Reviewed by Sid

TITLE: Haunted

AUTHOR: Brynn Stein

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 84 pages

BLURB: When Lenard Blake is forced to leave his wife, he divorces not just her but her influential family, who makes it impossible for him to keep his job as a Denver police officer, never mind to find another one anywhere in Colorado. But a rural police force in Virginia has an opening, and the move could be just the change he needs, so Lenard buys a house based on an Internet ad. But when he arrives, he finds that the house looks nothing like the ad… and it’s haunted as well.

Lenard doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but he decides to research his supposed ghost anyway. Soon he learns that fifteen years ago, Jason Miller was murdered in the house, and his entire family died under suspicious circumstances. As he makes friends with his ghostly companion, they join forces to try to solve the old murders. Along the way, they find there are some things that conquer even death.

REVIEW:

Relationship between a ghost and a human is always interesting. We have a good ol’ Casper-y ghost in this story, too, who takes a step ahead to grow some intimacy in such a relationship. And that’s where my doubts for this story began…

Let’s back up a bit and I will give you a brief scenario of what goes on – Lenard Blake moves out of his city life after an ugly divorce with his ex-wife and comes to stay in Virginia. Everything works out well, including the place to stay and he is more than happy that he has gotten it off cheap from the realtor. However, his new work-colleagues have ghost stories to tell related to that house. Lenard would have otherwise shoo-ed them off, laughing at them for even believing that shit but as he lives in that house, he feels someone’s presence in there … only if he could see this person?

And his wish comes true one night when he finds a gorgeous young man standing in his bedroom. It is only for some time he sees him before the man disappears into thin air making Lenard curious. He decides to find out more on Jason Miller who – as per the records – was murdered in his own house. As he goes deep into the mystery, with Jason by his side to help him out fill in the off-record details, Lenard surrounds himself with a dangerous truth which if brought out, could lead to his own death.

I think the mystery was handled quite well. The way it kept me on the edge, eager to know more about what happened, speaks for itself. The author has done a great job working out all the details of the Miller’s back story and it is unveiled bit by bit. It showed that the author took great care not to overwhelm the readers with a lot of it.

The chemistry between the two characters is very good. Their playful banter and their intimacy proved their attraction for each other. Lenard’s obsession with bringing justice to the Millers and especially Jason makes us believe that he indeed has connected deeply with the ghost. There were some humorous moments as well which totally made the reading experience worth it. I loved how Jason keeps calling Lenard all sorts of detective names just for fun sake and I believe that keeps lightening the mood in between.

However, there was one thing which kept tugging a worrisome feeling inside me and that was the fact that Jason was a ghost, and not a real, living life form. It kept making me sad reading about their lovely moments and I used to think – “how the heck is this gonna work?” At least, it wouldn’t work long term! To be honest, I had myself geared up for a bittersweet ending, assuming that once the purpose of Jason’s existence is achieved, he would be gone for good and Lenard will be left back alone. A secondary conflict in this book was this relationship between Lenard and Jason, the primary being the murder mystery of course. But Jason being a ghost was too big of conflict to be solved just like that. The conclusion of both the conflicts seemed rather disappointing, whereby I thought the author takes the easy way out. Even though the ending is supposed to be an HEA, their future actually remains uncertain with the big truth hanging mid air.

Of course, if you can see past all that, this can easily become one of your favorites. I personally couldn’t, so three stars is all I can rate this book at.

Sid rates it –

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press  ::  Amazon  ::  ARe