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Spirit
Little Peggy Buchanan is dead, drowned in the family swimming pool on an icy winter day. For her sisters, Elizabeth and Laura, it's a terrible end to their games. But when they recreate her image in snow, they have no idea of the forces they are unleashing.
422 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
62 people are currently reading
696 people want to read
About the author
Graham Masterton
422 books1,966 followersGraham Masterton was born in Edinburgh in 1946. His grandfather was Thomas Thorne Baker, the eminent scientist who invented DayGlo and was the first man to transmit news photographs by wireless. After training as a newspaper reporter, Graham went on to edit the new British men's magazine Mayfair, where he encouraged William Burroughs to develop a series of scientific and philosophical articles which eventually became Burroughs' novel The Wild Boys.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.
He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.
At the age of 24, Graham was appointed executive editor of both Penthouse and Penthouse Forum magazines. At this time he started to write a bestselling series of sex 'how-to' books including How To Drive Your Man Wild In Bed which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. His latest, Wild Sex For New Lovers is published by Penguin Putnam in January, 2001. He is a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Woman, Woman's Own and other mass-market self-improvement magazines.
Graham Masterton's debut as a horror author began with The Manitou in 1976, a chilling tale of a Native American medicine man reborn in the present day to exact his revenge on the white man. It became an instant bestseller and was filmed with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Burgess Meredith, Michael Ansara, Stella Stevens and Ann Sothern.
Altogether Graham has written more than a hundred novels ranging from thrillers (The Sweetman Curve, Ikon) to disaster novels (Plague, Famine) to historical sagas (Rich and Maiden Voyage - both appeared in the New York Times bestseller list). He has published four collections of short stories, Fortnight of Fear, Flights of Fear, Faces of Fear and Feelings of Fear.
He has also written horror novels for children (House of Bones, Hair-Raiser) and has just finished the fifth volume in a very popular series for young adults, Rook, based on the adventures of an idiosyncratic remedial English teacher in a Los Angeles community college who has the facility to see ghosts.
Since then Graham has published more than 35 horror novels, including Charnel House, which was awarded a Special Edgar by Mystery Writers of America; Mirror, which was awarded a Silver Medal by West Coast Review of Books; and Family Portrait, an update of Oscar Wilde's tale, The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was the only non-French winner of the prestigious Prix Julia Verlanger in France.
He and his wife Wiescka live in a Gothic Victorian mansion high above the River Lee in Cork, Ireland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
August 18, 2022
What if someone who died by accident comes back to haunt you as a fictitious character from a fairy tale? Graham Masterton wrote one of the most unusual horror novels ever. The story starts with Peggy, the youngest sibling of three, drowning in a pool. Elizabeth and Laura construct a kind of doll to remember their sister. Their mother slips into madness, the father is ailing from then on. Set in 1951, the tale has also some parts of a war romance (Lenny) and Hollywood jungle (Laura and aunt Beverly) inside. But what I liked most were the references to The Snow Queen (a tale by Hans Christian Andersen) and the idea that a deceased can come back as a fictitious character to haunt the living (some very violent scenes inside). Never saw The Snow Queen in that context. Hats off. A very entertaining, multifaceted and eerie horror novel by one of the true horror masters. Also the denouement with reference to Dickens Bleak House (read it if you haven't so far) is unique. Will Elizabeth and Laura survive their dead sister? Brilliant horror tale that keeps you hanging on the edge of your seat. Graham did a marvelous job here! Highly recommended!
October 3, 2023
Masterton wrote many horror novels, all with widely different story arcs, never falling into formulaic tales. Spirit nonetheless constitutes something very different, even for him. Perhaps the best way to introduce Spirit is as a mashup of a ghost story and Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen. Further, you could call this historical fiction as it starts in 1940 and finishes up in the early 1950s.
Our main protagonist, Lizzie, starts the novel playing with her two younger sisters (Lizzie is 10 yo) in the yard of their rambling old house in Connecticut one winter morning. The youngest sister, Peggy, seems to the it in a hind and seek game, but the two other sisters cannot find her. After some time, she is discovered drowned, beneath the ice in the swimming pool behind the house. Needless to day, the girls are devastated as are the parents. In fact, Lizzie's rather fragile mother soon becomes institutionalized and her father a shadow of his former self.
Flash forward a few years and once again we follow Lizzie and Laura (the other sister) in their exploits around the small town. Lizzie keeps seeing a girl dressed in white around town and is sure that she is little Peggy, albeit an older Peggy, and keeps hearing her speak phrases from The Snow Queen, but she always is just out of reach. In the middle of June that year, the town priest, who had been molesting several children in town, was found nearly dead of severe frostbite and dies shortly thereafter. How could a man die of frostbite in the middle of June? The mystery deepens...
I have never read The Snow Queen but Masterton gives us the tale in fits and starts as the story progresses. As the years slowly pass, more odd deaths occur, where people known to the sisters die in bizarre ways-- frozen so completely they fall to pieces or explode. What is causing the deaths? Is the little girl in while really Peggy, returned from the dead? If so, what does she want?
Overall, not a bad read, but rather long winded and this could be classified as slow horror. I like Masterton, but if he dropped the depictions of the cloths people wore, etc., this would lose 50 pages. Entertaining, but as it wore on, I found it harder to suspend my sense of disbelief, which is essential for a good ghost story. Further, the ending, especially after such a long build up, was rather anticlimactic. Still, not a bad tale, but Masterton has done better. 2.5 ghostly starts, rounding up for the foo!
Our main protagonist, Lizzie, starts the novel playing with her two younger sisters (Lizzie is 10 yo) in the yard of their rambling old house in Connecticut one winter morning. The youngest sister, Peggy, seems to the it in a hind and seek game, but the two other sisters cannot find her. After some time, she is discovered drowned, beneath the ice in the swimming pool behind the house. Needless to day, the girls are devastated as are the parents. In fact, Lizzie's rather fragile mother soon becomes institutionalized and her father a shadow of his former self.
Flash forward a few years and once again we follow Lizzie and Laura (the other sister) in their exploits around the small town. Lizzie keeps seeing a girl dressed in white around town and is sure that she is little Peggy, albeit an older Peggy, and keeps hearing her speak phrases from The Snow Queen, but she always is just out of reach. In the middle of June that year, the town priest, who had been molesting several children in town, was found nearly dead of severe frostbite and dies shortly thereafter. How could a man die of frostbite in the middle of June? The mystery deepens...
I have never read The Snow Queen but Masterton gives us the tale in fits and starts as the story progresses. As the years slowly pass, more odd deaths occur, where people known to the sisters die in bizarre ways-- frozen so completely they fall to pieces or explode. What is causing the deaths? Is the little girl in while really Peggy, returned from the dead? If so, what does she want?
Overall, not a bad read, but rather long winded and this could be classified as slow horror. I like Masterton, but if he dropped the depictions of the cloths people wore, etc., this would lose 50 pages. Entertaining, but as it wore on, I found it harder to suspend my sense of disbelief, which is essential for a good ghost story. Further, the ending, especially after such a long build up, was rather anticlimactic. Still, not a bad tale, but Masterton has done better. 2.5 ghostly starts, rounding up for the foo!
October 30, 2013
Graham Masterton's Spirit is his 1995 attempt at writing the classic ghost story - with a twist. Known for incorporation of various legends and myths into his horror fiction, in Spirit Masterton reaches for a source more widely known to most readers - Hans Christian's Andersen classic fairy tale, The Snow Queen.
The novel starts with a deceptive quietness in 1940's Connecticut, with the introduction of the Buchanan sisters - Elizabeth, Laura and Peggy. The three young girls know Andersen's story and like to reenact it, and it's a particular favorite of Peggy, the youngest one. However everything changes when on one snowy day Peggy dies in a tragic accident - imagining herself to be the snow queen, she walked on ice which covered the family's swimming pool, and it broke under her weight. Both Elizabeth and Laura are too young to fully comprehend and be affected by Peggy's death, but their parents are - the father's grief ages him rapidly, and the mother's overcomes her to the point that she has to be admitted to a mental hospital.
Both Elizabeth and Laura grow up and try to live normal lives and pursue their dreams, but they soon realize that they are not alone. There is something which they always seem to see in the corner of their eyes, a glimpse of something familiar but also strange and upsetting. Soon people with whom they came in contact start dying in mysterious - and gruesome - circumstances, which defy rational explanation. Both Elizabeth and Laura start to suspect that it's their little sister, Peggy, who is acting from the afterlife - but the spirit that they seek out does not look or act like her. Why is this strange haunting happening to them, and how they can get rid of it before it harms other people?
Masterton is at his best early in the novel, where he created a genuine atmosphere of sadness with the family coping with grief. His descriptions and imagery of the setting pay homage to the fairy tale which inspired him - blizzards, snowy landscapes, ice..an image of a little pale girls standing in the distance, watching from afar. Although he is a British author he sets most of his work in the U.S., and this is no exception - though occasionally it leads to small linguistic blunders which must have escaped the editorial process, as I doubt that any American would open the boot of a car (why would a car need shoes??) and speak with u's in honour, colour, etc.
