THE HAUNTING OF ASHBURN HOUSE by DARCY COATES
Old fashioned ghost story finds down on her luck, freelance writer Adrienne inheriting a large old house from a great aunt she didn’t know she had. She and her tabby Wolfgang move in and soon find out from the locals that the house is said to be haunted and her great Aunt Edith was an eccentric old woman who was also sole survivor of the massacre of her entire family when she was a little girl. Adrienne soon finds out there may be some frightening truth to the local folktales, as things get stranger and stranger inside the house and someone, or something, is stalking her from the grounds outside.
This is a really fun and spooky ghost story from author Darcy Coates. There may be nothing new here, as traditional haunted house tales go, but Coates knows how to use the classic tropes well, adds in a little mystery and gives us a really likable and resilient heroine in Adrienne, to root for. The supernatural hi-jinx get started off quickly, but not too fast that we don’t get time to get to know and endear to the twenty-something, Ashburn heiress before the spooky hits the fan. There are some nice reveals in the last act and Coates really cranks things up for it’s action-packed finale. Book is spooky and graphic enough for adults, but not so much so, that young adults wouldn’t enjoy it’s spunky heroine and spooky specters as well. The Haunting of Ashburn House is also one of the fastest reads encountered in a while and a real page turner. It’s hard to put down once things get going. Looking forward to reading more from Darcy Coates and wonder why no one has optioned this for a movie. It would be a fun and spooky flick in the right hands.
-MonsterZero NJ
MonsterZero NJ's Movie Madhouse 