Ghost Story

by Elisa Lodato

Off the windswept coast of Scotland lies Finish Island, rugged and remote. Once a home, it now stands abandoned, a place of dark history and deep memory, a place that holds its stories close. Unable to write since her daughter's death, it's here that Seren comes to work, hoping that the solitude and silence will inspire her next novel.

But the island holds memories of its own, restless and unwilling to stay buried. As unsettling occurrences become even more bizarre and frightening, Seren starts seeing uncanny resonances between her past and the island's history. There is something on this island, something ancient and unforgiving. Will Seren discover its secrets, before it's too late?

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Supernatural

368 pages, Hardcover

Published September 26, 2024

Reviews

[Bloss ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m including a content advisory below that I’m not putting behind spoiler tags. If I’d known it was a core part of the plot, I wouldn’t have bothered with this book and think it’s important enough to mention to the Goodreads community. If you’re not interesting in plot spoilers, please don’t read this review. 🛑

1.5

This book opens with a bang. At first, I was intrigued by the plot but the unsympathetic, unlikeable MC, lack of spookiness, switch to journal-style storytelling, and traumatic puppy death ruined any semblance of enjoyment I had in this book.

For me, this started going downhill with the first Alex interlude. Why is the MC so disempowered? Why does she keep forcing contact with someone who creeps her out? Self-obsessed, self-destructive, and profoundly stupid, she is impossible to root for and this doesn’t improve as the book goes on. Honestly, I’d have rather read Kathleen’s story. She was interesting!

Part two is told through diary entries which slowed the pace and made us spend a lot of time in the MCs head jumping between oversexed obsessing over the boatman to repetitive obsessing over the daughter. It got tiresome quickly and sucked any spookiness right out of any attempts at an atmosphere. The “I have to write a book” thing became tedious too - MC is procrastinating and complaining about it all the time and hearing the repetitious, circular whining about not being able to write a book was so dull.

I knew what was going to happen the moment the wee puppy showed up. The MC didn’t want her and it was cruel of Daley to leave her on that island. She would’ve needed her puppy vaccinations, and needed love, care, and training that the MC was too self-involved to ever provide. When it ended as I predicted, with a graphic death, it was devastating. Individual reader mileage will vary, but dog death is a hard red line for me, personally.

Throughout the book, there’s a noticeably excessive amount of descriptions about defecation and arses.

The second Alex interlude was just bizarre. Why does the MC stay?! Why is she constantly trying to force cordiality with him? Despite what she says to Daley, she doesn’t directly tell him to get lost or call him out on his creepy behaviour. It’s telegraphed really early on that this guy’s an unhinged obsessive so nothing in this thread surprised me yet MC slept-walked right into all of it like a dumb horror movie character who keeps making all the wrong choices. She had like zero self preservation instinct and, while what Alex did to her is his fault, it was frustrating seeing her continually goad, make overtures, and engage in drama with him.

The plot itself had potential but I didn’t feel the ghostly thread was fleshed out enough to compel me forward. It was predictable and it takes the MC ages to put it all together. The story suffers from a short attention span: jumping from ghostly happenings to the MC’s sex life to drama with MC’s family, to Alex… some of these threads didn’t complement each other or work together nicely, especially in the journaling format.

The ending was anticlimactic and the road to get there was paved with ever-increasing stage-worthy melodrama.

I feel like I’ve read this story loads of times: remote Scottish island, character(s) losing the plot, creepy men, “tortured writer” trope, underdeveloped ghost plot… Every time I see something is set in Scotland, I get so excited but this didn’t work for me on almost any level and it wasn’t an enjoyable way to spend my time.

🐶 Is the dog okay? No and it makes for deeply upsetting reading.

I was privileged to have my request to read this book accepted through NetGalley. Thanks for letting me give this a try, Bonnier Books UK.

