THE GRAVEDIGGER'S BRAWL

TITLE: THE GRAVEDIGGER’S BRAWL

AUTHOR: ABIGAIL ROUX

Pages: 202

Date: 14/12/2013

Grade: 4+

Details: Received from Riptide Publishing

              Through NetGalley

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The blurb:

Dr. Wyatt Case is never happier than when he’s walking the halls of his history museum. Playing wingman for his best friend at Gravedigger’s Tavern throws him way out of his comfort zone, but not as much as the eccentric man behind the bar, Ash Lucroix.

Ash is everything Wyatt doesn’t understand: exuberant, quirky, and elbow deep in a Gaslight lifestyle that weaves history into everyday life. He coordinates his suspenders with his tongue rings. Within hours, Wyatt and Ash are hooked.

But strange things are afoot at Gravedigger’s, and after a knock to the head, Ash starts seeing things that can’t be explained by old appliances or faulty wiring. Soon everyone at Gravedigger’s is wondering if they’re seeing ghosts, or just going crazy. The answer to that question could end more than just Wyatt and Ash’s fragile relationship—it might also end their lives.

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I’m quickly turning into a huge Abigail Roux fan. My infatuation started not too long ago with ‘Cut and Run’ and has only gained in strength since. Of course, Ty and Zane are by far my favourite creations of this author, but I have to say that I quite enjoyed the company of Wyatt and Ash. Wyatt’s geekiness contrasted nicely with Ash’s more flamboyant style and the way these two characters interacted brought a smile to my face on several occasions.

The ghostly aspect of this story worked really well for me too, especially because it entered the story stealthily, or should I say ‘ghostlike’. I liked that for the longest time it was possible, both for the characters and for the reader, to dismiss the strange noises and apparitions as the logical result of things such as faulty wiring or a bang on the head. And I admired the way in which the story gradually flowed from a wonderful love story scenario into full on creepiness.

In fact, there is more than one love story between these covers, and the second one between Noah, Wyatt’s colleague, and Caleb, Ash’s boss was as fascinating as the main attraction. It is refreshing to read a book in which the secondary characters are almost as vividly painted as the main ones. In fact, Abigail Roux succeeded so well in making Caleb and Noah full-fledged characters that there were times when I deeply regretted that the story had to focus on Wyatt and Ash. I wouldn’t have minded spending a bit more time with the other two men at all.

The finale to this story – about which I can’t say too much because I don’t want to give anything away – was ingenious. Let’s just say that the powers which eventually managed to bring the evil spirit down were not the ones I was expecting and the resolution worked all the better for it.

This may not be my favourite story by this author, and Wyatt and Ash may not quite be up to Ty and Zane’s standards when it comes to cuteness, that doesn’t mean this wasn’t a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. It would be hard to not enjoy the combination of sweet love story, hot M/M attraction and creepy ghosts, especially when those themes are as well balanced as they are in this book.

THIS HOUSE IS HAUNTED

TITLE: THIS HOUSE IS HAUNTED

AUTHOR: JOHN BOYNE

Pages: 297

Date: 07/07/2013

Grade: 5

Library

The Blurb:

“1867. Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall on a dark and chilling night. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor.

When she finally arrives, shaken, at the hall she is greeted by the two children in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There are no parents, no adults at all, and no one to represent her mysterious employer. The children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, a second terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.

From the moment she rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence which lives within Gaudlin's walls. Eliza realises that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall's long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past.”

“I blame Charles Dickens for the death of my father...”

You have to love a good ghost story. And as ghost stories go, this definitely is a good one. It has all the elements a scary story needs to make it get under your skin and creep you out; an isolated heroine, an almost deserted house, starting to fall apart, hidden rooms and dark secrets.

After her father dies, Eliza is alone in the world. She leaves the familiar surroundings of London and a safe job for Norfolk and the position of governess to a family and children she knows nothing about. Even in her wildest fantasies she couldn’t have come up with the scenario that meets her when she arrives at her destination. The only people she finds in the stately manor are two young children. There appear to be no adults in the house at all and nobody to let her know what exactly is expected of her.

When she visits the local town the next day people are nice to her until they discover she is the new governess at Gaudlin Hall. The moment she mentions the place or questions people about the whereabouts of the children’s parents they seem to withdraw and find excuses to stop talking with her.

It takes some time for Eliza to find out exactly what happened to the parents and to her predecessors and all the while strange things are happening to her; the hands trying to push her in front of a train when she first arrived, a violent wind trying to prevent her from entering the house, freezing water suddenly turning boiling hot and scarring her hands… It is hard for Eliza not to imagine that she is under attack. But, under attack from whom and why?

By the time Eliza has figured out exactly what (or who) she is up against she also finds herself without allies. If anybody is going to resolve this situation it will have to be her, on her own. But then again, is she really as alone as she thinks?

