Book Review: The Haunting of James Hastings by Christopher Ransom

Sphere

9781847443717

$32.99

Paperback - C Format

December 2010

368 pages

Thriller / Suspense



The gripping new thriller from the SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of THE BIRTHING HOUSE.

James Hastings wife is dead - her life snuffed out in a horrific accident that leaves her husband shattered. Dizzy with grief and guilt, James withdraws into his sprawling mansion, losing himself in liquor...and memories of Stacey.Until the day two women enter his life. One is Annette, a gorgeous stranger with a dark past. The other is not a stranger, and her past is all too familiar.First her voice echoes through the phone lines, and from behind the ballroom doors...Then her shoes reappear, streaked with mud and grime, as though unearthed from the grave...And soon Annette begins saying things only Stacey could know, enveloping James in a spiral of terror and violence that threatens to destroy his home, his sanity, and his soul. For death is only the beginning of his nightmare. And the haunting of James Hastings might just be the end of him.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christopher Ransom was born and studied in Colorado, but moved to New York and then LA with his wife to pursue various careers such as selling ads for media magazines and screenwriting. They then bought a 140-year-old birthing house in Wisconsin, where he wrote his first novel.



Previous Books:

The Birthing House

Review

Ransom’s first book, The Birthing House was a brilliant debut, based on the century old birthing house he was living in at the time. I was keen to get hold of a copy of this second novel, The Haunting of James Hastings, hoping that it would be just as good. The book gripped me from the first chapter to the last with its rich, sometimes gritty, and occasionally downright nasty details. As an aspiring author, his is the standard of descriptive writing I dream of achieving. The terror felt by James Hastings was potrayed with such skill that I can see readers cringing, yet being compelled to keep speeding through the passages, screaming and looking away at the same time.

James Hastings' wife is dead - her life snuffed out in a horrific accident that leaves her husband shattered. Dizzy with grief and guilt, James withdraws into his sprawling mansion, losing himself in liquor ...and memories of Stacey. Until the day two women enter his life. One is Annette, a gorgeous stranger with a dark past. The other is not a stranger, and her past is all too familiar. First her voice echoes through the phone lines, and from behind the ballroom doors ...Then her shoes reappear, streaked with mud and grime, as though unearthed from the grave ...And soon Annette begins saying things only Stacey could know, enveloping James in a spiral of terror and violence that threatens to destroy his home, his sanity, and his soul.
For death is only the beginning of his nightmare. And the haunting of James Hastings might just be the end of him.

This is one well written novel and an author that I would highly recommend to any horror fans. It is also one of those books that I hope is made into a movie, as it would make a reall nail bitter.