Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Something Wicked This Way Comes
AUTHOR: Amy Rae Durreson
PUBLISHER: DSP Publications
LENGTH: 338 Pages
RELEASE DATE: October 29, 2019
BLURB:
A workaholic teacher and a cranky blacksmith investigate a haunted orphanage in the remote Scottish Borders. What they find together might help them heal the wounds of their pasts… if they survive.
When the charity Leon works for inherits the orphanage, he travels north to see if the site is suitable for a new school. But Vainguard is a place of dark secrets, and Leon unearths a mystery about four children who died there in 1944—a tragic tale with an uncanny connection to the death of Leon’s parents.
Still bitter and guilt-ridden over his daughter’s death, farrier Niall joins Leon in uncovering Vainguard’s cruel history, including not just abuse but a tale about a vengeful spirit preying on local children. As the orphanage’s disturbing past comes to light, another child goes missing.
Niall and Leon know they don’t have long before the child falls victim to a legend straight from the Borders’ blood-soaked past.
REVIEW:
This is one of my favourite books this year! Set right on the border between Scotland and England, this book makes use of that region’s violent and bloody history to deliver a ghost story with a difference.
After the death of his parents, Leon was raised at a boarding school for orphans run by a well-established charity. Grateful and believing in the importance of the charity’s work, Leon devotes his life to furthering their purpose, which leads to him spending his holidays checking out an old orphanage left to the charity by a former occupant. But from the moment Leon arrives at the desolate Vainguard, he’s plagued by the sound of ghost riders in the night and the terrifying feeling that something evil is stalking him. As Leon digs through the fragments of history left behind by the hall’s previous occupants, he discovers a tale of child abuse and murder and demons that intertwines with his own history and that of the charity he has devoted his life to.
I loved this story on so many levels. The setting was marvelous, the author taking the time to ensure its exploration took up a fair sized chunk of the story, as the setting was one of the most integral parts of the plot. Fragments of actual history are cleverly woven through fiction that results in a horror story that seems credible, if only because the Scottish Borders have such a volatile and somewhat otherworldly past.
The ghost-story horror elements are softened by the love story that builds between Leon and Niall, a legit old-fashioned blacksmith who has also been touched by the evil that lurks close by. The relationship is gently nudged along by the author, with the story’s tension and uncertainty coming from the paranormal, history components rather that any lovers’ woes. This book is probably equal parts romance and ghost story, with the two parts balancing each other and allowing for a slow developing plot without the story dragging at any point. What I thought was really well done was the fact that in the end all of the story’s elements were linked together, the death of Leon’s parents, the death of Niall’s daughter, the fact that Leon ‘co-incidentally’ happened across the location where his parents died, and there was more but I don’t want to give too much away. Sometimes when an author pulls so many separate threads together the coincidences are too unbelievable to accept, but with this story the author took the time to provide absolutely justifiable explanations for how and why all of these things were connected. I definitely appreciated the care taken by the author to clear up any possible questions.
This story might not be for everyone. It was slow building but there was always a tension present as you just waited for the next bad thing to happen. Also, some readers might find the deaths of children to be too disturbing to read, but if you’re thinking about giving this book a try, I recommend that you do. It was different, but I loved it.
RATING: 
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