Like I said, this is a great ghost story written in an engaging way. The ghostliness of the story is established in the first few pages and only gets creepier as the narrative unfolds. I liked that Eliza was a strong character. Yes, she was restrained by the standards of the time she lived in, but she didn’t allow those standards to stop her from what she had to do, even if her independence and determination raised a few critical eyebrows. I also enjoyed the few references that were made to things hopefully getting better, freer for women in the future.

And I’m in awe of John Boyne. It seems that no matter what subject or period he decides to tackle he manages to deliver an engrossing tale with characters you can identify with even if they do live at a time long before ours. I guess John Boyne is living proof that the gift of the gab is still alive and kicking. I can only hope that he’ll continue to share that gift with us, his readers, for a long, long time.

THE SLEEP ROOM

TITLE: THE SLEEP ROOM

AUTHOR: F.R. TALLIS

Pages: 372

Date: 09/06/2013

Grade: 4

Details: ARC received from Macmillan

              Through Nudge

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“A man dreams that he is a butterfly, and in the dream he has no knowledge of his life as a human being. When he wakes up he asks himself two questions: am I a man, who just dreamed that he was a butterfly? Or am I really a butterfly, now dreaming that I am a man?”

James Richardson, the narrator of this story, is a young and promising psychiatrist in England in the 1950’s. When he is offered the opportunity to work under the esteemed Dr. Hugh Maitland he accepts the offer immediately. Without a second thought he says goodbye to his old life and travels to Wyldehope Hall in Suffolk to take up his new post. In Wyldehope Hall, Dr. Maitland is running an experimental new form of treatment for patients with long term and extreme disturbances. The patients, six women, are kept asleep for months on end in the hope that they will, eventually, wake up cured of their problems. If the experiment were to be successful it would bring professional glory for both doctors involved in it.

It isn’t long after arriving in Wyldehope Hall that Richardson is starting to notice strange and at times disturbing occurrences. It is nothing he can put his fingers on, but something about the place feels wrong and some strange happenings aren’t easily explained through logical reasoning.

More worrying is Dr. Maitland’s reluctance to discuss the medical history of the women they are treating in “The Sleep Room”. And how is it possible that the six women appear to be dreaming at exactly the same time?

Although it is clear that there are others in the Hall who are uncomfortable in their surroundings, Richardson can’t find anybody who is willing to share their experiences with him. How can he discuss the disturbing things he’s felt and seen with others without having his own sanity questioned? And is the danger he senses real or something Richardson is only imagining? Is there something wrong with the house or is our young doctor losing his mind?

Part medical and part ghost story this is a fascinating book. What appears at first to be a purely medical story, focusing on dubious and controversial medical practices, slowly but steadily turns into something completely different. The ghostly manifestations are mentioned in an understated manner. The narrator, James Richardson, is very uncomfortable with the idea that something otherworldly might be going on around him. His logical mind and training don’t allow him to accept that the things he is experiencing might have anything other than a logical conclusion. And even when he reaches the point where he can no longer deny that the manifestations have to be supernatural he goes out of his way to find a logic based explanation for them. While this makes perfect sense as far as the character of Richardson is concerned, it does mean that this story isn’t nearly as ghostly as it might have been.

The medical side of the story on the other hand is, for me, the real thriller. The absolute power of Dr. Maitland, the unquestioning way in which those working for him go along with his ideas and treatments and the way in which the women in the Sleep Room are treated is the stuff of nightmares. Especially since everything described in this story sounds very credible and realistic. This story combined with the little I know about the normal practices in psychiatric hospitals in times past makes it all too easy to believe that what is happening to the women in this story is probably not as far-fetched as I might like to think.

I liked the way the tension in this story creeps up on the reader. In an almost imperceptible way this book gets darker and darker. So imperceptible in fact that by the time it all comes crashing down I was taken somewhat by surprise. And then, just when I thought the story was finished and things had come to a dramatic but overall satisfying conclusion the author threw me for a loop, leaving me uncertain about what exactly had happened and what to believe. It made for an impressive but not entirely satisfying conclusion.

I like that Tallis, who in his previous books has a fervent follower of Freud’s theories as his main protagonist, chose to have the main characters in this book debunk Freud and Jung as unscientific.

Mr. Tallis produces good books. His writing is smooth and his stories and characters are fascinating. Through his descriptions of the area surrounding Wyldehope Hall he gives the story exactly the right atmosphere for ghostly manifestations. And his knowledge of medical procedures and theories is obvious although not surprising considering that he is a clinical psychologist. The fact that he clearly knows what he is writing about makes this story more disturbing, rather than less.

Overall I would call this a fascinating combination of medical thriller and ghost story. The completely unexpected revelations at the end of the book only strengthen that fascination, although they also left me with one or two, unanswered, questions.