Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: The Haunted Pub
AUTHOR: Melanie Tushmore
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 93,000 Words
RELEASE DATE: May 11, 2016
BLURB:
Suffering from depression, and going through a rough time because of it, Fizz’s misery culminates in his parents throwing him out, leaving him with two bags, twenty pounds, and nowhere to go. Desperate, he calls his brother, who takes him to The Queen Anne’s Revenge, where Fizz winds up living in a room that hasn’t had a human inhabitant for more years than anyone can actually count—a room that seems to already have an occupant…
REVIEW:
I love a ghost story. When I saw this book pop up on our “available to review” list, I had to jump on it. I’m glad I did. It was a fast read, but I liked the premise and the storyline.
The main character, “Fizz”, has been thrown out of the house by his parents because of his inability to get over his crippling depression and social anxiety. The twenty year old kid is unable to even go outside because he is afraid all the time. So where can he go? Luckily his cousin Daniel, more commonly known as Ginger, might have the solution. Ginger works at a pub in Brighton, and he is able to take Fizz in off the street.
The pub is known as The Queen Anne’s Revenge and is well known by the punk rock crowd as a venue for Sunday jam sessions, and a friendly staff. But there is more to the pub than the customers or even the staff know.
In the early 1900s a brutal murder occurred in the military barracks that once stood on the same spot. The victim is still around. I’ll be honest and tell you that in the first half of the book, I didn’t think there was going to be enough ghost action. I’m happy to say that was not true of the second half! Plenty of ghost activity and mysterious happenings.
I liked the story. I thought the wrap up of the ghost activity was just a little anticlimactic. After the activity I expected a big bang scene, but didn’t really get it. It was a little too cut and dried for my tastes. I was hoping for more Poltergeistesque type activity, which I think we got, but the resolution just seemed too easy.
Overall, I think the book was well written and was above average. I would rate it a 4.0 out of 5.0 stars on our rating scale, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story with ghosts. It wasn’t very scary, which was kind of a disappointment, but it was a good read.
RATING: 
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