Purchasing a restored Victorian house called The Abbadon Inn in the picturesque shore town of Cape May, New Jersey, John and Karen Dalton stumble upon the love letters of Jack Cooney, a long-dead mobster, which reveal the bizarre and bloody history of the inn and open the door to the evil of the past. Original.
It wasn't overly scary....but I liked it enough to keep going. The characters are likable enough-Karen, John her husband. His sister Angela, Ralph her husband. John and Angela's tyrant of a dad pretty much unlikable...
Covers some of the history of what's happened in the past with the Abbadon Inn in the letters that are found, but they don't really explain where all the evil came from to begin with. That would've been helpful.
John Dalton has an overbearing, controlling father(Thomas)that ruins the lives of his children if they don't do as their told. The 3 siblings are very different. Tip, the oldest doesn't even make an appearance in the story. Angela and Ralph are still with the dads company, remaining ever under his control. But John has had enough and runs away after receiving an inheritance from his dead mother. He and his wife Karen buy a restored Victorian house in Cape May wth the intention of running it with no interference from his family.
That doesn't last long as shortly after they arrive, Angela and Ralph are ordered by Thomas to go "get control of the situation" including John. John is determined to prove his father wrong and get the place up and running, with the help of his sister. While he's constantly busy, Karen gets lonely & starts to read the love letters found in the kitchen wall from a dead mobster named Jack to his love Lucy. She also seems to be telling the contractor Eddie more than she's telling her own husband...
Things seem to begin when two young boys decide to see what's in the basement.....one doesn't come back out, the other is scared to death and feels somethings going to get him. One thing leads to another as voices are heard, certain rooms seem drafty, and shadows come alive, leading all involved to believe in ghosts....
I read this in a single day while sick since I couldn't bring myself to read anything else.
I found it predictable and it made me feel like I had read this book before but written better and for the life of me I cannot remember the 'better' version.
I'm not feeling well so it may color my opinion of the book slightly but I don't really think so. Cliches abound and the characters are not overly interesting with the exception of Ralph and the Knox cousins.
It had smatterings of The Beast House but not written nearly as well.
If you're looking for a light ghost story then this would be a decent read.
This reads like someone's first book attempt. The wording was cliche'-ish the story predictable and you don't get the chance to know the characters. Oddly I didn't seem to mind. I wasn't expecting much therefore it wasn't able to let me down. It also read quickly so I wasn't left feeling like it was dragging on. I wouldn't recommend it to a book fiend but I'd feel terrible just dissing it. It was... okay
I liked this more than I thought I would. parts of it were very repetitive, it would say something on one page, like how a character was feeling, and then use practically the same wording the next page to sort of reaffirm those feelings. Parts were tad predictable, but overall I thought it was an interesting story, and I did start to feel for 1 or 2 of the characters.
Overall, a really good book. I wasn't crazy about the ending, but it really built suspense very effectively with likable characters and a creepy atmosphere.