachel Drake's journey as a ghost, thethered to her death place, the elevator in which she rides up and down in the residential building Thorwald Place where she is killed. The story is well written and along with the setting is atmospheric and engaging. Alongwith the double murder mystery of both Rachel and her husband a couple of years earlier, there are other mysteries/storylines pertaining to the other residents of the building which add to the engaging and haunting storyline. We see the progression of the story through the eyes and point of view of the ghost Rachel which is enhanced tremendously by the excellent narration of Rachel Fulginiti. It's been a few months since I listened to the audiobook but I can still recall the feeling of actually watching the whole story play out as a movie in my mind while listening to it. All the different issues/mysteries/paranormal activity in the building are explained and sorted out in the end along with the solving of the murders of both Rachel and her husband. This was bittersweet because the persons who are found responsible for the murder of both Rachel and her husband were ones who were trusted by them in their lifetime.
My thanks to NetGalley, the publishers CamCat Books/IBPA and the author Helen Power for the ALC of the book. This is the author's debut book and is worth reading/listening.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
This one wasn’t a bad read. I didn’t enjoy how many characters there were, BUT I loved having the narrator speaking directly to me. You don’t get that often in books. It was creepy, and kept me interested.
The title and description appealed to me, so I thought I would give this one a listen.
This was creepy and chilling, a good supernatural thriller. The protagonist described her experiences to the reader, and I think this was something that was intensified as I listened to the audio. I felt as though the protagonist was talking to me, and I became emotionally invested. I felt the ending was a satisfying one too.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.
I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of this book. This is told from the perspective of someone who was murdered in their building who is watching her murder investigation play out in real time. She gets to see the other residents of her building lie so that they can conceal the truth about their not so perfect lives. Powerless to do anything else but travel the lifts and walk the floors to find evidence, Rachel has no choice but to watch everything unfold.
I completely got Rachels' frustration, there's nothing worse than watching things happen and all you can do is sit on the side lines. I was eager to finish this and find out who was behind her murder and to also find out what happened with the other residents in the building who were pretending that everything was fine.
I loved this one. It was the perfect blend of paranormal/horror and mystery. The book has great pacing with wonderful writing that makes you love reading (listening in my case) this one. I couldn't put this one down because it was that good.
2.5 stars, rounded up. After reading the book summary, I was really excited to read The Ghosts of Thorwald Place. And it started out strong - it's got a great premise. Rachel Drake is hidden away in her apartment, clearly terrified of someone from her past finding her. Then she's murdered in the elevator, trapping her ghost in the apartment building and tied to a radius surrounding the elevator as it moves up and down in the building.
Like I said, I really liked the premise, but then after a while it got derailed - too many characters, too many side stories, not to mention the dark force lurking in the building. Rachel's story and murder seemed to take a back seat. I did want to love this one, but in the end it was just an okay read for me.
Rachel Drake has been in hiding from her husband’s murderer for the past two years, holed up in her apartment in a Toronto high-rise. When she receives a chilling phone call that sends her running, Rachel ends up murdered in the elevator of her apartment building. In the afterlife, she finds herself tethered to a limited range of the elevator where she died. In death, she learns about the neighbors she never knew in life: a battered pregnant wife, a surgeon with a locked door in her apartment, a TV medium, an unremarkable man with a strange hobby, and more. Any of these people could potentially be Rachel’s killer.
I was surprised to learn that this is Helen Power’s debut novel! It was an intriguing and engaging story. Rachel Fulginiti did a fantastic job narrating the various characters. The whodunnit aspect of the story kept me riveted, trying to find any clues to get the answer. If you like mysteries with a unique twist, I recommend checking this book out!
Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.
In “The Ghosts of Thorwald Place” by Helen Power, the protagonist is brutally murdered in the opening pages. The reader then follows her exploration of the building she is tethered to as she tries to determine who killed her and how to free herself from the threat of another, sinister being also lurking in the halls of the luxury condo building. Rachel, the main character, has a disturbing past, but as, in ghost form, she gets to know the other residents of the building, she realizes she is not the only one.
