I've long felt that, if you've read one Simon R. Green book, you've pretty much read them all, but with his longer series, such as the Nightside and the Droods, there are enough secondary characters and enough storylines to make them very worthwhile reading.

Not so with his more recent series, including this new (and hopefully short-lived) one, beginning with The Holy Terrors. He has his typical two main characters, a male antihero and a supporting female who, in this case, is much less kickass than his norm, and a few cannon fodder, I mean, supporting characters who are fairly indistinguishable from one another. It’s a good thing they become so attached to each other, because I didn’t care about any of them, and frankly was hoping they would all meet their untimely ends quickly, so that I could call the book finished.

Now, it wasn’t a terrible book, but it wasn’t up to the standard of Green’s earlier works, and I think that’s the problem I’ve had with a lot of his recent stuff. It just feels formulaic and like he’s phoning it in. Maybe it’s always been that way, and I just didn’t have the discernment to realize that, but it’s disappointing.

Why you should read it: If you haven’t read any of Green’s older works, and you like reality-type haunted house shows, you might like this.

Why you shouldn’t read it: Unlikeable and unmemorable characters, stale and predictable plot. Go pick up the first Nightside or Drood book instead.

I received an advance copy from Severn House via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

2 out of 5 stars.

The premise of this book sounded intriguing but was really kind of a dud. A group of C-list celebrities spends the night in the "most haunted hall in England" and has their every move on camera. However, things start to go wrong almost immediately; the host and her pet medium can't get the director or crew to respond and then someone dies by mysterious circumstances.
This was short and supposedly the start of a series but I don't think I'll be tuning in for the next episode.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for this e-arc.*

While I loved the premise of this book, unfortunately the execution was off. The book's blurb grabbed my attention but the book lost that attention within the first 10 pages. I didn't connect with any of the characters. None of them had much depth and were pretty boring for most of the book. The book was mostly telling, not showing and the supernatural aspects felt farfetched. The book was fast paced at least and I didn't mind the author's writing style. I would be open to reading some of the author's other works, this series just isn't it for me.

Thank you to Severn House for providing this eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm still a big fan of Simon R. Green because I read and re-read several of his books (e.g. the Deathstalker books). I just love them.
This one, alas, does nothing for me.
It's all talk and very soon I lost track of who was who because the characters all talked with the same tone of voice.
It's a pity and I hope the author will soon come back with new stories that are more like the ones I read and loved so much.

Thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for this review copy.

Spooky Time!, a tv ghost-hunting show, is doing a special live episode in the hopes of boosting the ratings and saving the show. June, host and producer, along with her "pet psychic" Leslie have invited four seemingly random "celebrities" to exploit for the peoples' entertainment. Included in the show's line-up is Diana, star of stage and screen who is starting to get desperate for work as she does what all of us must - age; Alistair, the Bishop from a very bad section of London who makes the rounds on morning talk shows at the behest of his superiors; Toby, a comedian attempting to boost his club bookings after his latest heart attack; and Indira, a celebrity chef who won a tv cooking contest and needed to promote her newest book before she falls into obscurity. And the place? "[T]he must haunted hall in England, and that is officially certified, by Guinness," at least according to June. Officially, it is just a town hall in the middle of nowhere.

Things start to go wrong immediately - equipment missing, cell phone service gone, electricity sketchy. It seems easy to write it off as the show's schtick until one of the guests is found dead. Is there a murderer in their midst or is the hall truly haunted with ghosts bent on revenge?

I really wanted to like this and it is normally something totally up my alley, but it really fell flat for me. All the arguing, lots of nothing happening, and even I had a hard time suspending my belief that anything but normal ghost show crap was taking place. I had hopes for more, but alas, here we are.

It's a good and entertaining story with multidimensional characters and cool twists. I enjoyed reading it and appreciate the well-thought-out plot and the author's ability to keep the reader engaged. Worth a shot.

This may be trying to build up to a larger series in the future but I didn't really find this book able to hold my interest at all. Maybe it will build up in later entries but I don't find myself really excited with the thought of continuing.

A gathering of minor celebrities in the most haunted place in England...sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Spooky Time, a reality TV show, sputtering along, has hired an Anglican priest, a South Asian celebrity chef, a has-been comedian and an aging actress to appear. June and Leslie are the hosts, June manipulates behind the scenes and Leslie is the resident medium. But, what has the group awakened in the hall? When the bodies start dropping, everyone begins to freak out. Quite slow-paced at the beginning, it picked up speed in the last half. This is the beginning of a new series for Green which will feature Alister and Diana, the priest and the actress, as ghost-hunters. I do not know if I will read the second. This did provide the trademark Green snark and British humor.