[Sophie Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting ghost story set on a remote island in Scotland

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25⭐️

[Victoria Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. The storyline was beautifully layered. It was unnerving and unsettling and this was not caused by the supernatural elements alone 👻
The setting was a huge character! With the Island having its own personality and complex history. Its isolation leads to unease, and the need to find out more and find out the connections and answers you desperately need. You go on this journey alongside the writer of the journal in the book. Understanding her needs, fears and experiences closely. There are many layers of meaning and a depth of feeling. It also has a fantastic thriller element. Which is shocking!! 😳
The narration was very good. Her accents were strong, only a few minor slips and these by no means took away from the performance and story.
Highly recommend 😊

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️

Thank you to Bonnier Books for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

While grieving her daughter and her sister, Seren is contacted by her agent about a new writing opportunity. In desperate need of money and a direction in life, Seren agrees to retreat to an abandoned Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides to focus on writing a ghost story.

Seren’s research suggests that the island experienced a massacre centuries ago, but she isn’t prepared for the echoes of the fallout that are still reverberating today.

This is the perfect autumnal, spooky read. I loved the eerie, atmospheric setting of the abandoned island. I felt immersed in the ghost story, and it really reminded me of a more modern version of Woman in Black (which I love).

I do have a significant concern with this book though, in that it is entirely marketed as a ghost story but there are significant themes of domestic abuse throughout. This isn’t even alluded to in the blurb, and I couldn’t see any trigger warnings.

I also felt like there were a few plot holes (mild spoilers ahead). Firstly, if the island had a massacre, how come it was repopulated and only later abandoned in 1912? I also don’t understand how the MacKinnon women are all midwives, since women take their husband’s surnames?

I would still really recommend this book for a great spooky read!

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed with this one because I was so looking forward to reading it! The remote, abandoned Scottish island, the haunted aspect, were all so enticing. But our MC? I detested her. Ohhh, the stupidity! The asinine decisions our MC made beggared belief. I suppose the poor decisions kept the story rolling, but not to a very good end, IMO.

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I FLEW THROUGH THIS BOOK more rapidly than I’ve flown through anything in years. This was the perfect thriller, just litfic-y enough where it felt like the characters had some substance, but not litfic-y enough to take away from the plot or the pace. I think the topics dealt with in this book were handled brilliantly, and I was surprised at the depth of what I thought would be your run-of-the-mill thriller. Such a breath of fresh air from other contemporary thriller authors’ (*cough* frieda mcfadden) books that I’ve found to be riddled with plot holes and pea-brained central characters. Just a super fun read that I had trouble putting down.

This was the first time I received an ARC so I was super conscious and tried my hardest to not let my opinion be affected by the fact that I was sent this book. Thank you Eleanor for the opportunity to read it, and thanks Elisa for sharing your talent with us!

[Nicola Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think there's any setting more likely to draw me into wanting to pick up a book than a remote island, especially a Scottish island. The combination of the beauty of the landscape and the often bleak sense that comes with being so cut off sparks something in my imagination.

Ghost Story is set mainly on the fictional island of Finish in the Outer Hebrides where writer Seren goes to try and gather enough inspiration to write a new novel. The book begins in Edinburgh where Seren is struggling to cope with a tragedy in her life. She then moves to Finish and settles in there but the island's macabre history proves unsettling, even more so as Seren is the only inhabitant of the island and so she is mostly left alone with her own thoughts.

Seren's time on the island is told in journal entries which I found really upped the pace and made this a book that I found very hard to put down. The writing is full of empathy and feeling, and the history of the island and what occurred there is beautifully woven into Seren's own experiences. There were times when I wondered if she might prove to be an unreliable narrator but in the end I believed her story and the ghostly elements were executed so well that I believed in them too (and I don't always).

I thought Ghost Story was a brilliant book. It's eerie and tense, it has a fascinating historical back story running through it, the setting is perfectly drawn to be both stunning and sinister, and I loved the characterisations of both the good people and the not so good.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5* Beautifully written as always by Elisa Lodato. Unfortunately however, I did not enjoy this nearly as much as her other two books which were both 5 star reads for me and which kept me captivated throughout.