This was a fun horror mystery with so many twists and subplots, I was kept guessing until the end. I enjoyed the mix of ghost story, first-person narrative, and diary entries to give the background. Because our narrator was left in the dark regarding some things about her own life, the revelations seemed to work for both reader and main character, and I did not feel as if she was deliberately unreliable. This novel was thoroughly entertaining, and the narrator, Rachel Fulginiti, did an excellent job bringing the character of Rachel to life, or, erm, death, as it were. I look forward to other works in this genre from Helen Power. I received the audiobook from NetGalley.
I liked this book because it got me interested in the characters. We are fed small bits about each of them through the book from the main ghosts point of view, so we only see characters when the ghost is able to be near them.
It was frustrating but also enticing to feel how little control the main ghost has over what she is seeing.
Good stuff.
Received the audio through NetGalley, and I thought that Rachel Fulginiti did a great job with this.
This was a unique story for me. I was for the most part pulled in by the cover, so I did not give the blurb a read. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it was not for the main character to be murdered in the very beginning of the story! I guess I thought with the book’s title that it would be about her being haunted, not killed and becoming a ghost! (FYI, that is revealed in the blurb, so not me spoiling). So, it was a nice surprise and worked for me as a plot twist.
The main character is believable and relatable. Her grief and paranoia has pushed her to become a complete agoraphobe inside her well secured apartment complex. Even though she completely cuts herself off from the outside, it’s not enough to keep her safe. Nothing is. I didn’t really feel like that was creepy while listening to it, but now that I’m writing it out it surely does.
The author does a great job subverting a lot of the expectations around paranormal activity—what a ghost can do, and can not do, may surprise you a lot. It is much more along the lines of someone normal trapped in the in between of life and death, than it is like a malignant spirit in movies.
The author weaves a very twisting story, where every character, and every interaction, may lead to another clue or even another mystery. My only gripe is I did feel like this went on to the point where the main character’s story is a little less mysterious than I wished it would have been. Personally a 4/5* for me.
I honestly requested this audiobook because it was a Listen Now title and it sounded interesting and boy was it interesting! Rachel NEVER leaves her apartment, she even works from there because after her husband was murdered, Rachel was positive the murderer would be coming after her so she changed her name and moved into a secured apartment building. When she receives a call from a stranger who knows her old name she knows she must flee. On her way to the garage, Rachel is murdered in the elevator and now she is stuck there as a ghost, unable to leave, but also determined to find out who killed her. Such a suspenseful, intriguing plot and an excellent narrator.
I wont write a description of the book that's available on its cover so I have start off by saying overall this was an enjoyable and interesting book, the premise of being a ghost and thedered to your point of death but able to visit those around you whilst also being frustrated by the inability to do anything i felt was a rather enjoyable take on the situation.
There were parts that got repetitive but were covered by great storytelling and very atmospheric descriptions, I really felt for Rachel trying her best but having to live in fear, and then dealing with the aftermath of her own grisly demise.
I throughly enjoyed this book the story was intriguing but i believe that the narrator really did a fabulous job of giving the book its atmosphere and keeping the tempo of the book going great voice work.
This was such a great book and unlike any other thriller I’ve read. The story jumps right into the suspense from the very start when main character, Rachel, is murdered in the elevator of her apartment building. We also get her backstory and learn that she is basically a recluse and living in fear after the murder of her husband. The rest of the story is mainly given to us through the point of view of Rachel’s ghost. We learn about the rest of the hodge podge of characters that live in the building as Rachel tries to find out who killed her. I love the creativity of this author. It was such a fun idea to have a character work at solving their own murder. There are also numerous little side stories involving the eccentric neighbors that live in her building. Do we ever truly know our neighbors or what goes on behind closed doors?