Ben

by Amy Cross

Three rules. One haunted house. Zero chance of escape.

Julia and Henry arrive in the dead of night, fleeing something they refuse to name. The house is remote, dark, and quiet, just the way Julia wants it. As long as they follow the rules, she swears they’ll be safe.

Rule No phones. No messages. No contact with the outside world.
Rule Ignore the sounds in the walls. Do not investigate.
Rule Never talk about what happened at the service station. Not ever.

Henry wants to trust her. But something is watching them. Something is already inside. And every night, the rules get harder to follow.

Because the past isn’t staying buried. And neither is he.

Ben is a claustrophobic, emotionally-charged ghost story about a mother’s desperate attempt to shield her son from a horror that refuses to leave him alone. Some tragedies can’t be run from. Some secrets want to be found.

Genres: Horror

197 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 13, 2024

About the author

Amy Cross writes novels and short stories in a number of genres, mainly horror, paranormal and fantasy. Books include The Farm, Annie's Room, The Island, Eli's Town and Asylum.

Reviews

[John Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fair to middling!

Can evil come from good or is it the other way round? A mother, tormented by tragedy, is driven to take drastic measures in order to protect her dead son's memory. Just what is she up to? Is it revenge for her son's untimely death or, has another supernatural factor come into play? The main plot was good but the story became muddled and the ending was rather weak and contrived. It was as if the author had lost focus somewhere during the writing and then wanted to wrap things up as soon as possible. Not one of my better reads, but then again, I've read a lot worse.

[Peter Topside · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very different and interesting. Tons of plot points floating around and Amy Cross did a great job leaking relevant tidbits throughout, avoiding info dumps. Very creepy atmosphere and a ton of supernatural elements intertwined with real life horror, which was solid. My biggest issue here was that the initial portion of the story dragged a bit with Julia and Henry. It could have been condensed much more and left other opportunities for the author to further explain later occurrences and developments. Not that anything was done badly, but the layering of the story became a bit overwhelming towards the latter portion. It had plenty to work with, so I'm not sure why the author kept piling things on, as it just made the second half of the book very tough to follow. Slowing the pace and letting certain concepts simmer with the reader would have been a wise move. Still a good reading experience, but not without some core flaws.

[Rosie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tells the story of a mother who is tormented by the death of her son and will do anything to protect his memory this is soooooo good

[§amantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf

[Brigit (Cosy.horror.corner) · Rating 2 out of 5]

An imaginative start, and an infuriating everything else. Do you ever rage read a book? Thinking, hopefully it will make sense. Hopefully it will get better.

The characters were illogical and the main character Julia was hysterical and a complete hypocritical c**t who couldn't make up her mind whether she promised to prevent harm or cause it. Julia was emotionally, verbally and physically abusive so I just didn't want to hear any of her supposed good intentions. The plot was just a chaotic mess, with loose ends or stifled dialogue with random characters. Such as Piotr... what happened to him in the end?? And why did Piotr offer to help... wtf. The internal monologue and dialogue was repetitive, the story could have been cut much shorter.

This reads like a cocaine-fueled fever dream. Also, I had to check across the other books released by the author, including the well-known ones, and this theme is reoccuring: the strong idea, with poor execution/editing. This author is prolific with more than 600 books, sometimes writing a novel in a week. It's just infuriating that it's not finessed. Knowing this consistency of habit isn't adapted or improved upon, and that ive literally read the latest release, I don't think I'll pick up another book by the author.

[Tommy Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!! Amy Cross just continues to amaze me! Ben is a very special story and kinda different from her Haunted House-type stories. It was special to me because my wife and I have lost two children and yearn to feel their presence. Sometimes we do but it’s hard…”Ben” really inspired me to open my senses more and feel our children who are gone in nature, in the quiet of a house and in the gentle breeze.
Of course, Amy gives us lots of surprises along the way as usual.
I highly recommend “Ben” and ALL Amy Cross books. I can’t stop reading them!

[Kerry]

Amy Cross’s horror novel Ben tells of a mother grieving her murdered eight-year-old son who fears his restless spirit might seek revenge on the ten-year-olds who killed him. She takes drastic measures to prevent the little boy she loved from transforming into a damned, vengeance-seeking soul. By so doing, she learns about the afterlife, how to help trapped spirits, and her own capacity for love. It is a sympathetic exploration of grief and the power of maternal love.

[Julie Furlong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really think that Amy needs to slow down with her books and get a good editor. I marked the crap out of the pages with spelling errors and grammatical problems. Also, the B plot was confusing to me. Why was it even necessary when we could have mainly focused on Ben and Julia. This wasn't a horror novel- I would say more of a drama ghost story.

[Erica smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I added this book to my DNF because I was 63 percent done with the book and it finally got to the point of the story. Also not much action , quite boring , honestly one of thr worst books I have read from her sadly .

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of bad? Read 65% ten DNFed it. I’ve read a few of her other books & this one felt like it turned into a farce about halfway through. Lots of rushed exposition to explain the first half and then I lost my patience.

[Ember · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. I feel like the book read me. Like the whole time I was trying to figure out what was going on. And then once I figured out what was going on I just didn’t care that much? Does that make me a bad person? Probably but oh whale.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was pretty awful. I almost didn't finish it. It made very little sense and I don't even feel it was a real ghost story. And it was unbelievably boring. I would say more, but I finished the darn thing so I feel I've already devoted way too much time to it.

[Garry Marlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was ok, but read better from this author.

[Shannon]

DNF

[Rose Haskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feelings

You can't help but be sympathetic to all the characters in this story . A mother's love has no bounds, and grief is the biggest.

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in one sitting

[Brittany Boyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting read

I enjoyed this story but I felt there could
Have been so much more detail to really knock it out the park.

[Kelsi Chapman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Susan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read

Enjoyed this book immensely. I was pulled into the story, from the very first page. A must read book, I finished it in one day.

[Hayley Gilbertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

I enjoyed the story but I started to get a bored towards the end of it but I'm glad that I was able to finish it and feel the harrowing love of a grieving mother

[Mary E. Zeis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too short. I do believe ghost exist and the story shows that

[Adam Stanhope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting story, great writing, a great book of any fan of Amy cross

[Barry J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben

It was lovely a great story I enjoyed every chapter I read I can't wait to to read more stories from Amie Cross

[DarkS · Rating 4 out of 5]

What the actual fever dream did I just read?? Amy Cross really said "screw your emotional stability" and threw us into a blender of possession, obsession, and WHAT THE HELL, BEN?! This book is like if The Exorcist, The Shining, and your worst dating app match had a baby and fed it raw meat.

The pacing? Absolutely deranged. The vibes? Rotting. The plot? Somewhere between “save me” and “I’m never sleeping again.” But damn if I didn’t devour it like a goblin on espresso.

One star deducted for making me whisper “ew no” and “yes more” in the same chapter. Thanks, I hate it. Also, I need ten more.

[kasey mac ᰔᩚ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is such a great perception of what grief does to you. I recommend reading this if you have lost anyone close to you <3

[henry smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good. As usual kinda flaky