However, when the two sisters try to understand the nature of the apparition the problems begin. Spirit promotes a different theory instead of the usual haunting, which is interesting, but becomes tired very quickly as characters spend pages pondering it, and leads to more contrivance - and silliness - as they try to find a way to get rid of it. Actions of the characters are often unbelievable, as they often are clueless of what's happening around them when they have had paranormal experiences for years - which really makes the novel seems longer than it should be. Like in most of Masterton's novels characters die in gruesome and spectacular ways, but unlike in most these deaths are not pure shock value but have a genuinely horrific atmosphere to them - creative and chilling, and not completely outrageous and outlandish to be ridiculous. Still, the book seems to run out of air nearing the end, and the ending is rather rushed and vaguely unsatisfying.
Despite these flaws, Masterton's novel is an interesting - if ultimately minor - twist on the classic fairy tale. Despite predictability and some overlong parts it reads pretty fast, and the horrific imagery that he presents is strong. One might have wished for a stronger storyline which would the horror justice, but such the case is still to be discovered by me and my search for good contemporary horror novels continues.
The novel starts with a deceptive quietness in 1940's Connecticut, with the introduction of the Buchanan sisters - Elizabeth, Laura and Peggy. The three young girls know Andersen's story and like to reenact it, and it's a particular favorite of Peggy, the youngest one. However everything changes when on one snowy day Peggy dies in a tragic accident - imagining herself to be the snow queen, she walked on ice which covered the family's swimming pool, and it broke under her weight. Both Elizabeth and Laura are too young to fully comprehend and be affected by Peggy's death, but their parents are - the father's grief ages him rapidly, and the mother's overcomes her to the point that she has to be admitted to a mental hospital.
Both Elizabeth and Laura grow up and try to live normal lives and pursue their dreams, but they soon realize that they are not alone. There is something which they always seem to see in the corner of their eyes, a glimpse of something familiar but also strange and upsetting. Soon people with whom they came in contact start dying in mysterious - and gruesome - circumstances, which defy rational explanation. Both Elizabeth and Laura start to suspect that it's their little sister, Peggy, who is acting from the afterlife - but the spirit that they seek out does not look or act like her. Why is this strange haunting happening to them, and how they can get rid of it before it harms other people?
Masterton is at his best early in the novel, where he created a genuine atmosphere of sadness with the family coping with grief. His descriptions and imagery of the setting pay homage to the fairy tale which inspired him - blizzards, snowy landscapes, ice..an image of a little pale girls standing in the distance, watching from afar. Although he is a British author he sets most of his work in the U.S., and this is no exception - though occasionally it leads to small linguistic blunders which must have escaped the editorial process, as I doubt that any American would open the boot of a car (why would a car need shoes??) and speak with u's in honour, colour, etc.
However, when the two sisters try to understand the nature of the apparition the problems begin. Spirit promotes a different theory instead of the usual haunting, which is interesting, but becomes tired very quickly as characters spend pages pondering it, and leads to more contrivance - and silliness - as they try to find a way to get rid of it. Actions of the characters are often unbelievable, as they often are clueless of what's happening around them when they have had paranormal experiences for years - which really makes the novel seems longer than it should be. Like in most of Masterton's novels characters die in gruesome and spectacular ways, but unlike in most these deaths are not pure shock value but have a genuinely horrific atmosphere to them - creative and chilling, and not completely outrageous and outlandish to be ridiculous. Still, the book seems to run out of air nearing the end, and the ending is rather rushed and vaguely unsatisfying.
Despite these flaws, Masterton's novel is an interesting - if ultimately minor - twist on the classic fairy tale. Despite predictability and some overlong parts it reads pretty fast, and the horrific imagery that he presents is strong. One might have wished for a stronger storyline which would the horror justice, but such the case is still to be discovered by me and my search for good contemporary horror novels continues.
March 24, 2022
I've read a fair bit of Masterton over the years, and here took me by surprise. Set around the end of the forties/into the early 50s, the book is a much more innocent affair than previous outings, when everyone appears polite, goes to church, listen to the wireless for news on the war, etc. Even the antagonist has childlike motivations and way of seeing the world.
Therefore, when the real evil in this book arises, it takes you by surprise. At least, it did for me. Masterton had lulled me into a false sense of security! An easier pace, a gentler setting, but nuggets of Masterton nastiness reside in there like flies in a fruit cake.
The ending came a little too fast and convenient for my tastes, but as one who finds satisfying endings tricky, who am I to judge? I think this novel is worth a look for the scarcely used time period, experiencing Masterton taking his foot off the horror pedal for stretches to really sink his teeth into a world, and yes, for those selfish characters that still allow the author to shine in his more familiar trappings.
Therefore, when the real evil in this book arises, it takes you by surprise. At least, it did for me. Masterton had lulled me into a false sense of security! An easier pace, a gentler setting, but nuggets of Masterton nastiness reside in there like flies in a fruit cake.
The ending came a little too fast and convenient for my tastes, but as one who finds satisfying endings tricky, who am I to judge? I think this novel is worth a look for the scarcely used time period, experiencing Masterton taking his foot off the horror pedal for stretches to really sink his teeth into a world, and yes, for those selfish characters that still allow the author to shine in his more familiar trappings.
May 10, 2023
Masterton, kao i mnogi kultni-horor autori nikada nije prevodjen na srpski. Svejedno, on je jedan od najplodnijih horor pisaca danasnjice.
Jedini razlog sto sam Duhu dala cetvorku je sto je meni bila preteska, kao i vecina horora koji u centru zbivanja imaju decu. Masterton je radnju delimicno zasnovao na Andersenovoj bajci Snezna Kraljica, pa je i knjizevni jezik malo arhaican i naporan. Sve u svemu, vredi citanja, ali ume on to i bolje.
Jedini razlog sto sam Duhu dala cetvorku je sto je meni bila preteska, kao i vecina horora koji u centru zbivanja imaju decu. Masterton je radnju delimicno zasnovao na Andersenovoj bajci Snezna Kraljica, pa je i knjizevni jezik malo arhaican i naporan. Sve u svemu, vredi citanja, ali ume on to i bolje.
October 3, 2024
To było moje pierwsze spotkanie z Grahamem Mastertonem i przysięgam, że na pewno nie ostatnie. Bo ten horror wywołał we mnie wszystkie reakcje, jakie tylko powinien ten gatunek.
strach,
grozę,
gęsią skórkę,
uczucie wywróconego żołądka,
przerażenie,
i mogę tak wymieniać w nieskończoność.
To książka dla czytelników o zdecydowanie mocnych nerwach, jaka dobra!
Mimo, że nie czytam na co dzień zbyt wielu horrorów, to mam wrażenie, że ten jest naprawdę czymś innym i wręcz wykracza poza ramy takiego „normalnego” (o ile można tu w ogóle mówić o normalności hahaha) gatunku. To połączenie baśni i najokropniejszego dramatu. Grozy, fantastyki i wątków paranormalnych. I to w jaki dobry sposób połączone!
A wszystko zaczyna się od tragicznego wypadku…
Gdzie podczas zimy, najmłodsza z trzech sióstr - pięcioletnia Peggy wbiega na zamrożony basen, a lód się nad nią załamuje…
Dziewczynka wpada do wody i umiera.
Odchodzi.
Ale czy na pewno odchodzi?
Bo obie siostry mają mrożące krew w żyłach wrażenie, że cały czas jest blisko, tuż przy nich i czuwa nad ich losem. Bardzo, bardzo czuwa…
Ich ojciec choruje, mama nie wytrzymuje, a osoby, które mają styczność z dziewczynkami zmarłej spotyka straszny los.
Peggy zdaje się ich wszystkich nie opuszczać, a wręcz śmiertelnie nawiedzać. Ktoś w końcu będzie musiał się z tym zmierzyć.
Czy jest gdzieś granica wyobraźni?
———
Mamy nawiązanie do Królowej Śniegu Andersena co mi się bardzo spodobało!
Mamy mimo fikcji ukazane, jak strata najbliższej osoby zawsze wiąże się z tragedią, której nie da się opisać słowami, rozdzierającą serce.
Mamy wiele naprawdę bardzo realistycznie napisanych opisów - zarówno tych mrocznych i krw@wych jak i s3ksu.
Dla czytelników o mocnych nerwach, czytacie na własne ryzyko. ale przerażająco polecam. naprawdę.
współpraca reklamowa z @wydawnictwoalbatros dziękuję!
#zjawa #masterton #grahammasterton #wydawnictwoalbatros #book #books #bookstagram
strach,
grozę,
gęsią skórkę,
uczucie wywróconego żołądka,
przerażenie,
i mogę tak wymieniać w nieskończoność.
To książka dla czytelników o zdecydowanie mocnych nerwach, jaka dobra!
Mimo, że nie czytam na co dzień zbyt wielu horrorów, to mam wrażenie, że ten jest naprawdę czymś innym i wręcz wykracza poza ramy takiego „normalnego” (o ile można tu w ogóle mówić o normalności hahaha) gatunku. To połączenie baśni i najokropniejszego dramatu. Grozy, fantastyki i wątków paranormalnych. I to w jaki dobry sposób połączone!
A wszystko zaczyna się od tragicznego wypadku…
Gdzie podczas zimy, najmłodsza z trzech sióstr - pięcioletnia Peggy wbiega na zamrożony basen, a lód się nad nią załamuje…
Dziewczynka wpada do wody i umiera.
Odchodzi.
Ale czy na pewno odchodzi?
