What do you think?
Rate this book
Dead Spirits Farm
The plan was for Ben and Eleanor to put business life behind them and spend idyllic days living at an old farmhouse in beautiful countryside. The reality became a living nightmare, with ghosts in the evil farmstead driving them towards insanity, trapped into suffering the same horrors of its grisly past.
- GenresHorror
154 pages, Unknown Binding
Published November 2, 2021
37 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey Sleight
23 books25 followersI worked 30 years in journalism and later pursued a career in acting. I've always loved writing, and have scripted audio dramas as well as short film screenplays. My favourite genres in reading are a mix of supernatural, historical fiction/nonfiction, thrillers and mysteries. My main book writing genre is supernatural.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 28, 2025
How I wish we could do half star ratings. This was a 3.5 for me. For a person that doesn’t have much interest in hauntings and ghost stories, I’ve come to enjoy Geoffrey Sleight’s works. He’s a talented author who’s absolutely found their niche in the aforementioned subgenres. So this premise sounded promising, and turned out to be pretty good. However, it all felt very rushed (I feel like I’ve been saying this on a ton of books lately.) and could have slowed its pace a bit to elicit a better experience for the reader. Ben and Eleanor were great leads and I liked how they weren’t your typical young family moving into a haunted house. Ben goes first to fix it up, well before Eleanor goes to their hopeful retirement location. And, wouldn’t ya know it? Malevolent spirits and spooky occurrences galore! BOO!! Now the hauntings themselves were very textbook and didn’t break any new ground, but they were fine. I definitely wanted a lot more background on this sweet, aging couple, as I felt like they jumped into the ‘Dead Spirit’ Farm a little quickly and it became the sole focus. They were interesting and I wanted more from them. The choice for how the story was split up was a bold move, but I felt like there were some missed opportunities as the first half was almost all on Ben and the latter Eleanor. It would have been good to not have such a drastic split, and show the same time experiences from the other person. The ending was not quite what I was expecting, but I liked the path that Sleight took. So I had a decent time here, but was fairly preoccupied looking at the possibilities that weren’t explored.
January 1, 2022
So, I’ve read several books by the author and the last couple have been quite underwhelming and then he graciously reached out to me, offering some stories of his that he thought might be more enjoyable. It stands mentioning, because it’s a class act. Not something most authors would do, especially when you’ve given then less than favorable reviews. Class is tough to come by these days, so it deserves a spotlight whenever found.
Now, onto the book itself, sure enough, the author was right. This was a step up from the books of his I’d been reading. Not a giant leap, but a step up all the same. To be fair, this isn’t exactly my sort of thing. Not the genre, the genre I love, but the presentation.
Sleight’s books are invariably very mild, like the cozy version of mysteries. You’d think it would be difficult to write a cozy tale of murder and cannibalism, but the author manages. It’s in the tone, in the mood, in the language. There’s an inherent niceness to it.
Mind you, I’m not looking for gore or guts, I avoid that, but do prefer my tales to go farther with the dark psychology of it all. But, as they say, to each their own. I’m sure there’s a market out there for nice scary stories, much like there’s a market for cozy mysteries.
So, anyway, let’s talk about this book. A book that seems to determine to redefine the meaning of the expression ‘bought a farm’. This is a tale of a happily married older couple that finds a place they think might be ideal for their retirement. Well, the man thinks so, anyway, and so he purchases it and proceeds to renovate it, only to find out that he may not be alone, or wanted, or safe. Should have done his research, talked to the locals, prior to buying the place. Then he would have found out the charming eponymous nickname for it and maybe stayed away. But now, now the ghosts are hungry, so hungry. Forget retirement dream, forget renovation projects, now it’s a simple matter of survival.
An entertaining tale that reads very quickly. Mild, but not charmless. Many thanks to the author for proving a review copy and, again, for classing up the genre.
Now, onto the book itself, sure enough, the author was right. This was a step up from the books of his I’d been reading. Not a giant leap, but a step up all the same. To be fair, this isn’t exactly my sort of thing. Not the genre, the genre I love, but the presentation.
Sleight’s books are invariably very mild, like the cozy version of mysteries. You’d think it would be difficult to write a cozy tale of murder and cannibalism, but the author manages. It’s in the tone, in the mood, in the language. There’s an inherent niceness to it.
Mind you, I’m not looking for gore or guts, I avoid that, but do prefer my tales to go farther with the dark psychology of it all. But, as they say, to each their own. I’m sure there’s a market out there for nice scary stories, much like there’s a market for cozy mysteries.
