Holy Hell, I’ve read this book in 2 days. I’ve loved it! And I wanted mooore!

Thank you, thank you Darcy for actually writing a compelling haunted house story way better than The Haunting of Ashburn House and somewhat reminding me of Shirley Jackson – The Haunting Of Hill House.

Something watched me through the gap. I could barely see it, but its silhouette blocked out the white wall beyond. It was tall. Ragged strands of hair hung around what must have been its head.

The story blurb

From bestselling gothic horror author Darcy Coates comes a chilling story of a quiet house on a forgotten suburban lane that hides a deadly secret…
Leigh Harker’s quiet suburban home was her sanctuary for more than a decade, until things abruptly changed. Curtains open by themselves. Radios turn off and on. And a dark figure looms in the shadows of her bedroom door at night, watching her, waiting for her to finally let down her guard enough to fall asleep.
Pushed to her limits but unwilling to abandon her home, Leigh struggles to find answers. But each step forces her towards something more terrifying than she ever imagined.
A poisonous shadow seeps from the locked door beneath the stairs. The handle rattles through the night and fingernails scratch at the wood. Her home harbours dangerous secrets, and now that Leigh is trapped within its walls, she fears she may never escape.
Do you think you’re safe?

Old oak branches, stripped bare by winter, jostle for space outside my window. They cut through the moonlight like knives, turning it into a lattice of sharp angles—a broken, shimmering glass discarded across my carpet and speckled up my walls. And over it. The four or five slivers of light that touch the dark shape reveal only tiny pieces of it, forcing me to glimpse it as though my eye were pressed to a keyhole.
It fills my doorway. Arms hang at its side. It gives the impression of grayness—grayness, with a tinge of sickly green. Skin or clothing, impossible to tell.
I cannot make out where the face ends and the hair begins, but there is hair, and it is long. I cannot see a mouth. Its eyes dominate its features. Round circles, too large, unnaturally huge, like an owl’s. Sheer white, they catch the moonlight.
The eyes are fixed on me. They do not move. They do not blink. I know, innately, that the slightest movement will call it closer. My heart is too fast, too loud, too painful. That breath is held prisoner in my throat, my lungs aching.
It turns. It lurches. The terrible something disappears as it paces along my hallway.

I loved the atmospheric horror, the unknown ghost, darkness bound and the haunting. The rattling chains, the eyes big and luminous in the darkness. I kept on thinking about this book all the way home and while eating and talking.

“Maybe she was just peculiar. An introvert, you know? Or maybe there was something deeper. Something worse. Something…not entirely right with her.”

Leigh is definitely an introvert who likes to work on quilts and keep her distance from her enquiring neighbours. She’s been living alone in the same house for over 15 years when the most peculiar thing starts to happen. She is visited by a monster every night. She can’t sleep. She calls the police as she feels there’s someone in the house. And then the horror becomes real.

I loved the twist (I won’t spoil it) and the rest of the book which becomes a murder investigation. And the second twist.

There’s a lot to love in here and what I loved most was how the Author makes us live with Leigh and uses all of our senses to make us feel what she feels. Immersive horror. Thank you!

  It’s quiet, like it comes from a great distance away, and I push the soft flesh of my ear against the wood as I strain to make out the sound. Like dead branches, scraping together. Or like a husky voice whispering to itself. Or like insects. Thousands of them. Millions. Teeming, writhing. The noise swells like a wave coming in, then abates, and I am left with weak legs and breathless lungs.

Give it a read and let me know what you think!