Bo obie siostry mają mrożące krew w żyłach wrażenie, że cały czas jest blisko, tuż przy nich i czuwa nad ich losem. Bardzo, bardzo czuwa…
Ich ojciec choruje, mama nie wytrzymuje, a osoby, które mają styczność z dziewczynkami zmarłej spotyka straszny los.
Peggy zdaje się ich wszystkich nie opuszczać, a wręcz śmiertelnie nawiedzać. Ktoś w końcu będzie musiał się z tym zmierzyć.
Czy jest gdzieś granica wyobraźni?
———
Mamy nawiązanie do Królowej Śniegu Andersena co mi się bardzo spodobało!
Mamy mimo fikcji ukazane, jak strata najbliższej osoby zawsze wiąże się z tragedią, której nie da się opisać słowami, rozdzierającą serce.
Mamy wiele naprawdę bardzo realistycznie napisanych opisów - zarówno tych mrocznych i krw@wych jak i s3ksu.
Dla czytelników o mocnych nerwach, czytacie na własne ryzyko. ale przerażająco polecam. naprawdę.
współpraca reklamowa z @wydawnictwoalbatros dziękuję!
#zjawa #masterton #grahammasterton #wydawnictwoalbatros #book #books #bookstagram
April 28, 2011
When I first read the blurb for Spirit, I knew that I needed to get my hands on this book, no matter what it cost. Even though I had to request it three times (due to my Netgalley profile not being completely filled in), I didn’t care in the slightest. I had this crazy, unexplainable, but very convincing feeling that this book was going to leave me scared, terrified and very, very impressed. I don’t know why I got this feeling, that turned out to be true, but I have my suspicions that it might be a supernatural thing of the kind we come across in Spirit, a part of me that instinctively knew, even by reading the smallest back cover blurb ever, that this novel was it. That this was the kind of scary story I had been waiting for since forever-and-a-day, that this was the story that would leave me paralyzed, hidden under my blankets at night, and unable to sleep. I was more than right.
Spirit reminded me of the first time I watched The Others, with Nicole Kidman as leading actress, and hid under my blanket because I was so damn terrified. It brought back memories of summoning spirits at band camp late at night, of shivers running down your spine when your friends tell you ghost stories around a camp fire, or hearing a weird sound and dismissing it as nothing, while you very well know it’s something. It reminded me of that time my friends and I broke into the local haunted mansion, and I saw what I firmly believe was a ghost. This novel is so haunting, so absolutely terrifying, that it reminded me of every single time I was scared by the supernatural, by the world beyond our own, by the possible existence of ghosts, and topped all of that. I don’t remember ever being so scared while reading a book before in my life. Now it leaves me still very much unsettled, but very much impressed at well. Wow, is all I can say, wow, and please hand me another one of those.
I cannot begin to describe how good it felt to actually be this scared again, right when I was starting to lose my faith in the horror genre alltogether. I mean, I’m one of those people who can’t be scared by watching Zombie flicks, or by reading about blood-sucking vampires (definately not after the whole Sparkly-vampires thing) or by insane serial killers following a group of stupid and ignorant teenagers. The only way to actually make me shiver in fear, is by involving ghosts. Why? Ghosts just have this whole sense of weirdness going on, one cannot be certain if they truly exist or not, and even if they do, it’s damn hard to get rid of them, since they are…you know, dead.
Spirit begins with the drowning of five-year-old Peggy, the little sister of Elizabeth and Laura Buchanan. While their parents suffer greatly from the loss of their beloved youngest daughter, the two sisters struggle with feelings of guilt. In an effort to put this past them, Elizabeth buries her copy of The Snow Queen, Peggy’s favorite fairytale, in the snow of their backyard, as a peace offering to God to let Peggy’s soul rest in heaven. Rest assured, that’s the last thing that happens.
Some years pass by and the Buchanan family is getting things together again, with their mother returning from the asylum (she suffered a mental breakdown after Peggy’s funeral) and their father getting back to work as a publisher. However, strange things are starting to happen. Elizabeth runs into a girl she swears is Peggy, although the girl looks nothing like her drowned sister. When people are starting to die in peculiar circumstances as well – from frostbite, for instance – Elizabeth suspects that somehow Peggy returned back from the dead. She finds encouragement for her thoughts when her parents start seeing Peggy as well, and when a local author and friend of hers tells her that he’s been seeing his dead brother, Billy, frequently during hte last couple of years. Although the boy he sees looks nothing like Billy, and isn’t even of the same age.
Elizabeth and Laura must stop their younger sister from walking this earth anymore, and must do whatever it takes to put her soul to rest. Before it’s too late…
The entire atmosphere, dialogue and descriptions of Spirit is eerie and haunted. From the first few sentences until the very last, Graham Masterton proves that he is a true master of the horror genre, as he pulls his readers in from his very first chapter, and doesn’t let them go. He describes his characters in a lot of detail, and I felt like I got to know them as real people, with real hopes and expectations, and real, substantial fears. Elizabeth was a gripping character with a moving and touching personality, who gained a lot of my sympathy as she struggled with the ghost of her undead sister. Sorrow, regret, guilt and raw, honest fear are all woven together in what I believe is one of the scariest novels currently existing. As the years pass by and the secrets unfold, I felt myself getting pulled more and more into the novel. When the ghost of Peggy appeared, first not much more than a vision, and later on a person you could actually touch, a murderous and over-protective, evil spirit, I looked behind my back occasionally, as shivers were running down my spine and I felt the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees. Although mostly only in my head, it was great to be experience so many emotions when reading a novel.
There were parts in the book that felt sloppy and not up-to-par as well. For instance, when they try to unravel the mystery of who exactly the spirit is, and why they feel like it’s Peggy although she looks nothing at all like their deceased sister. “Human imagination”, “Fairy Tales Come To Life”, that dropped the scare-level to halfway, in my opinion. Maybe it’s the science and logic behind it, although I did think this was interesting and an original perspective, or maybe it was that this wasn’t just some dead person’s ghost lingering about, but actually only a little girl’s imagination gone wild. Quite dissapointing in the scary-department but unmistakingly original nevertheless. I also felt like somehow these parts dragged a bit, and that some of the kills were rather random. I didn’t like the scene with Laura and the two TV producers, and I wasn’t sure if it was an essential part of the story – to show what exactly the spirit is capable of (but if it was, why did she not appear sooner then, and why wait till after Laura gets hurt?) – or if it was just to fill some pages. I am inclined to believe the latter, and wasn’t all that touched by it. The epic battle at the end left me dissapointed as well (I had a continuous feeling of: oh really?, and add a sarcastic tone to that), but all in all, I could live with that, considering how unnaturally frightened I had been with the first part of the novel.
What would have made Spirit stood out for me so much that I would rate it a 5 rather than a 4.5? Had the ghostly incidents started off more slowly, rather than immediately with the apparition of an actual ghost-like figure. I like the tiny little horror parts in novels, like when the protagonist leaves their keys on the counter, and then finds them on the table when he returns. Or when they hear strange noises at night, that can not be explained. Or when they see shapes out of the corner of their eyes, but dismiss it as being nothing. Lights suddenly shutting off, things going missing, those sort of things. And then, bring in the ghost. And then, a hundred-or-so-pages further down the line, make the ghost go totally murderous. I also would have liked to see more of Margaret, Elizabeth’s mother, and how she might have been effected by the supernatural events. She was an intriguing character, with her severe doubts about her life, her depression over giving up her acting career and her frequent visits to the asylum. There was a small part of the novel in which Margaret saw Peggy first, but no one believed her, and then Elizabeth saw her as well. I would have liked it if this had lasted longer, and they had announced Margaret crazy for seeing things that were actually real, and then have Elizabeth question her own sanity as she starts seeing the ghost as well. Alas, we cannot have it all.
I also liked the fact that this novel read like a mystery novel. There’s the case of the murderous ghost, and then our cast of characters has to find out who she is, where she comes from, and how to stop her, in a race against time – or against the next murder. I also loved the fact that not only our protagonists were seeing ghosts, but that other people throughout the story confessed to having seen dead relatives as well. A more thorough description of the house the Buchanans live in, would have been great as well, or if the ghost was somehow connected to the house as well.
Nevertheless, as I already mentioned, the first part of the novel was a whole new level of scary for me, and if the second part was a tad bit dissapointing, then so be it. I enjoyed reading Spirit, and I would definately read another novel by Graham Masterton in a heartbeat. Some parts of this book were actually beyond brilliant, and left me very impressed, and a tremendously happy reader. If you can get past some of the minor flaws, you will realise, just as I have, that this novel is a masterpiece of horror literature, a true symphony for all things horrifying and supernatural, and a statement on its own: that not all things dead, stay dead, and that ghosts might very well exist. Magnificent.
Read the full review on my blog.
Spirit reminded me of the first time I watched The Others, with Nicole Kidman as leading actress, and hid under my blanket because I was so damn terrified. It brought back memories of summoning spirits at band camp late at night, of shivers running down your spine when your friends tell you ghost stories around a camp fire, or hearing a weird sound and dismissing it as nothing, while you very well know it’s something. It reminded me of that time my friends and I broke into the local haunted mansion, and I saw what I firmly believe was a ghost. This novel is so haunting, so absolutely terrifying, that it reminded me of every single time I was scared by the supernatural, by the world beyond our own, by the possible existence of ghosts, and topped all of that. I don’t remember ever being so scared while reading a book before in my life. Now it leaves me still very much unsettled, but very much impressed at well. Wow, is all I can say, wow, and please hand me another one of those.
I cannot begin to describe how good it felt to actually be this scared again, right when I was starting to lose my faith in the horror genre alltogether. I mean, I’m one of those people who can’t be scared by watching Zombie flicks, or by reading about blood-sucking vampires (definately not after the whole Sparkly-vampires thing) or by insane serial killers following a group of stupid and ignorant teenagers. The only way to actually make me shiver in fear, is by involving ghosts. Why? Ghosts just have this whole sense of weirdness going on, one cannot be certain if they truly exist or not, and even if they do, it’s damn hard to get rid of them, since they are…you know, dead.
Spirit begins with the drowning of five-year-old Peggy, the little sister of Elizabeth and Laura Buchanan. While their parents suffer greatly from the loss of their beloved youngest daughter, the two sisters struggle with feelings of guilt. In an effort to put this past them, Elizabeth buries her copy of The Snow Queen, Peggy’s favorite fairytale, in the snow of their backyard, as a peace offering to God to let Peggy’s soul rest in heaven. Rest assured, that’s the last thing that happens.
Some years pass by and the Buchanan family is getting things together again, with their mother returning from the asylum (she suffered a mental breakdown after Peggy’s funeral) and their father getting back to work as a publisher. However, strange things are starting to happen. Elizabeth runs into a girl she swears is Peggy, although the girl looks nothing like her drowned sister. When people are starting to die in peculiar circumstances as well – from frostbite, for instance – Elizabeth suspects that somehow Peggy returned back from the dead. She finds encouragement for her thoughts when her parents start seeing Peggy as well, and when a local author and friend of hers tells her that he’s been seeing his dead brother, Billy, frequently during hte last couple of years. Although the boy he sees looks nothing like Billy, and isn’t even of the same age.
Elizabeth and Laura must stop their younger sister from walking this earth anymore, and must do whatever it takes to put her soul to rest. Before it’s too late…
The entire atmosphere, dialogue and descriptions of Spirit is eerie and haunted. From the first few sentences until the very last, Graham Masterton proves that he is a true master of the horror genre, as he pulls his readers in from his very first chapter, and doesn’t let them go. He describes his characters in a lot of detail, and I felt like I got to know them as real people, with real hopes and expectations, and real, substantial fears. Elizabeth was a gripping character with a moving and touching personality, who gained a lot of my sympathy as she struggled with the ghost of her undead sister. Sorrow, regret, guilt and raw, honest fear are all woven together in what I believe is one of the scariest novels currently existing. As the years pass by and the secrets unfold, I felt myself getting pulled more and more into the novel. When the ghost of Peggy appeared, first not much more than a vision, and later on a person you could actually touch, a murderous and over-protective, evil spirit, I looked behind my back occasionally, as shivers were running down my spine and I felt the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees. Although mostly only in my head, it was great to be experience so many emotions when reading a novel.
There were parts in the book that felt sloppy and not up-to-par as well. For instance, when they try to unravel the mystery of who exactly the spirit is, and why they feel like it’s Peggy although she looks nothing at all like their deceased sister. “Human imagination”, “Fairy Tales Come To Life”, that dropped the scare-level to halfway, in my opinion. Maybe it’s the science and logic behind it, although I did think this was interesting and an original perspective, or maybe it was that this wasn’t just some dead person’s ghost lingering about, but actually only a little girl’s imagination gone wild. Quite dissapointing in the scary-department but unmistakingly original nevertheless. I also felt like somehow these parts dragged a bit, and that some of the kills were rather random. I didn’t like the scene with Laura and the two TV producers, and I wasn’t sure if it was an essential part of the story – to show what exactly the spirit is capable of (but if it was, why did she not appear sooner then, and why wait till after Laura gets hurt?) – or if it was just to fill some pages. I am inclined to believe the latter, and wasn’t all that touched by it. The epic battle at the end left me dissapointed as well (I had a continuous feeling of: oh really?, and add a sarcastic tone to that), but all in all, I could live with that, considering how unnaturally frightened I had been with the first part of the novel.
What would have made Spirit stood out for me so much that I would rate it a 5 rather than a 4.5? Had the ghostly incidents started off more slowly, rather than immediately with the apparition of an actual ghost-like figure. I like the tiny little horror parts in novels, like when the protagonist leaves their keys on the counter, and then finds them on the table when he returns. Or when they hear strange noises at night, that can not be explained. Or when they see shapes out of the corner of their eyes, but dismiss it as being nothing. Lights suddenly shutting off, things going missing, those sort of things. And then, bring in the ghost. And then, a hundred-or-so-pages further down the line, make the ghost go totally murderous. I also would have liked to see more of Margaret, Elizabeth’s mother, and how she might have been effected by the supernatural events. She was an intriguing character, with her severe doubts about her life, her depression over giving up her acting career and her frequent visits to the asylum. There was a small part of the novel in which Margaret saw Peggy first, but no one believed her, and then Elizabeth saw her as well. I would have liked it if this had lasted longer, and they had announced Margaret crazy for seeing things that were actually real, and then have Elizabeth question her own sanity as she starts seeing the ghost as well. Alas, we cannot have it all.
I also liked the fact that this novel read like a mystery novel. There’s the case of the murderous ghost, and then our cast of characters has to find out who she is, where she comes from, and how to stop her, in a race against time – or against the next murder. I also loved the fact that not only our protagonists were seeing ghosts, but that other people throughout the story confessed to having seen dead relatives as well. A more thorough description of the house the Buchanans live in, would have been great as well, or if the ghost was somehow connected to the house as well.
Nevertheless, as I already mentioned, the first part of the novel was a whole new level of scary for me, and if the second part was a tad bit dissapointing, then so be it. I enjoyed reading Spirit, and I would definately read another novel by Graham Masterton in a heartbeat. Some parts of this book were actually beyond brilliant, and left me very impressed, and a tremendously happy reader. If you can get past some of the minor flaws, you will realise, just as I have, that this novel is a masterpiece of horror literature, a true symphony for all things horrifying and supernatural, and a statement on its own: that not all things dead, stay dead, and that ghosts might very well exist. Magnificent.
Read the full review on my blog.
October 29, 2024
Powrót do baśni o „Królowej Śniegu” w najbardziej przerażającym wydaniu? To bez wątpienia „Zjawa” Grahama Mastertona. Po jej lekturze ta i tak dość mroczna baśń już zawsze będzie mi się kojarzyć z horrorem pełnym grozy i zjawisk nadprzyrodzonych.
Czy można powiedzieć, ze główną bohaterką powieści jest Peggy, zmarła tragicznie dziewczynka, jeśli nawet nie było nam dane jej poznać? Bo czy to nadal ona kryje się w białej i mroźnej powłoce zjawy ukazującej się swoim bliskim? W każdym razie nie opuszcza rodziny nawet po śmierci i broni jej „za wszelką cenę”. A cena ta jest wysoka nie tylko dla tych, którzy odważyli się choćby pomyśleć o skrzywdzeniu jej sióstr, Lizzy i Laury, ale również dla nich samych.
W tej powieści już początek budzi niesamowite napięcie i poczucie, że wydarzy się coś strasznego. Dreszcz przebiega po plecach nie tylko z zimna, gdy przypatrujemy się dwóm małym dziewczynkom brnącym przez śnieg, by odszukać siostrę. Tragiczny wypadek jest początkiem niekończącej się serii dramatycznych wydarzeń, których konsekwencje na zawsze zmieniają życie rodziny, prowadząc do jej stopniowego rozpadu.
Ta nieoczywista i wielowarstwowa powieść grozy, mimo wątków nadprzyrodzonych broni się swoją wiarygodnością. Autor eksploruje temat wyobraźni oraz siły ludzkiego umysłu, sugerując, że jeśli trauma, żal i poczucie winy są wystarczająco silne, mogą przywołać zmarłych z powrotem do życia jako zjawy, mające realny wpływ na rzeczywistość. Nie stroni też od brutalnych scen, które zostają pod powiekami na długo po odłożeniu książki.
Zło w tej powieści odmieniane jest przez wszystkie przypadki, ale największe emocje budzi to czające się w człowieku. Tu niemal każdy jest niczym Kaj z zatruwającym go kawałkiem lodu tkwiącym w sercu. Z mroczną stroną skrywaną w najdalszych zakamarkach duszy, której jednak przed zjawą nie sposób ukryć.
Ależ ta powieść ma klimat! Opisy zimowej scenerii i zakradającego się mroku potęgują uczucie mrozu i grozy budząc niepokój i budując intensywne napięcie. Już w trakcie czytania ciepły kocyk i gorąca herbata okazały się nieodzowne, a po jej zakończeniu wolałam nie oglądać się przez ramię, by nie dostrzec białej dziewczynki, mroźnego malowidła wyobraźni.
Czy można powiedzieć, ze główną bohaterką powieści jest Peggy, zmarła tragicznie dziewczynka, jeśli nawet nie było nam dane jej poznać? Bo czy to nadal ona kryje się w białej i mroźnej powłoce zjawy ukazującej się swoim bliskim? W każdym razie nie opuszcza rodziny nawet po śmierci i broni jej „za wszelką cenę”. A cena ta jest wysoka nie tylko dla tych, którzy odważyli się choćby pomyśleć o skrzywdzeniu jej sióstr, Lizzy i Laury, ale również dla nich samych.
