Despite being a novella, this is how ghost stories are done. I first stumbled on this book a few years ago before a deployment and I plowed through it late one night on ship. It had me spooked for sure and those can be some dark hallways at night. Before I found this book I had been searching for a decent ghost story, one that had actual ghost in it that were present, menacing, and not revealed to be fake at the end. Darcy Coates finally ended this search for me and I became hooked on her Haunting of such and such House novels.
The basic idea is that a woman finds a camera, one which shows ghosts in its photos. The woman and her friend notice this, but as they begin to take more pictures, they realize the ghosts are noticing them back and starting to come after them. The way that the author describes the ghosts and their pursuit makes them really come to life (some comment about puns or whatever goes here). Despite the short length of the story, the two main characters are also surprisingly well fleshed out and don't just seem like ghost fodder. The settings are okay, but they just serve as the backdrop for nasty ghosts to stalk and prowl upon. As far as literary quality goes, this author remembers that horror is the main focus. The writing holds itself high accordingly but doesn't get lost in the weeds with over complex or deep writing. Scares and the chase are the main focus of this novel and they are done exceedingly well.
I also really liked how the author provided the resolution to the story. Many horror stories end with everyone being killed off with perhaps a lone survivor that no one will believe and the horror threat still out there or acting like an unstoppable terminator. This one definitively stops the ghost threat and provides solid resolution to the story and for the characters. The lore behind the Ghost Camera was also very intriguing.
I'd recommend reading this story for those that like stories with ghosts, the paranormal, or the supernatural in general. It does far better than most ghost stories out there and is a great example of horror.
Rating:
Story: 5 Stars
Characters: 4 Stars
Settings: 3 Stars
Literary Quality: 3 Stars
Overall Quality: 4 Salmon
Nerdy Details:
Author: Darcy Coates
Publisher: Candlebreak
Published: 19 July 2014
Page Length: 144
Genre: Horror
Sub-Genre: Ghosts
Awards and Nominations: None
No comments:
Post a Comment