[Alan Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intriguing and unusual novel, GHOST STORY begins with an email exchange between Jamie Doughty and his late ex-wife, Seren’s publishers. It appears that Seren has passed away ‘on that island’ while writing the novel commissioned by the publishers and whose manuscript they would now like to publish. Jamie refuses, arguing that the manuscript in his possession is ‘not a work of fiction’ and it is apparent he holds the publishers responsible for whatever has happed to Seren.

What then follows appears to be that manuscript and tells Seren's story as she does indeed travel to remote Scottish Hebridean Ireland, inspired by the story of a massacre that took place there hundreds of years before and hoping that the location will reignite her creative spark. It's quickly evident that Seren’s manuscript is not a novel, at least not a conventional novel, but rather a memoir telling of the events that brought her to travel to the island and later when she gets to the island it takes the form of journal entries and dispersed with chapters of her intended novel. The prose is melancholy, and slow-moving, and utterly engrossing. Seren’s first novel was a huge success, her second a comparative failure. Her daughter and sister were murdered in an arson attack carried out by her sister’s deranged partner, and Seren’s marriage, to Jamie, did not survive the tragedy. Contacted by her publisher with an offer for a story about ‘“Ghosts…not ghosts that go bump-in-the-night but the inner demon, you know”’ Seren decides to visit the Western Isles, where she spent holidays as a child, Finish Island, uninhabited since 1912 but whose population had been massacred by clansmen centuries before. Seren hopes the location, and the solitude, will inspire her but the reader can’t help but feel that she is trying to escape the grief which which she has been living, grief which, perhaps quiet at times, never leaves.

It would be unfair to reveal any more of the plot, suffice to say I found it gripping and intensely moving. Elisa Lodato is a talented writer. Her prose is exquisite, her dialog modern and realistic. Sadness and grief are present on every page but the book is never gloomy and GHOST STORY lives up to its title as a feeling of increasing dread takes hold in the latter stages. It is chilling and atmospheric. It doesn’t tie everything up in a neat bow, and I liked that. For days after finishing the novel I was still thinking about it - did things happen as they appeared to, as Seren had recorded them? Did the remoteness of the island take a toll on Seren’s sanity? Were the ghosts real or ‘inner demons’, or both? I don’t know but the questions will stay for some time.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio Book version review
Very well read and with generally good nice characters variations that made it worth listening too till the end, if was reading a physical copy probably would have put it down and not picked it back up.

The Audio book version, Got me wanting more of the story in the beginning totally not what I was expecting from the title but had to keep going just to find out what happened, from tragedy of a child’s life lost to an Island Ghost story some how linked in the mind of the Main Character with the dark end that just didn’t seem right.

I liked the style of a journal written entry although seemed to miss a few details or arrival and departures along the way as the story moved on the end sort of expected with the way the story was going isn’t for everyone that’s for sure if your looking for the friendly Ghost Story it’s definitely not that gets very dark as it progresses, that goes with the History behind the island setting and the ending just didn’t seem finished almost like Your out of words better abbreviate it down and just end

[Ellie (bookmadbarlow) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A deserted island and a long told story of the past takes Seren to Finish, an island off the coast of Scotland. She goes to write her book, but will the isolation play tricks on her?
The premise of this one sounded perfect for the autumn and it definitely was all of that.
The book was so immersive, the atmosphere was palpable and was so much more than a ghost story.
Grief and toxic relationships played a massive part too in Serens story.
I was really invested in the story, until a plot point took me right out of it. I managed to get back into it, but it took away some of my enjoyment, unfortunately.

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An isolated, remote Scottish island with its history of a brutal massacre, long abandoned with tales of recent hauntings. And a grief stricken, heartbroken mother, tasked with clearing her writer’s block to write a ghost story. Put them together and what could possibly happen?

This book is the perfect example of spine tingling fear, written with all the hallmarks of a ghostly thriller, that will have you peering over your shoulder at the turn of every page.

I felt a lot of empathy for Seren, the death of her daughter and subsequent breakdown of her marriage left her a lonely and flawed woman, who feels that the isolation of island life, far from civilisation, will enable her to kick start the novel she has agreed to write. However, when someone she thinks of as a friend intrudes her peace, is she more at risk from the ‘presences’ on the island, something a lot closer to home……or even both?

Eliza Lodato has created a first class ambience with an abandoned island in the Outer Hebrides, complete with its own ghostly history and together with the knowledge myself of how remote these islands are, I instantly got the atmosphere the author was aiming for. Keeping it realistically tense and conveying the complexities of human minds when engulfed with grief, self importance and vulnerability this was the perfect autumn read that I’d have no hesitation in recommending.

#GhostStory - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Hannah Boyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is beautifully written and really captures the feelings of grief and loss.
Seren has been through a tragic loss, and is tasked with writing a ‘ghost story’ in an attempt to rid herself of writers block. She decides to do so on an isolated island, where there was once a brutal massacre.
Seren is flawed, which is something I love in a character. She was a brilliant MC imo.
I admit I would’ve liked this to have been a little spookier but I was genuinely heartbroken by some of the twists. I loved Elisa’s writing style, and I honestly just felt so many things throughout this whole book!

[Sarah Farmer-Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slow burner of a ghost story - it doesn’t have those “jump out of your seat” kind of moments but the sense of dread kind of seeps into the mundane, turning ordinary scenes into moments thick with anticipation. This is a story that doesn’t rush to frighten you; instead, it patiently lets the suspense take root, crawling under your skin before unleashing its more chilling moments. For me, one of the novel’s greatest strengths was the setting - it’s based on a (fictional) remote Scottish island called Finish. Its windswept and rugged shores, its local climate of mist, rain and cold lends itself beautifully to the chilling nature of the story and
offers a deeply immersive, eerie tale that will make you question every shadow in the corner of your eye. It’s a slow burn in the best possible way, where each page really tightens the grip of tension. Highly recommended for those who love their ghost stories with patience, subtlety, and spine-tingling unease.

[tinalouisereadsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seren has had a tradgey in her life and she is struggling. She is a writer and for her next book she goes to an island in the Outer Hebrides. She is to stay in a bothy for several months to get her thoughts together and write her book.

I like books that are set on a Scottish Island. I like the bleakness and the isolation which add to the story. This particular island is fictional but does have a macabre history which I believe is taken from true events.

I was expecting the story to be about Seren on the island with it's ghostly goings on but she wasn't totally alone as there are other characters that come and go but won't say anymore as it may spoil. So for me the story didn't quite have the total isolation feel to it.

The story did have some spooky moments but for me it then went into thrillerland. I was expecting more of a ghost story rather than a thriller. I didn't not enjoy the book but it wasn't what I was expecting.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the book to review.

[amycw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! I read through the entire book in one day. It was the perfect mix of history, supernatural ghost story, and thriller.

Seren, the MC, travels to a remote Scottish island to rekindle her writing career after experiencing incredible loss. She plans to write a fictional ghost story until the ghosts of a 16th-century massacre on the island start revealing their story to her. She is caught between the need to stay on the island to tell their story and her desire to escape the island for her own safety.

The writing was amazing. It was very fast-paced but also very descriptive. I was completely transported to the remote Scottish island and felt like I was there with Seren through every step of her journey. I can definitely see myself rereading this in the future. Fantastic novel!

[Jeanette Bainbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic ghosty read.

[Sami · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. Unlike anything I’ve read before. Perfect for a rainy Sunday

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Ghost Story, by Elisa Lodato, author Seren Doughty spends four months – from May to September – on the abandoned Outer Hebrides island of Finish. Her goal: to write a zeitgeisty island-based ghost story that will satisfy her publishers and sell well.

There’s a lot riding on this. Seren’s three-year-old daughter Tilly died in an arson attack along with Seren’s sister Alana six years previously, and understandably, Seren has struggled to move on.

Seren’s marriage to Tilly’s father Jamie couldn’t withstand the strain, and her last novel, which she wrote with reluctance when Tilly was a baby, was a total flop. Not only is she hoping to revive her writing career, but that being alone on the island will help her manage her grief.

Seren doesn’t end up quite as alone on Finish as she expected, however. For one thing, she develops a relationship with Daley, the good-looking boatman who transports day-trippers and supplies to the island during the summer months. Then there’s Alex, the intense young librarian she first met while doing preliminary research in Edinburgh, who turns up claiming to be collecting soil samples for his PhD.

But there’s also something less definable, which manifests as ghostly cries and inexplicable events…

I really liked Ghost Story, being particularly captivated by the eerie atmosphere that persists throughout the novel; the history adapted and attached to the fictional island; and the wry meta-ness in regard to writing and publishing.

The feeling of creepiness and unease is there even before Seren sets foot on Finish. From the start, you’re aware she’s not going to survive, so you’re on the alert for clues as to how she meets her demise.

There’s also the feeling she’s living a half-life following her catastrophic losses. Then she meets Alex, who at first could be excused as socially inept and pompous, but later teeters, then plunges, into red flag territory.

Staying in Castlebay the night before the boat crossing, Seren’s further unsettled by a couple of out-of-the-ordinary things she sees and hears. By the time she actually gets to Finish, we’re well-primed for spooky goings-on.

These phenomena are very skilfully woven into the story. Lodato doesn’t overplay her hand: incidents are few and far between (there are stretches where you almost forget about them, and find yourself enjoying an uplifting story about a woman rebuilding her life by living off-grid for a spell), Seren rationalises them when she’s the only witness, and when there’s someone else present, their corroboration helps you suspend your disbelief.

The history the author creates for Finish by blending imagination with mixed-and-matched stories of real Outer Hebridean islands enriches the phenomena with weight and meaning. As well as the islanders’ (pragmatic) abandonment of the island in 1912, Seren learns of a brutal massacre committed against the island’s men, women and children hundreds of years earlier, and the reverence the residents had for their midwife – particularly the woman who held this role at the time of the massacre, and was given the posthumous name of Chulainn (“warrior”).

Seren maps her supernatural experiences onto what she knows of Finish’s history but, being an author, has the self-awareness to recognise that she could be forcing these connections, and is filling in the blanks herself.

This is just one instance of the meta-ness I so appreciated in this book. Right from the opening pages, when Seren’s publishers are asking Jamie (as her bereaved next of kin) to send over her “manuscript” in the hope of working it up into something they can sell, you know you’re in for a clear-eyed, interesting take on the literary industry.

I felt like Lodato was giving me a mischievous wink as the characters in this island-based novel referred to how and why such books were “on-trend”, and when Seren, attempting to come up with a synopsis for the book she hadn’t started, wrote a sentence that could largely describe Ghost Story itself.

In fact, while some seriously dark and shocking events are described in this novel, there are also a number of opportunities to laugh – for example, at Alex’s terrible idea for his own novel, the obnoxious Canadian couple who insist on telling Seren their life story, and the trials of living in a bothy without indoor plumbing.

Ghost Story is multi-layered, atmospheric, and compellingly creepy.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and reviewed Elisa Lodato's two previous novels back in 2018; An Unremarkable Body and The Necessary Marriage. Both of those books made it into my Top Books of the Year list and I've been waiting for years for more from this incredible author. When I heard that Manilla Press were to publish Ghost Story, I was delighted and so keen to read it.

This is an utterly captivating read. Once again, Lodato has created characters that are brilliantly human, realistic and incredibly flawed. She has set her story on the fictional island of Finish in the Outer Hebrides, a place that is lonely, with no people, yet is fully populated by the myths and history of the place.

Seren Doughty is a woman facing impossible losses. A mother without a child, a writer without a story. Her marriage has broken down, and her husband has moved on to a new wife and family. Seren's success as an author has always been judged on her first novel, she didn't want to write the second, yet she did. When her publisher urges her to go away, and write another book, she is frightened, unsure of if she can. Whilst researching in Edinburgh library, she is helped by Alex, a man far younger than her but who shows such an interest in her and her planned work. A man who will shape her future in many ways.

Seren arrives on Finish, she will stay in the bothy, a small structure with little comfort. No running water, no toilet facilities. It would appear to be the perfect place for her to find inspiration for her work. Yet as soon as she arrives, and even before she lands, when she stays on the mainland at the home of people who know the island well, Seren feels unsettled. Terrible tragedies have taken place on Finish, and Seren experiences things that are unexplainable, and so unsettling.

This really is a beautifully written story that encompasses the fragility of the bereaved mother, along with the vulnerability of her state of mind. Seren often makes decisions that are questionable, yet underneath, she is a strong woman who knows her mind, yet is dealing with the horrors that have consumed her life over the past years.

The isolated setting of Finish adds such depth to the story, the island almost becomes a character in itself, with the whistling wind, the freezing streams, the treacherous landscape, and the constant reminders of what has happened there in the past.

I don't want to give away any of the plot, but it is safe to say that Seren faces more danger from fellow humans than she ever does from the unsettled spirits that inhabit the island. Towards the end of the novel, the author exposes the madness that can turn people into monsters, it is tense and so emotionally challenging.

This is another wonderful book from an incredibly talented author. Her ability to conjure up people and places, along with otherworldly aspects without veering into the ridiculous is sublime. Highly recommended.

[Rob McMinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2024 title was my latest audiobook listen. It covers quite a lot of familiar territory: remote island setting, links to events in the past, troubled protagonist. It’s put together quite efficiently, but didn’t quite trigger the gooseflesh response you might be hoping for, based on the title.
The narrative conceit is that we are reading a manuscript left behind by an author. I’m never sure how I feel about this kind of thing. In film terms, I tend to roll my eyes at the found footage trope, because it always seems to be assuming that the audience just couldn’t cope with just watching a film without worrying where the footage came from.
On the other hand, the realistic frame story with supernatural innards goes back a long way, and is a main feature of Freud’s essay on The Uncanny (1919).
So we do indeed start with a realistic frame, as a publisher, feeling entitled because they paid an advance, is trying to get someone to give up a manuscript. But the holder of the manuscript isn’t so sure. You contracted for a fiction book, he says, and I’m not so sure this is fiction.
Seren (not Sarah) is the author in question, who wrote one successful novel, struggled with the follow-up, and then experienced a trauma so great that it stopped her in her tracks. Now, she’s attempting a fresh start, and in need of funds, she accepts a publishing advance and is commissioned to write a ghost story, the genre being currently in fashion.
She decamps to a National Trust owned bothy on a remote Scottish island. Finish is a composite setting, based on a couple of real islands. There’s an abandoned village, a massacre sometime in the distant past, and rumours of ghosts.
Seren is a little lazy and feckless. She makes a half-hearted attempt at research before she goes, and tries to organise herself for a stay on the abandoned island. She has permission from the National Trust, and recruits a young Aussie exile to keep her supplied with essentials.
It takes a while to reach the island, but what happens there is the real matter of this book. While it didn’t quite creep me out, it did make me uncomfortable at times. Mr Squeamish here felt there was too much information about toilet arrangements. But worse, the ghost story descends into a different genre altogether, and it all gets a bit grim.
Narration is by Helen Darbyshire (native dialect: Scottish, Fife). No complaints there, though she needs to have a word with her ancestors about spelling.
Overall, this is a decent listen, though it does get a bit distressing rather than creepy.

[Sian · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars: When truth is stranger than fiction

Elisa Lodato’s Ghost Story is a moving story about sadness, grief, deception, and the haunting power of untold stories, as one woman embarks on a relentless pursuit for closure.

Ghost Story is an eerie, psychological novel set against the atmospheric backdrop of the remote Finish Island, off the coast of Scotland. Our protagonist, Seren, a grief-stricken novelist who has been unable to write since her daughter’s death, retreats to this desolate island, hoping its solitude will inspire her next novel. However, what she finds is far from peace and quiet. Instead, she is immersed in a dark and hypnotic tale that blends personal trauma with growing dread as Seren unravels the island’s sinister secrets.

The novel’s slow-burn pacing may not appeal to readers looking for more immediate thrills. Ghost Story is less about sharp shocks and more about a gradual, creeping unease. In my opinion, this novel offers a stunning, if understated, narrative for those who appreciate character-driven psychological thrillers.

The final revelations may not shock, but they do deliver a poignant resolution to Seren’s story, wrapping up the novel’s emotional arc with a quiet, bittersweet punch.

Overall, Ghost Story is an atmospheric, thought-provoking novel that uses the supernatural as a lens through which to explore deeper themes of grief, memory, and the human psyche. Lodato has crafted a chilling narrative that lingers long after the final page, inviting readers to reflect on how the ghosts of our past haunt us.

Recommended for fans of:
- Authors such as Shirley Jackson, Susan Hill and Sarah Waters
- Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller and Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions
- Atmospheric, character-driven novels that blend psychological and supernatural elements

Thank you to Manilla Press/Bonnier Books for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Jacob Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost Story is a brilliant novel by Elisa Lodato, perfect for this time of year. We meet Seren, who has had some success when she released her first novel several years earlier, but since her debut, her career has taken a bit of a nosedive, particularly with her second novel being slated by critics and not having as much success as the first. Now, Seren feels it’s time to put pen to paper again and her agent is thrilled, but Seren needs to find inspiration. To give her space and time to write, Seren decides to take up residency on a Scottish island rumoured to be haunted, but this certainly doesn’t turn into the idyllic retreat she hoped it would be.

I really liked Seren; you can feel the trauma of what she has been through in the last few years, with the loss of her daughter and the breakdown of her marriage. Before Seren begins work on her book, she meets a young man, Alex, at the Edinburgh library, who is thrilled at the prospect of helping her with her research. Alex is also an aspiring author himself and asks Seren to look at his book for him.

When Seren arrives on the island, where she is due to stay for three months, she knows she will be the only person there and the living accommodation she has is basic. But this is just what she needs to be able to concentrate and hopefully, deliver a book to her agent and editor that people will want to read. But from the moment she arrives, strange things start happening and it isn’t long before Seren finds herself being pursued by Alex, the man who she met in Edinburgh.

Elisa Lodato ups the tension as the book progresses really well and I really began to feel terrified for her, especially as I wasn’t sure what Alex’s intentions were. He seemed really creepy from the start and I grew to really dislike him. There is such a tense finale and Elisa Lodato builds the atmosphere so well, drawing us in to the island setting, and adding to the creepiness.

Ghost Story is a gripping read and I really enjoyed reading it, I highly recommend it.

[Liz Skipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seren is grieving the tragic loss of her young daughter. Her marriage has broken up and she's feeling quite alone and vulnerable. Her work as an author has naturally suffered and she is under pressure from her agent to produce another book.

Seren's agent suggests she move somewhere remote, the solitude would be good for her mind and hopefully inspire her to write again. The island of Finish would be perfect as it is uninhabited with only the occasional visitor. There's a small bothy, it's basic but can be used as a writers retreat. Seren agrees after all she has nothing to loose. She packs up her apartment leaving all her precious possessions with her ex husband as she knows he will take care of her photos of her daughter, all she has left.

Seren is keen to learn of the islands history; why it was abandoned. What happened to the people who once lived here? She feels something here she cannot explain and as unsettling occurrences begin to happen Seren begins to think she could be losing her mind...

Ghost Story is a captivating read. It's unsettling yet hauntingly beautiful. The descriptions of the island are wonderful and I was there, could picture the wild and windswept terrain and the feeling of isolation. My nerves were quite literally jangling as it's so unpredictable. I really felt for Seren and desperately wanted a happy ending for her...

My first book by this author and now I'm keen to read others. Highly Recommended.

[R. M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

An unspired writer travels to a remote Scottish island to write a ghost story, bringing her own ghosts to the surface in the isolation.

This book meandered for a long time to get to the main plot, too busy focusing on the FMC's sex life and gardening on the island. I would have taken this as a tongue-in-cheek joke about writers' general habit of procrastinating writing, but honestly the FMC strikes me as a bad writer. The metaphors are ham-fisted, her descriptions are vague and dating (one character's descriptions begins and ends with a comparison to a character from 'Neighbours'), and she has zero interest in researching her topics. The narrative also has this annoying habit of having her wonder "oh no what if xyz happens" and then immediately xyz happens.

The very end was interesting, as the ghost story itself is finished. If that had been the focus, rather than dating and gardening, I think I would have enjoyed the story a lot more, even if that meant the book was much shorter.

[Angi Plant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an eerie story and it’s a good spooky season read.
I found it an interesting read, and although I felt for Seren and her life I couldn’t quite like her. I’m sure it’s probably that the depiction of trauma was a little too good for comfort and she seemed the perfect unreliable narrator. Or was she? You’re going to have to find that out for yourself!
I did really gasp at a few moments and I wanted to yell at her more than once, but there’s enough misdirection to make the reader wonder if they’re suspicious minded on her behalf, or if what she thinks is really happening. The diary entries were well done, as I do enjoy the contrast between what’s said and what is written or how it’s interpreted. A very enjoyable read with an ending that really captures the imagination and explores myths and legends of Scotland well and is very vividly painted.
With thanks to Tracy Fenton, the publisher and the author for the advanced reading copy of this book.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remote Finnish Island in the Outer Hebrides was once inhabited but has been derelict for years. It has a bloody history of a massacre in the distant past. This doesn't put off novelist Seren. After a successful first novel she has hit a block after the death of her daughter, an event that also brought about the end of her marriage. With the pressure form her agent she decides to go to this remote place & hope the atmosphere & the isolation gives her the push she needs.

The author does a brilliant job of conveying the wildness & isolation of the island. I was totally able to envisage Seren's 'home' as well as the various places on the island. There is no throwing the spookiness at the reader, it creeps up slowly- rather like the mist. I found it a read I couldn't put down although at times I wished I could & one event, although necessary to the plot stopped it getting five stars! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

[Sarah Shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I found the book quite gripping although agree with previous reviews that the main character was quite annoying- albeit she is obviously still traumatised from her daughter’s death.
The main thing for me is that I just didn’t find it convincing. The ghosts were all too stop start- there was too much repetition about the massacre, and I never really understood what it was they wanted her to do. This isn’t really a spoiler as the massacre story comes early on in the book - but at the end I thought : hold on, if the whole island population was massacred, who was living there afterwards (until 1912)? There are various people who are meant to be descendants of the island population, but how could there be if they were all killed?
There was a sense of place but not of geography. I couldn’t get a real picture of how the elements of the island fitted together, and for me this is an important part of a book which is place driven rather than character driven.

[Colin Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Seren Doughty has been unable to write since the death of her daughter. She goes to the remote Scottish island of Finish for inspiration. Finish though deserted now holds memories of a massacre in days gone by and the memories of that linger as do the ghosts of those who lived there.

I loved the remote setting it's so bleak and lonely. This was an enjoyable read. Seren is a flawed yet interesting character and her relationship with the island she inhabits in order to write her story is brilliant.

The character of Alex is less interesting and just seems annoying. There is quite a shift of tone and a departure from the ghost story premise towards the end of the book and this is quite jarring and takes the reader away from the haunting nature of the story.

I enjoyed the story, the bleak island setting was brilliant. The elements that take you away from that weren't quite as good. But on the whole an interesting read.