So, anyway, let’s talk about this book. A book that seems to determine to redefine the meaning of the expression ‘bought a farm’. This is a tale of a happily married older couple that finds a place they think might be ideal for their retirement. Well, the man thinks so, anyway, and so he purchases it and proceeds to renovate it, only to find out that he may not be alone, or wanted, or safe. Should have done his research, talked to the locals, prior to buying the place. Then he would have found out the charming eponymous nickname for it and maybe stayed away. But now, now the ghosts are hungry, so hungry. Forget retirement dream, forget renovation projects, now it’s a simple matter of survival.
An entertaining tale that reads very quickly. Mild, but not charmless. Many thanks to the author for proving a review copy and, again, for classing up the genre.
June 28, 2021
The story jumps right into building the story elements. The story moves quickly along, building an intense feeling of intrigue. Simple and scary.
December 2, 2021
Narration: Brilliant.
Loved the story. Nicely paced and executed. New twists for horror lovers .
Loved the story. Nicely paced and executed. New twists for horror lovers .
January 24, 2023
Creepy, grizzly, enthralling and fantastic!
By: Geoffrey Sleight
Narrated by: Howard J. Davey
Overall: 5 out 5 stars Performance: 5 of 5 stars Story: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed: 01-24-23
When Ben and Eleanor bought the old farmhouse, they knew it needed work. What they didn’t know was the the colorful, haunting and horrifying history of “Dead”Spirits Farm”. They also didn’t know it was far from over! Creepy, in ALL the best ways, grizzly at times, and enthralling throughout, this fantastically written story gripped me, held me, and did not let me go until the very last fantastically narrated words were spoken! Reminding me of the good, old fashioned horror stories of times gone past, Dead Spirits Farm features rich, well defined, easy to care about characters, a smooth interesting, easy to understand plot and plenty of shivers! The dialogue rings true, and the scene setting perfectly explains not only the story, but gives all the necessary background information the listener needs in a clear, interesting manner without lagging or interfering with the flow of the story! Along the way there were quite a few eye opening surprises! No spoilers, you’ll understand when you get there! This one had me firmly camped out on the edge of my recliner and I loved every beautifully narrated minute! Five fantastic stars! More please Mr. Sleight!
By: Geoffrey Sleight
Narrated by: Howard J. Davey
Overall: 5 out 5 stars Performance: 5 of 5 stars Story: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed: 01-24-23
When Ben and Eleanor bought the old farmhouse, they knew it needed work. What they didn’t know was the the colorful, haunting and horrifying history of “Dead”Spirits Farm”. They also didn’t know it was far from over! Creepy, in ALL the best ways, grizzly at times, and enthralling throughout, this fantastically written story gripped me, held me, and did not let me go until the very last fantastically narrated words were spoken! Reminding me of the good, old fashioned horror stories of times gone past, Dead Spirits Farm features rich, well defined, easy to care about characters, a smooth interesting, easy to understand plot and plenty of shivers! The dialogue rings true, and the scene setting perfectly explains not only the story, but gives all the necessary background information the listener needs in a clear, interesting manner without lagging or interfering with the flow of the story! Along the way there were quite a few eye opening surprises! No spoilers, you’ll understand when you get there! This one had me firmly camped out on the edge of my recliner and I loved every beautifully narrated minute! Five fantastic stars! More please Mr. Sleight!
March 23, 2022
I enjoyed this one, a creepy, intense ghost story. It has great atmosphere, tension and real emotion. Buying a cheap farm to retire to leads to horror and tragedy. The writing is excellent, as with other stories by Geoffrey he concentrates on building the tension and fear rather than the gore. The narration is very good Howard Davey does well with the story, I just found the narration just a little flat in parts. Overall though excellent. I received a complimentary copy from the author an am leaving a honest voluntary review
February 7, 2022
audible:This was a good book.It was a traditional ghost house haunting with a few twists.Howard Davey was a decent narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Read
August 1, 2024Can’t finish due to the narrator who reads as though he’s running a race and is continually breathless. Then come the odd long pauses and words cut short. Sorry, but though the story might be good, the audio quality spoilt it for me.
November 24, 2018
Great book. I would recommend this book to readers
January 3, 2022
I was hooked for m the start. I didn't want it to end.
September 3, 2018
I liked it.. Pretty spooky.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews