Haunted

by William Hussey

Milton Lake is a seemingly ordinary town, where tales of hauntings and strange goings on ripple beneath the surface. When a mysterious boy comes to town and moves into a large, derelict house, all alone, his arrival changes everything. Shrouded in secrecy, he senses a kindred spirit in Emma Rhodes, and reveals to her a shocking truth. Someone in Milton Lake is using the fabled Ghost Machine to call the spirits of the dead back to our world. Now it is up to these two lost souls to find out who is operating the strange invention before it is too late ...For call by call, the dead will be unleashed.

Genres: Horror

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2013

About the author

William Hussey is the award-winning author of over a dozen novels, spanning almost every genre of fiction — from Young Adult thrillers to gripping whodunnits. His critically acclaimed books include the Crime Fest award-nominated Hideous Beauty, The Outrage, and Broken Hearts & Zombie Parts. Born the son of a travelling showman, he has spent a lifetime absorbing the history, folklore and culture of fairground people, knowledge he has put to work in his Scott Jericho thrillers.
With over a decade of experience in schools, William is passionate about reading and creative writing, regularly running events and workshops for young people.
William lives in the seaside town of Skegness with his dog Bucky and a vivid imagination.

Reviews

[Helen Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd say this book is an ideal read for teens but as an adult I do actually read quite a lot of YA (young adult) fiction and I enjoyed this very much. It's an intelligent, involving book with the supernatural stuff backed up by bits of real history - in fact I must do a bit of googling about Thomas Edison now to see where facts end and fiction begins! One of the big plus points for me is the characters - horror totally falls down for me if I don't care what happens to them, but the thing that kept me gripped to the end of Haunted was wanting to know how things were going to work out (or not) for the heroine Emma and her fascinating new boyfriend Nick. I'd recommend this.

[Margarita Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me this had a middle-grade feel to it, although it is categorised as young adult. The protagonist is 16 and there's a young adult romance which kind of springs out of nowhere. But I felt the basic premise of the book was more suited to a younger audience prepared to accept all sorts of fantastical notions. The prose is very good, even quite literary, but the story becomes a bit tangled at times.

[Gookabilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a kid I always wondered around for reading haunted 👻 books, stories, novels etc. Whenever I see a book it fascinates me to a unlimited extent, I feel overjoyed and reads that book in a day. I read this book when I was of the age 12, and I still have this book as it is very close to my heart, and I started reading it again. It freshens up all the childhood memories 😢. This book served me as a stepping reading more books......

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took a few chapters to get into it but once the story got flowing it was hard to put down. There were some good twists, one twist near the end was very unexpected.

[Laura Morrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Nick's backstory, the weaving in of Edison was very clever. I didn't like Emma's ex-friends who felt like cliche mean girls.

[Sam Whitehouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Hussey's Witchfinder series is one of my favourite book series of all time. It blended everything i like in a book: action, adventure, fantasy, horror, great characters, great plot and a very readable writing style. And so I didn't hesitate in picking this, his latest novel, up. This is a stand alone novel, centering around the idea of a device that can call spirits into the world. Mixed up in this is the central character, Emma, and a mysterious American boy. Is it as scary as Michael Grant claims on the front cover? Definitely. There are some pretty creepy scenes in this book and Hussey delivers his trademark flare for horror that was so evident in the Witchfinder books. The plot is full of twists and turns and at no point is it predictable or boring. The mysteries and mythology of the story is brilliantly done and makes the already frantic pace even more so.
Overall, this is a great, fast paced read ideal for YA horror fans who are looking for a plot that is never easy to predict and will keep you turning the pages until the stirring climax.
Highly recommended.

[Ilena Paola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro me atrapó desde el principio por lo fácil que resulta leerlo y lo bien que combina romance y misterio de una manera cautivadora. Aunque no considero que el romance entre la protagonista y Nick sea el mejor que he leído, tiene un encanto especial que logra mantenerte enganchado, especialmente porque la descripción de Nick es justo de mi tipo, lo que hizo que disfrutara aún más la historia.

La inclusión de los fantasmas también es un gran acierto, ya que se integran perfectamente en la trama, aportando un toque único y emocionante. En general, disfruté mucho de esta lectura, que logra equilibrar los elementos románticos y sobrenaturales de una forma que te deja con ganas de más. Sin duda, lo recomiendo.

[Raimy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Vincent Ripley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book review will be posted first on my blog www.mrripleysenchantedbooks.com