W tej powieści już początek budzi niesamowite napięcie i poczucie, że wydarzy się coś strasznego. Dreszcz przebiega po plecach nie tylko z zimna, gdy przypatrujemy się dwóm małym dziewczynkom brnącym przez śnieg, by odszukać siostrę. Tragiczny wypadek jest początkiem niekończącej się serii dramatycznych wydarzeń, których konsekwencje na zawsze zmieniają życie rodziny, prowadząc do jej stopniowego rozpadu.
Ta nieoczywista i wielowarstwowa powieść grozy, mimo wątków nadprzyrodzonych broni się swoją wiarygodnością. Autor eksploruje temat wyobraźni oraz siły ludzkiego umysłu, sugerując, że jeśli trauma, żal i poczucie winy są wystarczająco silne, mogą przywołać zmarłych z powrotem do życia jako zjawy, mające realny wpływ na rzeczywistość. Nie stroni też od brutalnych scen, które zostają pod powiekami na długo po odłożeniu książki.
Zło w tej powieści odmieniane jest przez wszystkie przypadki, ale największe emocje budzi to czające się w człowieku. Tu niemal każdy jest niczym Kaj z zatruwającym go kawałkiem lodu tkwiącym w sercu. Z mroczną stroną skrywaną w najdalszych zakamarkach duszy, której jednak przed zjawą nie sposób ukryć.
Ależ ta powieść ma klimat! Opisy zimowej scenerii i zakradającego się mroku potęgują uczucie mrozu i grozy budząc niepokój i budując intensywne napięcie. Już w trakcie czytania ciepły kocyk i gorąca herbata okazały się nieodzowne, a po jej zakończeniu wolałam nie oglądać się przez ramię, by nie dostrzec białej dziewczynki, mroźnego malowidła wyobraźni.
November 12, 2024
Ta powieść jest jak diabelnie mroczna, mastertonowa baśń - zresztą, nawiązuje do "Królowej Śniegu" Andersena i do mitów nordyckich ❄️
📖 Dawno, dawno temu, w wielkim domu, u boku mamy i taty żyły sobie trzy małe dziewczynki. Pewnego dnia, gdy zimowy całun zasłaniał całą ziemię, najmłodsza dziewczynka zniknęła. Jej siostry miały przeczucie, że stało się coś strasznego. I miały rację. Ich siostrzyczka utonęła w lodowej toni basenu. Ale wcale ich nie opuściła. Co to, to nie… I nawet jak miną lata, nawet jak czas będzie upływał, a dzieci dorosną i staną się panienkami i młodymi kobietami – ona wciąż będzie dzieckiem, nie, duchem dziecka, która otacza je swoją złowieszczą opieką.
🖤 Baśń baśnią, ale „Zjawa” to jest Graham Masterton z krwi i kości. Co prawda w grozie ukrył prawdziwy dramat, ale horror jest tu namacalny, krwawy, miejscami bardzo cielesny. Jestem oczarowana tym, jak Masterton to wszystko połączył. I nastrojem, jaki stworzył. To jesienno-zimowa groza, jak się patrzy. Czytajcie obowiązkowo!
📖 Dawno, dawno temu, w wielkim domu, u boku mamy i taty żyły sobie trzy małe dziewczynki. Pewnego dnia, gdy zimowy całun zasłaniał całą ziemię, najmłodsza dziewczynka zniknęła. Jej siostry miały przeczucie, że stało się coś strasznego. I miały rację. Ich siostrzyczka utonęła w lodowej toni basenu. Ale wcale ich nie opuściła. Co to, to nie… I nawet jak miną lata, nawet jak czas będzie upływał, a dzieci dorosną i staną się panienkami i młodymi kobietami – ona wciąż będzie dzieckiem, nie, duchem dziecka, która otacza je swoją złowieszczą opieką.
🖤 Baśń baśnią, ale „Zjawa” to jest Graham Masterton z krwi i kości. Co prawda w grozie ukrył prawdziwy dramat, ale horror jest tu namacalny, krwawy, miejscami bardzo cielesny. Jestem oczarowana tym, jak Masterton to wszystko połączył. I nastrojem, jaki stworzył. To jesienno-zimowa groza, jak się patrzy. Czytajcie obowiązkowo!
February 7, 2023
Bardzo fajna, ciekawa i trzymająca w napięciu.
March 23, 2021
I’ve read a few of his books in the past and they were pretty decent. I decided to give this one a shot. I didn’t care for it. The whole concept of why the “spirit” was around was dumb and I would like to add that the authors use of sex (particularly a graphic rape) was unnecessary to the story line. I’m an adult, I can handle sex scenes when they are relevant to the story being told but, I don’t enjoy very detailed rape. That being said, the dumbest part may be how they had to “defeat” the spirit.
December 18, 2009
My first Masterton novel that I read. A chilling story of a sister long dead...or is she?
January 7, 2025
Jakie to było dobre! Mroczne, klimatyczne. Nawiązanie do baśni „Królowej Śniegu”… coś genialnego. Nie ukrywam, że śnieg za oknem dodał +10 do klimatu jaki panuje w tej książce. Daje takie solidne 4,5 🌟
September 29, 2018
Slow to start but grisly details later.
February 5, 2025
Akcja dzieje się wolno, przyspiesza zdecydowanie na końcówce. Do tego momentu jednak mamy bardzo dużo opisów, różnych wydarzeń niebezpośrednio związanych z fabułą, studium postaci. To sprawia, że akcja nie jest aż tak dynamiczna jakby się chciało, coś jakby cały czas na hamuje przed poznaniem rozwiązania tej zagadki. Jest to z jednej strony trochę męczące, a z drugiej strony podsyca naszą ciekawość. Sama tytułowa zjawa jest świetnie wykreowana - krwiożercza, bezwzględna, zimna. Naprawdę przerażająca. To właśnie jej postać nadaje wszystkiemu mocny akcent horroru i sprawia, że człowiek ma ciarki ze strachu. Liczyłam na nieco szybszą akcję, ale jak już wpadnie się w rytm to książkę bardzo dobrze się czyta.
May 17, 2008
This is my fourth Masterton book that I have read, and I think of the four this is in the top two. I'm a fan of ghost novels so I was pretty excited to read this one, and with the main characters being female I was hoping to have something to identify with. My final opinion of the novel is a mixed one.
The short summary: The Buchanan family looses their youngest daughter in a drowning accident when she falls through the ice in their pool in the middle of winter. The story follows their two remaining daughters, Lizzy and Laura through the next 15 or so years of their lives. The family slowly disintegrates from the tragedy and then suddenly a small white figure begins appearing to them... and people start dropping dead from unusual circumstances involving freezing. The sisters are forced to determine if this is their baby sister, and what her intentions truly are.
The first half of the book is very eerie, engaging, frightening and hopeful. Tragedy after tragedy strikes the family and they slowly dissolve as a familial unit. The appearances of the "ghost" are both interesting and creepy. Then we hit the middle, where the tale is suddenly bogged down with theory, "why is the ghost here," "what is the ghost," "how does imagination play into it," "what are we really"... pages and pages of completely non-plausible theory on the relationship of the afterlife and literature characters. When that ends and you breath the sigh of relief as the killings begin again... Masterton decides that it would be an excellent time for sex... rape scenes are never my bag of tea, especially ones that go into this much detail and have so little to do with the movement of the story. By the time this is over, you will discover that you have very little book left to complete your tale, and the ending is both rushed and vaguely unsatisfying.
In "The House that Jack Built" there were many reviewers who claimed that many of the deaths were "needless," in this book they abound. My honest opinion is that one of the deaths occur simply because he decided that he preferred one character over another and wanted to give him a shot at the girl. By his logic, some people that should have died didn't, and others that did, I could find no reason for. Still, despite it's obvious flaws, Masterton is excellent with his prose, if you are willing to really suspend your disbelief then pick up a copy of this book, it's quite fun.
The short summary: The Buchanan family looses their youngest daughter in a drowning accident when she falls through the ice in their pool in the middle of winter. The story follows their two remaining daughters, Lizzy and Laura through the next 15 or so years of their lives. The family slowly disintegrates from the tragedy and then suddenly a small white figure begins appearing to them... and people start dropping dead from unusual circumstances involving freezing. The sisters are forced to determine if this is their baby sister, and what her intentions truly are.
The first half of the book is very eerie, engaging, frightening and hopeful. Tragedy after tragedy strikes the family and they slowly dissolve as a familial unit. The appearances of the "ghost" are both interesting and creepy. Then we hit the middle, where the tale is suddenly bogged down with theory, "why is the ghost here," "what is the ghost," "how does imagination play into it," "what are we really"... pages and pages of completely non-plausible theory on the relationship of the afterlife and literature characters. When that ends and you breath the sigh of relief as the killings begin again... Masterton decides that it would be an excellent time for sex... rape scenes are never my bag of tea, especially ones that go into this much detail and have so little to do with the movement of the story. By the time this is over, you will discover that you have very little book left to complete your tale, and the ending is both rushed and vaguely unsatisfying.
In "The House that Jack Built" there were many reviewers who claimed that many of the deaths were "needless," in this book they abound. My honest opinion is that one of the deaths occur simply because he decided that he preferred one character over another and wanted to give him a shot at the girl. By his logic, some people that should have died didn't, and others that did, I could find no reason for. Still, despite it's obvious flaws, Masterton is excellent with his prose, if you are willing to really suspend your disbelief then pick up a copy of this book, it's quite fun.
January 9, 2021
Che dire.. L'ho appena finito e già mi manca😭😭😭
Vi racconto il perché.
Spirit é un romanzo horror la cui trama si sviluppa a partire dagli anni '30 fino a poco dopo gli anni' 50. Elizabeth e Laura trovano la loro sorellina di 5 anni, Peggy, morta in una piscina ghiacciata, in pieno inverno, e poco dopo la sua sepoltura iniziano ad accadere cose strane fino a quando, procedendo con la vicenda, si succedono tutta una serie di morti inspiegabili per congelamento istantaneo. In realtà, la piccola Peggy non le ha mai abbandonate e veglia su di loro in modo alquanto macabro..
Graham Masterton é riuscito a dar vita ad un romanzo veramente geniale. I personaggi sono stati sviluppati in modo profondo dal punto di vista psicologico e posso dire che, per ora, questo è stato il primo horror in cui i protagonisti non si comportano in modo demente come capita, purtroppo, nella maggior parte dei libri sul genere letti da me negli ultimi anni. Suspance, mistero, sovrannaturale, angoscia sono dosate alla perfezione e ho apprezzato tantissimo i riferimenti alla mitologia norrena e alle fiabe di Hans Christian Andersen. L'espediente per giustificare la presenza degli spiriti nel mondo dei viventi, inoltre, é il più geniale che io abbia mai letto.
Se amate il genere prepartevi una coperta calda e leggetevelo tutto d'un fiato!
Vi racconto il perché.
Spirit é un romanzo horror la cui trama si sviluppa a partire dagli anni '30 fino a poco dopo gli anni' 50. Elizabeth e Laura trovano la loro sorellina di 5 anni, Peggy, morta in una piscina ghiacciata, in pieno inverno, e poco dopo la sua sepoltura iniziano ad accadere cose strane fino a quando, procedendo con la vicenda, si succedono tutta una serie di morti inspiegabili per congelamento istantaneo. In realtà, la piccola Peggy non le ha mai abbandonate e veglia su di loro in modo alquanto macabro..
Graham Masterton é riuscito a dar vita ad un romanzo veramente geniale. I personaggi sono stati sviluppati in modo profondo dal punto di vista psicologico e posso dire che, per ora, questo è stato il primo horror in cui i protagonisti non si comportano in modo demente come capita, purtroppo, nella maggior parte dei libri sul genere letti da me negli ultimi anni. Suspance, mistero, sovrannaturale, angoscia sono dosate alla perfezione e ho apprezzato tantissimo i riferimenti alla mitologia norrena e alle fiabe di Hans Christian Andersen. L'espediente per giustificare la presenza degli spiriti nel mondo dei viventi, inoltre, é il più geniale che io abbia mai letto.
Se amate il genere prepartevi una coperta calda e leggetevelo tutto d'un fiato!
April 5, 2019
An interesting and absorbing book!
What a strange, but compelling, story this was. Characters from a fairy tale coming to "life", masquerading as deadly and misguided protectors. Two sisters who's lives were tormented by a malign and unwanted protective force from beyond the grave. A family tortured by the death of child, and then seeing their lives devastated as that child returns in the form of an avenging angel. It really was a one-off kind of story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
What a strange, but compelling, story this was. Characters from a fairy tale coming to "life", masquerading as deadly and misguided protectors. Two sisters who's lives were tormented by a malign and unwanted protective force from beyond the grave. A family tortured by the death of child, and then seeing their lives devastated as that child returns in the form of an avenging angel. It really was a one-off kind of story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
August 15, 2021
Moje czwarte spotkanie z Mastertonem. O ile czytany po raz pierwszy może zaskoczyć, o tyle w każdej następnej książce jest dosyć przewidywalny. Dużo elementów seksu oraz zjawisk paranormalnych. Po raz kolejny najsłabszym ogniwem jest zakończenie, w którym zatraca się rzeczywistość, a jawa miesza się ze snem, a wszystko to by doprowadzić do ostatecznej konfrontacji ze „złem”, które tak naprawdę do końca nie jest określone. Czytelnik sam może dokonać wyboru, co było złe, a co nie. Z braku laku można przeczytać, jednak zapewne za miesiąc zapomnicie, o czym w "Zjawie" pisał Masterton.
August 9, 2025
“Spirit” – another successful, well-written horror novel from Graham Masterton, making striking use of motifs from Hans Christian Andersen’s dark fairy tale The Snow Queen. It’s also, admittedly, another horror with a rather average ending (it’s starting to become a bit of a Masti trademark – weak finales, and yet people nitpick King instead…), but there’s no real reason to complain, because what comes before is a whole lot of tense, gripping reading.
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Three sisters – little girls – and a winter estate in Connecticut. During a snowy playtime, Peggy falls into the pool when the ice beneath her suddenly gives way. She drowns. The tragedy shatters the family: the mother descends into mental illness, and the older sister, Elisabeth, feels responsible. She had often read Peggy "The Snow Queen" at bedtime; the girl loved the tale, and probably, while re-enacting it, stepped onto the ice.
Years later, the surviving sisters have become teenagers – both pretty, though very different in temperament. Elisabeth prefers reading books; Laura is already interested in men, including a friendship with a young, handsome pastor. One day, while looking for Laura, Elisabeth goes to the rectory – and finds the pastor dying of extreme frostbite. In the middle of summer. No one can explain it.
From that moment on, mysterious deaths from frost and cold begin to multiply around the girls, targeting people who have in some way harmed (or tried to harm) them. In these incidents, the sisters occasionally see an apparition – the ghost of a girl dressed in white. She doesn’t exactly resemble Peggy, yet both sisters somehow know it is her, repeating the words of Gerda from 'The Snow Queen'. Researching mythological sources, Elisabeth comes across a theory that sometimes, after death, a person can become someone from their own imagination. It seems Peggy has transformed into Gerda and, along with an imagined Snow Queen, is freezing people to death.
Unfortunately, the vengeful ghost doesn’t consult the sisters before carrying out her retribution – she judges for herself who deserves punishment. As a result, the innocent die alongside the guilty. Life under such a threat is impossible; the danger extends to everyone close to the sisters, even as Lizzie thinks about marrying her boyfriend. The only way to fight back is to enter the world of imagination and defeat the dark forces there.
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"Spirit" opens with a beautiful, exquisitely written, and deeply sad beginning, reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s "Don’t Look Now": a happy family – parents, three daughters – and suddenly, tragedy smashes the idyll to pieces.
What follows is a well-structured narrative: we follow the lives of the two sisters, their choices, and their evolving personalities. On the margins, there is the girl in white – who both is and is not their dead sister – and the recurring, body-horror-infused descriptions of the frostbitten victims.
The characters are strongly drawn – not only the main heroines but also the supporting cast: a Hollywood aunt, an elderly writer friend. There are touching domestic moments, sharp criticism of church pedophilia, a chilling depiction of “Weinstein-style” Hollywood predation (which would only be challenged decades later by #MeToo), and a solid subplot with the writer. All this is grounded in a vividly recreated 1950s setting.
From a genre standpoint, it works well – despite the calm pace and atmosphere, there are plenty of jump scares, some solid gore, and a genuinely intriguing concept for fighting the ghost. It’s clear Masterton enjoyed himself writing it.
And yet – typically for Masterton – the finale is weak. A contrived and unconvincing scene is shoehorned in to justify why the fiancé must fall victim to the Snow Queen. The climactic confrontation in the realm of imagination is brief and rushed. And honestly – who today knows Dickens well enough to catch a reference to "Bleak House"? A demon should be fought with a universally recognized weapon – ideally another Andersen or Grimm fairy tale (plenty of burning people alive in those…) rather than an obscure 19th-century English classic.
Still, the novel closes with a touching, melancholic coda that lifts the final impression. "Spirit' is one of Masterton’s more serious works – elegant, in good taste despite the gore, restrained in the explicit sex he so often includes, and attentive to serious issues like the exploitation of women (the second novel after "The House That Jack Built" to address this topic – 1995 was a good year for Graham).
Definitely worth reading – a fine piece of work.
October 21, 2024
Pewnego zimowego popołudnia tafla lodu załamuje się pod spacerującą po zamarzniętym basenie pięcioletnią Peggy Buchanan. To traumatyczne doświadczenie zostawia głębokie ślady w życiu jej dwóch starszych sióstr, Elizabeth i Laury. Dziewczynki nie mogą jednak oprzeć się wrażeniu, że Peggy wcale nie odeszła, lecz wciąż jest obecna w ich życiu i czuwa nad ich losem. Kiedy nieprzyjemne zdarzenia zaczynają spotykać każdego, kto w jakikolwiek sposób zbliży się do którejś z sióstr, Elizabeth uświadamia sobie, że nieżyjąca dziewczynka roztoczyła nad nimi rodzaj niezwykle groźnej opieki. Chcąc ratować narzeczonego, będzie musiała zmierzyć się z Peggy, w świecie wyobraźni, której wytwory przybierają czasem śmiertelnie realne kształty.
"Zjawa" Grahama Mastertona to intrygująca powieść, która przenosi czytelnika w świat, gdzie granica między jawą a snem zaciera się, wywołując uczucie napięcia i niepewności. Łączy w sobie elementy horroru i baśniowego klimatu, oferując coś więcej niż klasyczny strach i nadprzyrodzone zjawiska.
Autor umiejętnie splata to, co rzeczywiste z tym, co wymyślone, pokazując czytelnikowi, jak cienka może być granica między tymi dwoma światami. Masterton świetnie buduje napięcie, stopniowo odsłaniając niepokojącą tajemnicę zmarłej Peggy, która choć chce być opiekuńcza, jest dla swoich sióstr destrukcyjna. Elizabeth i Laura to bohaterki zranione przez życie, próbujące na swój sposób radzić sobie z bólem, jaki przyniosła im utrata siostry. Zmagają się z poczuciem winy, żalem i gniewem, co sprawia, że czytelnik może się z nimi utożsamiać. Również Peggy, choć pozornie niewinna, w miarę rozwoju fabuły odkrywa swoją mroczniejszą stronę, stając się coraz bardziej niebezpieczną postacią. Opisy są sugestywne, a sposób, w jaki Masterton buduje atmosferę sprawia, że czytelnik czuje się wciągnięty w świat wyobraźni. Mimo że powieść obfituje w nadprzyrodzone zjawiska, narracja jest prowadzona w sposób realistyczny, co potęguje uczucie, że to, co niemożliwe, może wydarzyć się naprawdę.
"Zjawa" to nie tylko horror, to również opowieść o ludzkich emocjach, stracie i sile więzi rodzinnych. Ja podczas lektury bawiłam się naprawdę dobrze!
"Zjawa" Grahama Mastertona to intrygująca powieść, która przenosi czytelnika w świat, gdzie granica między jawą a snem zaciera się, wywołując uczucie napięcia i niepewności. Łączy w sobie elementy horroru i baśniowego klimatu, oferując coś więcej niż klasyczny strach i nadprzyrodzone zjawiska.
Autor umiejętnie splata to, co rzeczywiste z tym, co wymyślone, pokazując czytelnikowi, jak cienka może być granica między tymi dwoma światami. Masterton świetnie buduje napięcie, stopniowo odsłaniając niepokojącą tajemnicę zmarłej Peggy, która choć chce być opiekuńcza, jest dla swoich sióstr destrukcyjna. Elizabeth i Laura to bohaterki zranione przez życie, próbujące na swój sposób radzić sobie z bólem, jaki przyniosła im utrata siostry. Zmagają się z poczuciem winy, żalem i gniewem, co sprawia, że czytelnik może się z nimi utożsamiać. Również Peggy, choć pozornie niewinna, w miarę rozwoju fabuły odkrywa swoją mroczniejszą stronę, stając się coraz bardziej niebezpieczną postacią. Opisy są sugestywne, a sposób, w jaki Masterton buduje atmosferę sprawia, że czytelnik czuje się wciągnięty w świat wyobraźni. Mimo że powieść obfituje w nadprzyrodzone zjawiska, narracja jest prowadzona w sposób realistyczny, co potęguje uczucie, że to, co niemożliwe, może wydarzyć się naprawdę.
"Zjawa" to nie tylko horror, to również opowieść o ludzkich emocjach, stracie i sile więzi rodzinnych. Ja podczas lektury bawiłam się naprawdę dobrze!
September 25, 2024
" [...] Za każdym razem, kiedy jakieś dziecko idzie do nieba, pojawia się nowa gwiazda. [...]"
Uwielbiam takie straszne, mroczne i baśniowe historie. Graham Masterton stworzył bardzo oryginalną historię. Jego "Zjawa" może was mocno przestraszyć i zabrać prosto do Królowej Śniegu. Musicie na nią bardzo uważać, gdyż może was zamrozić na śmierć.
Jeżeli tak jak ja lubicie wielowarstwowe i przemyślane fabuły, to idealnie trafiliście. Nie będziecie się nudzili podczas czytania.
Wszystko zaczęło się od śmierci małej dziewczynki, pięcioletniej Peggy Buchanan. Jej siostry: dziewięcioletnia Elizabeth i siedmioletnia Laura zrobiły śnieżnego anioła podobnego do Peggy, nie wiedziały, że w ten sposób ściągną na siebie prawdziwe nieszczęście i niebezpieczeństwo. A może to nie jest nieszczęście, tylko szczęście?
Dziewczyny od teraz mają prywatną mrożącą krew w żyłach ochronę. Czy warto z nimi zadzierać?
Podobało mi się pomieszanie kilku gatunków, między innymi fantastyki z horrorem i baśnią. Jestem zachwycona, że autor w swojej powieści wspomniał o Kubusiu Puchatku i Królowej Śniegu.
"Zjawa" Grahama Mastertona jest ciekawą czytelniczą propozycją, dla wszystkich jego fanów.
Akcja powoli się rozwija. Znajdziecie tutaj również jej zwroty.
Nie podobała mi się tutaj co najmniej jedna osoba. Czytając tę powieść, będziecie wiedzieli, o kogo chodzi. Tego typu potwory powinni zniknąć z powierzchni ziemi.
Z twórczością Grahama Mastertona po raz pierwszy miałam do czynienia w liceum. Teraz po latach powracam do tego autora i widzę, że on cały czas jest w dobrej formie.
Warto poznać powieści tego autora.
Czy jesteście gotowi na nadejście Królowej Śniegu?
Czy wierzycie, że zmarli mogą kontaktować się z żywymi?
Jestem zachwycona mroczną okładką "Zjawy". Jest klimatyczna, tak samo jak cała powieść.
Na podstawie tej książki widać, że autor ma bogatą wyobraźnię.
Uwielbiam takie straszne, mroczne i baśniowe historie. Graham Masterton stworzył bardzo oryginalną historię. Jego "Zjawa" może was mocno przestraszyć i zabrać prosto do Królowej Śniegu. Musicie na nią bardzo uważać, gdyż może was zamrozić na śmierć.
Jeżeli tak jak ja lubicie wielowarstwowe i przemyślane fabuły, to idealnie trafiliście. Nie będziecie się nudzili podczas czytania.
Wszystko zaczęło się od śmierci małej dziewczynki, pięcioletniej Peggy Buchanan. Jej siostry: dziewięcioletnia Elizabeth i siedmioletnia Laura zrobiły śnieżnego anioła podobnego do Peggy, nie wiedziały, że w ten sposób ściągną na siebie prawdziwe nieszczęście i niebezpieczeństwo. A może to nie jest nieszczęście, tylko szczęście?
Dziewczyny od teraz mają prywatną mrożącą krew w żyłach ochronę. Czy warto z nimi zadzierać?
Podobało mi się pomieszanie kilku gatunków, między innymi fantastyki z horrorem i baśnią. Jestem zachwycona, że autor w swojej powieści wspomniał o Kubusiu Puchatku i Królowej Śniegu.
"Zjawa" Grahama Mastertona jest ciekawą czytelniczą propozycją, dla wszystkich jego fanów.
Akcja powoli się rozwija. Znajdziecie tutaj również jej zwroty.
Nie podobała mi się tutaj co najmniej jedna osoba. Czytając tę powieść, będziecie wiedzieli, o kogo chodzi. Tego typu potwory powinni zniknąć z powierzchni ziemi.
Z twórczością Grahama Mastertona po raz pierwszy miałam do czynienia w liceum. Teraz po latach powracam do tego autora i widzę, że on cały czas jest w dobrej formie.
Warto poznać powieści tego autora.
Czy jesteście gotowi na nadejście Królowej Śniegu?
Czy wierzycie, że zmarli mogą kontaktować się z żywymi?
Jestem zachwycona mroczną okładką "Zjawy". Jest klimatyczna, tak samo jak cała powieść.
Na podstawie tej książki widać, że autor ma bogatą wyobraźnię.
September 28, 2024
Zdarzyło Ci się kiedyś czytać, bądź może oglądać baśniową powieść pełną mroku? 💬
„Zjawa” Grahama Mastertona to coś zupełnie nowego w twórczości autora. Stworzył on oryginalną historię, w której baśń miesza się z horrorem i fantastyką.
Fabuła książki jest dobrze przemyślana i świetnie oddziałuje na wyobraźnię czytelnika. Akcja nie pędzi jak szalona, lecz rozwija się w tempie nadającym powieści dreszczyk emocji, stopniowo coraz bardziej angażując odbiorcę. Wszystko zaczyna się od śmierci pięcioletniej Peggy Buchanan oraz tego, że jej siostry ulepiły śnieżnego anioła, przypominającego dziewczynkę. Laura i Elizabeth nie przypuszczały, że tym samym sprowadzą na siebie nieszczęście... W ich życiu zaczynają dziać się irracjonalne rzeczy, które z czasem tylko się nasilają. To wtedy książka nabiera mocnych uderzeń grozy i zwrotów akcji, których nie sposób przewidzieć. Choć wątek paranormalny może nie zachwyca swoją oryginalnością, został interesująco poprowadzony, dzięki czemu książkę czyta się z dużym zainteresowaniem.
Autor poświęcił także sporo uwagi bohaterom, którzy są wyraziści. Możemy poznać ich uczucia, rozterki, obserwacje i wewnętrzne dramaty. Nawet postacie poboczne wyróżniają się „czymś”, co jest u Mastertona pewną nowością.
