Monday, December 2, 2013

Poe by J. Lincoln Fenn

Poe by J. Lincoln Fenn probably isn't a genre of book I'd usually read, but something about it screamed to me "Read me", so I obeyed.

The plot is fairly simple: Dimitri fell into a deep'ish depression when his parents passed away.  He'd dropped out of college and was getting nowhere on his novel.  He did, barely, have a job writing the local obituaries.  On Halloween, his boss gave him yet another chance to save his job:  head on out to the local dilapidated mansion and write up a story on the experience.

As he arrives at the mansion he discovers that he'll be experiencing the ghost hunt with his phone crush (Lisa, an employee of the local nursing home who often gives him an early warning about who if up next for the obit list) and his not so best friend from work, Nate.  A medium rounds out their team.  Everything that can go wrong does, landing one of them a spot in the morgue - probably the best part of their night.

What ensues is a bunch of murder, possible ghosts, family secrets, demons and the like.   Virtually everyone that Dimitri knows will be affected in one way or another and if Dimitri doesn't figure out what is going on then he could lose everyone he cares about.

It's actually a little less horror than I expected, a little more fantasy and mystery - though the horror is there in spots.

Could have been a 5 star book except little quirks in the writing here and there made me have to re-read a few small sections to make sure I hadn't someone skipped ahead.  The ending seems a little off from the rest of the book.  Still, an excellent read.


* Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost in order to review it. I offered no guarantee of a positive review, though I only request books I think I'll like because why read a book you think you’ll hate?