Blurb

A spine-chilling winter ghost story set in the months after the Great War. Perfect for lovers of MR James and Susan Hill

The War is over, but for petty criminal Charlie his darkest days are only just beginning.

Charlie Briggs is never off-duty, even when a botched job means he’s forced to lay low in a sleepy Hampshire town for the holiday season. Always searching for his next unwitting victim, or a shiny trinket he can pilfer, he can’t believe his luck when he happens upon a rare book so valuable it will set him up for life. All he needs to do is sit tight until Boxing Day. But there’s a desperate story that bleeds beyond the pages; something far more dangerous than London’s mobsters is lurking in the shadows.

Could the book be cursed? Why is he haunted by the horrors of war? Can he put things right before he’s suffocated by his own greed?

Review

Having recently read a few of her books, a couple of MGs and a YA dystopian novel, I was intrigued to read a ghost story by her. I was not disappointed. Yet again, Victoria Williamson delivers.

The author’s descriptive writing, detailing the gas attacks and hauntings, is superb, my heart did beat faster during a couple of the “chases”. She creates a hauntingly spine-chilling atmosphere and builds the tension effortlessly.

I had some difficult finding any redeeming characteristics in Charlie, the main character. He was a wrong ‘un but did he deserve what happened to him? Was it karma for all his wrong doings, which including dodging the war draft?

Like all the best ghost stories, some things are left to the reader to wonder … was what happened to Charlie really a haunting, or hallucinations from nonchalantly burning the dried poppy bookmark he found in the book?

Thanks to @silverthistleps and @The_WriteReads for a copy of the book for review purposes.