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read and review this book. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

4 Stars!

It had been a long time since I read anything by Simon R. Green and The Holy Terrors seemed like a great way to get reacquainted with the author. Touted as a “locked-room mystery with a paranormal twist,” this novel seemed like the perfect mix of mystery and horror on the outside, so I could not wait to sink my teeth into this mystery for a spine-tingling adventure.



Spooky Time was a ghost-hunting reality show that was low on reality and high on scripted scares. It was a formula that worked for a while but the show’s rating were in a free fall and cancellation seemed inevitable. June, the host and creator of the show, has the perfect way to save it: a live broadcast with a celebrity cast from The Most Haunted Hall in England. June set out to cast the show and was rebuffed by her first choices, so they were not the celebrities she wanted, but they would have to do. This is how Alistair, a bishop who hosted a morning religion show, finds himself locked in the hall over night with June, a medium, and actress, a comedian, and a celebrity chef.



Just having a live broadcast from a spooky location overnight may not be enough, especially with the Z-list celebrities she was able to get to sign on. June is not above manufacturing some scares, though, and is confident that she can pull this off. Once they are locked in and the show begins, however, her idea of scripted scares goes out the window with the first murder. This is definitely not what the guests had in mind, but it may just be the way to save the show. But only if they can stop the person, or ghost, who seems hell-bent on murder.



The Holy Terrors starts out with the introduction of the cast as they arrive for the show. Alistair takes the spotlight from the beginning and, to be honest, he is the most interesting character in a cast that lacks depth. The focus is definitely on him, which is not surprising since I am guessing the new series is going to build around him. There is enough conflict and depth in him to make him interesting. The rest of the cast seems disposable and, in fact, proves to be so over the course of the story. The storyline is a bit formulaic, especially at the beginning, but the book is an easy read and it flows quickly. I will admit that I was not immediately impressed or pulled into the book, but then things get interesting.



Once the story gets rolling and the cast is locked in the haunted hall, The Holy Terrors becomes a fast, fun read. Green throughs curves at the reader with abandon and leaves them questioning their thoughts and assumptions about what is really happening in the story. There is a simplicity to his prose that makes the convoluted story easy to navigate so that it never left me feeling bogged down. I thought there was a definite Agatha Christie vibe to this story that reminded me of my teenage years when I first discovered her books. It is clear that Green is a master of the genre adn this story is entertaining throughout. My one quibble would be that I figured out what was really happening very early on in the book (although I have been told that I am very good at that), but that did not diminish my enjoyment of the story much as it was interesting how green unravels the story. If you have not read anything by Green before, this is a great book pick him up. If you have read him before, it has been too long, even if you read his last book, and Green will remind you of just how good he is.



I would like to thank Severn House and NetGalley for this review copy. The Holy Terrors is scheduled to be released on February 6, 2024.

I really wanted to like this book. I wanted it to scare me. But I didn’t and it didn’t. It wasn’t believable even by paranormal standards.

This was a fun read, but I missed the supernatural elements of the Nightside and many of the author's other series. I enjoyed this book, and read it straight through, but it would be a book I borrow from the library rather than a book I buy and keep.

New characters, same snarky dialog by Green. Not sure if this is a beginning to a new series or not. This has "most haunted hall in England" as the locked door drama with 6 characters all whom have experience in television with some notoriety, acting, religion, cooking, comedy, along with the hostess and her sidekick, a medium.
It's to be shown live for a ghost hunting show for a full night, with the locks only opening in the morning. A murder happens in the beginning, leading to a seance, multiple connections to ghosts from the past, and a resolution for an ending. Not much action, other than paranormal. Lots of dialog, and information of all characters pasts. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced read.

**Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC of this book.**

Unfortunately, I am with the majority of reviewers on this one and it ended up not working for me. Rounded up to a generous 3 stars due to a promising premise, the hints of a good story in there somewhere, and a couple characters that I didn’t hate.

The idea of a reality TV show taking place in a “haunted” building that ended up being actually haunted sounded so perfect to me. The Holy Terrors loses itself in too much dialogue and not a whole lot happening, unfortunately. The character interactions were weird, and I was given no reason to suspend any kind of disbelief to make them seem more real.

Check this one out if you like reality TV, ghost hunting shows, and horror that focuses primarily on the relationships of the characters!

Huge fan of the Nightside series, so wanted to give Holy Terrors.

Al locked room thriller with the addition of a possible supernatural element. 6 people enter a haunted town hall for a ghost hunting tv show. The doors are sealed and no one can leave till morning. All kinds of spooky noises and then people start dropping dead with no visible injuries.

I really liked the main character, Alastair, who is a bishop. He’s the most skeptical if them all with an analytical mind.

A real quick and fun read.!

Unfortunately this was a miss for me.
Unlikeable characters, way too much dialogue, and honestly quite boring for the majority of the read.

If there was more character introspection, more mystery/dread/horror, less obnoxious characters (and also more realistic) I think this would be a fantastic story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & Severn House for a copy.

Spooky Time is a ghost hunting show that is on its last stand due to low viewership and ratings. To try to save the show from cancellation, the show’s psychic medium and host are joined by a variety of D list celebrities in a live-streamed lockdown special episode. The show is known for over exaggerating and even faking evidence, but what happens when “the UKs most haunted location” turns out to be… well… haunted?? Can these 6 paranormal investigators survive the night?

The premise of this book sounded right up my alley, the idea is unique and the story started promising. Unfortunately, once the characters entered into the haunted building, the execution did not live up to my expectations regarding the premise.

The characters are two-dimensional, which is not my preference as I am a character driven, and not a plot driven reader.
One of the characters (Indira) is a woman of color and her character was bizarrely infantilized throughout the book, constantly doing things “like a child”. The characters never get more substance past their designated role in the production.

The action is led along by dialogue and telling instead of showing. For a haunted location, I wanted more description of what the surroundings looked like, felt like, and why it seemed so haunted.

That being said, this is a book with a solid premise to work with. The social commentary on fame and “reality” tv is funny, and the dialogue keeps the pace of the book flowing nicely. I think this book’s concept and tone would work really well for the cozy mystery crowd, it is a self contained mystery that wraps up all the questions nicely at the end of the story, and its format would work well for cozy mystery readers wanting a taste of the paranormal in their reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc, all thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

Oh dear me I was disappointed by this one. It was okay ish, but the characters never seemed like they were in character oddly enougjZ thanks for the arc.

3.5 stars

Well, I thought this was a quick and solid read.

It's certainly quirky. But one of the things I liked most about this, apart from giving us the television producer from hell, is that it injects so much doubt into the story. Are the events real or not? That had me intrigued for the entire read. I don't want to give the reveal away here, but I was on the fence about what was going on for entire ride.

Reading this book actually felt like I was watching a reality ghost hunting episode on TV. So huge praise for making the book feel that real. I liked that the author didn't back down from thumping home the tricks used in producing some of those programs, and I enjoyed the banter between the characters when discussing the many tricks. The characters in this book are loud and very much larger than life. Even the more sedate character, such as Alistair. For me, the characters felt real. They were written very well to match who they represented in the book, and they were consistent.

If this is the first book in a series, I'm not sure I can see the clear direction for the second book, but I'm hoping there is a second book. I think there is some unfinished business and the possibility for more interesting shenanigans.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing a free copy of this book for an honest review. All comments are my own.

Link to video review to be added in the near future.

Take the rural Stonehaven Town Hall or “The Most Haunted Hall in England” as the locals call it, hoping for an increase in tourists. Add June and Leslie, producer and medium, of the failing reality TV show Spooky Times. And finally mix in four D list celebrities: Toby Marsh, a second rate comedian with health problems, Indira Singh, once a star chef, Diana Hunt, an actor looking for publicity and better roles, and finally Alistair Kincaid, an Anglican Bishop and frequent guest on morning TV. The plan for the show is to lock them all in the Town Hall overnight, film their stay on live TV and see who makes it through, sane and alive, to morning. Nothing goes according to the “plan”. There are surprise power outages, strange noises, missing possessions, more noises, confessions and death. Alistair and Diana stay together while trying to discover whether the killer they seek is human…or not.

Spooky Time is fun and not totally frightening. It doesn’t need to be. Talented author Simon R. Green has given us memorable characters, especially Bishop Alistair and his partner Diana, and bad behavior by both humans and spirits. While most of the group focuses on the spirit world, Alistair has other ideas. I hope this is the start of a new series. I can’t wait for what comes next. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Severn House and Simon R. Green for this ARC.