This is a book about a true-crime writer Lucas Graham who is going to interview a notorious killer and cult leader Jeffrey Halcomb on death row with the hopes of writing a new best seller. In a series of flashbacks we see the story from the cult members, as Lucas does research for his book in anticipation of finally coming face to face with Halcomb. In the meantime Lucas is staying at the infamous murder house while his 13-year-old daughter Virginia a.k.a. Genie or Vee is noticing paranormal activity.

Jeffrey Halcomb is a death row inmate who murdered 10 people about 30 years ago in 1983. Halcomb has never been willing to tell his side of the story until now. He writes to Lucas telling him he wants to do an interview. The stipulations are that all communication has to be done in person, Lucas must stay at Halcomb’s old house in Washington which is the scene of the murders and the interviews need to be done within the next 4 weeks. Lucas takes the bait, thinking this will relaunch his writing career. He sets off on a road trip to Washington with his daughter Vee. Pretty early on Vee beings noticing paranormal activity in the house but Lucas is on a mission to interview Halcomb for a new book which he’s sure will relaunch his writing career. His soon to be ex-wife Caroline stays behind.

This was my third time reading Ania Ahlborn and while this was not my favorite of hers, I'd read her work again. There were alot of flashbacks in the storyline and I felt the book lost its focus.

Chilling to the bone! A masterpiece of horror! The characters were truly unbelievable! The cover page, the title, along with the setting were simply haunting!
When things began to happen, I liked the way the family, when at first everything seemed so gloomy and out of sorts, fought. Will they come out the winner, though?
Ania Ahlborn came up with a classic when this book was written. I was awe-struck at the creativity of the story-line and how picturesque and in-depth the details were, An-up-all-night-read!

I often don't enjoy haunted house, horror novels but this was success at building a creepy atmosphere. The plot unfolds well and in intriguing ways where I wasn't quite sure how Lucas would do. However, it did drag a bit at times in ways that didn't quite advance the plot which somewhat detracted from the creepy atmosphere.

This book felt like a weird mash-up of some of my favorite horror movies plus Charles Manson. It centers around true crime writer Lucas Graham who gets an opportunity of the lifetime and a possible career saving pitch to come interview notorious murdered Jeffrey Halcomb in prison. Halcomb was a leader of a cult where every member killed themselves. There are some conditions: he must live in Halcomb's old house--the same house where the deaths took place. This is the part that reminded me of Sinister--washed up true crime writer living in the house of the crime.

Lucas and his wife separate and he moves with his daughter into the house. Once there, though, they both begin to experience strange happenings in the house. Additionally, Lucas runs into some roadblocks with his writing and things begin to spiral out of control.

Interwoven with the story of Lucas is the story of Audra (one of the victims) and what really happened so many years ago.

So....like I said this reminded me of bits and pieces of other stories all melded together. At first when I started reading it, I was excited because it felt different and like this might end up being an amazing story. But I found some parts of it hard to follow and I felt ultimately disappointed by the direction it took. I also felt the conclusion lacked explanation--I don't always need details, but I do like some idea of how and why things are happening.

I did find it entertaining and engrossing enough to keep with it, though. And it also did a good job of playing on the fear/horror of having the thoughts that are most terrifying to you (about you) be exploited and used against you. Halcomb was able to manipulate his victims through their pain--most often their negative feelings about themselves compounded by their less than ideal relationships with their parents.

So, might be worth a look, but not as good as it could have been!