„Zjawa” może nie jest najlepszą książką w dorobku Mastertona, ale z pewnością zasługuje na uwagę. Podoba mi się nawiązanie do Królowej Śniegu i Kubusia Puchatka. Bez wątpienia po tej lekturze spojrzycie na te bajki z zupełnie innej perspektywy. Krótko mówiąc, fani baśni, horroru i zjawisk paranormalnych powinni być z tej książki usatysfakcjonowani.
„Zjawa” Grahama Mastertona to coś zupełnie nowego w twórczości autora. Stworzył on oryginalną historię, w której baśń miesza się z horrorem i fantastyką.
Fabuła książki jest dobrze przemyślana i świetnie oddziałuje na wyobraźnię czytelnika. Akcja nie pędzi jak szalona, lecz rozwija się w tempie nadającym powieści dreszczyk emocji, stopniowo coraz bardziej angażując odbiorcę. Wszystko zaczyna się od śmierci pięcioletniej Peggy Buchanan oraz tego, że jej siostry ulepiły śnieżnego anioła, przypominającego dziewczynkę. Laura i Elizabeth nie przypuszczały, że tym samym sprowadzą na siebie nieszczęście... W ich życiu zaczynają dziać się irracjonalne rzeczy, które z czasem tylko się nasilają. To wtedy książka nabiera mocnych uderzeń grozy i zwrotów akcji, których nie sposób przewidzieć. Choć wątek paranormalny może nie zachwyca swoją oryginalnością, został interesująco poprowadzony, dzięki czemu książkę czyta się z dużym zainteresowaniem.
Autor poświęcił także sporo uwagi bohaterom, którzy są wyraziści. Możemy poznać ich uczucia, rozterki, obserwacje i wewnętrzne dramaty. Nawet postacie poboczne wyróżniają się „czymś”, co jest u Mastertona pewną nowością.
„Zjawa” może nie jest najlepszą książką w dorobku Mastertona, ale z pewnością zasługuje na uwagę. Podoba mi się nawiązanie do Królowej Śniegu i Kubusia Puchatka. Bez wątpienia po tej lekturze spojrzycie na te bajki z zupełnie innej perspektywy. Krótko mówiąc, fani baśni, horroru i zjawisk paranormalnych powinni być z tej książki usatysfakcjonowani.
May 2, 2025
I thought Master of Lies was the best Graham Masterton book. But after reading Spirit, this has to be Masterton’s greatest work.
After a young girl, Peggy, dies a tragic death, her family experiences strange visits from a girl who is yet isn’t Peggy. What unfolds is absolute madness and brutality beyond comprehension.
Reading the synopsis, this book makes it seem like a spooky paranormal book. But I’m someone familiar with Masterton’s work, and I knew there would be bloodshed among all the snow. I thought the opening to Master of Lies was bad — there were some scenes here that are even rougher. I loved it, but if you want a cozy paranormal read, this isn’t the book for you.
I don’t often see books set in 50s-era small town America, and this made Spirit even more special. Even though Masterton mentioned tragedies at the time, such as WWII, it took me back to a time when life was simpler. I was trying to picture my own grandma as the Buchanan sisters, who would have been the same age as my grandma.
As always, Masterton’s characters and dialogue are brilliant. But he also excels at writing characters you love to hate. I loved the Buchanan sisters when they were younger and despised them when they got older. Still, I just HAD to know what happened to them at the end.
Overall, I saw this at my local used bookstore and picked it up on a whim. I’m glad I did.
After a young girl, Peggy, dies a tragic death, her family experiences strange visits from a girl who is yet isn’t Peggy. What unfolds is absolute madness and brutality beyond comprehension.
Reading the synopsis, this book makes it seem like a spooky paranormal book. But I’m someone familiar with Masterton’s work, and I knew there would be bloodshed among all the snow. I thought the opening to Master of Lies was bad — there were some scenes here that are even rougher. I loved it, but if you want a cozy paranormal read, this isn’t the book for you.
I don’t often see books set in 50s-era small town America, and this made Spirit even more special. Even though Masterton mentioned tragedies at the time, such as WWII, it took me back to a time when life was simpler. I was trying to picture my own grandma as the Buchanan sisters, who would have been the same age as my grandma.
As always, Masterton’s characters and dialogue are brilliant. But he also excels at writing characters you love to hate. I loved the Buchanan sisters when they were younger and despised them when they got older. Still, I just HAD to know what happened to them at the end.
Overall, I saw this at my local used bookstore and picked it up on a whim. I’m glad I did.
November 2, 2021
I have very little compliments to give this book. I'm honestly surprised it ever got published.
This had the plot of a kid's horror story and the amateur prose of adult fiction. Even though the main plot revolves around a fairy tale, it has very graphic sex scenes, including a rape scene. It repeated the same phrases, over explained everything, described snow and ice in every possible conceivable way. The characters were highly forgettable and even though there wasn't many characters in the novel, I still couldn't work out the difference between the sisters.
It honestly was the worst book I've ever managed to finish. I wouldn't have, if I hadn't co-read it with my fiancé. The only redeemable aspect of this book was some of the horror scenes were pretty creepy and memorable.
The ending was atrocious. Basically the "enemies" just vanished. The epilogue listed how all the main characters died in their old age.
Spirit would have been a solid first draft but as an editor, I would have recommended at least five more.
This had the plot of a kid's horror story and the amateur prose of adult fiction. Even though the main plot revolves around a fairy tale, it has very graphic sex scenes, including a rape scene. It repeated the same phrases, over explained everything, described snow and ice in every possible conceivable way. The characters were highly forgettable and even though there wasn't many characters in the novel, I still couldn't work out the difference between the sisters.
It honestly was the worst book I've ever managed to finish. I wouldn't have, if I hadn't co-read it with my fiancé. The only redeemable aspect of this book was some of the horror scenes were pretty creepy and memorable.
The ending was atrocious. Basically the "enemies" just vanished. The epilogue listed how all the main characters died in their old age.
Spirit would have been a solid first draft but as an editor, I would have recommended at least five more.
November 2, 2021
I wanted to reread this book as I remember that one of the main scenes creeped me out and the memory of it has stayed with me for many years. Unfortunately it didn't quite meet my expectations, and I now know why I forgot most of what happened. The horror in this book is excellent, really unique, well done, and shocking. The plot line is unique, albeit a tad far fetched. I have a few issues with this book that mark the star rating down significantly. The main problem is that it is extremely repetitive, and the author wastes time telling us irrelevant details. Aside from that, the sexual explicitness of this book is bordering on appalling. The language used often makes you feel like the author gets a voyeuristic pleasure from detailing the sexual scenes, some of them abusive, with horrible clarity.
The end of the novel is nondescript. It doesn't go anywhere or go into the details of the conclusion, and leaves you feeling underwhelmed. So much more could have been done with this. Can't recommend.
The end of the novel is nondescript. It doesn't go anywhere or go into the details of the conclusion, and leaves you feeling underwhelmed. So much more could have been done with this. Can't recommend.
October 21, 2024
Cenię niezmiernie tego autora jako twórcę najlepszego horroru jaki czytałem - mowa oczywiście o Manitou. Łapiąc tą książkę szykowałem się zatem na kolejne mrożące krew w żyłach chwile i obawy przed spaniem ;) No i d..a, od ziewania podczas czytania tej książki zrobiły mi się prawie zajady w końcówkach ust. Horroru jest tam tyle, że nie ... zauważyłem. Nie wiem, może jestem już po prostu za stary na takie książki, ale mnie po prostu nie poruszyło. Bohaterem są siostry, które straciły w dzieciństwie najmłodszą siostrę. Z czasem wokół nich zaczynają się dziać dziwne i nie wytłumaczalne zdarzenia. Małe ostrzeżenie - to nie jest książka dla dzieci i to nie z powodu horroru, ale z powodu dwóch bardzo sugestywnych i opisowych scen seksu - jedna to w dodatku brutalny gwałt. Zakończenie skomplikowanej fabuły to 2 strony, kilka nie wyjaśnionych kwestii jak choćby Wielki Gatsby ze szpitala, o których autor jakby zapomniał. Czyta się szybko, ale to nie jest to czego szukałem i w związku z tym niestety nie polecę. Pozdrawiam.
May 30, 2018
I love the concept of this story. This book has put a whole new spin on a traditional haunting. I was 250 pages in before I got into the true substance of this tale, but once the Ah Ha! moment comes it was very satisfying for me.
Peggy Buchanan dies very early on in this story and her head is full of magical Fairy Tales, her favorite being The Snow Queen. When Peggy returns, she brings the Snow Queen with her, this malevolent force that kills (using extreme cold). Once people start dying, It is up to Peggy's two sisters to figure out how to get rid of her spirit for good...
Unfortunately, the ending was just okay, and that's the main reason I gave it three stars. Nothing uplifting happens here at all, just when I thought maybe... my hopes were dashed, and its actually quite a sad story. It falls somewhere in the middle for me, but I'm still glad I read it.
Peggy Buchanan dies very early on in this story and her head is full of magical Fairy Tales, her favorite being The Snow Queen. When Peggy returns, she brings the Snow Queen with her, this malevolent force that kills (using extreme cold). Once people start dying, It is up to Peggy's two sisters to figure out how to get rid of her spirit for good...
Unfortunately, the ending was just okay, and that's the main reason I gave it three stars. Nothing uplifting happens here at all, just when I thought maybe... my hopes were dashed, and its actually quite a sad story. It falls somewhere in the middle for me, but I'm still glad I read it.
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