The Damned

by Andrew Pyper

Danny Orchard wrote a bestselling memoir about his near-death experience in a fire that claimed the life of his twin sister, Ashleigh, but despite the resulting fame and fortune he’s never been able to enjoy his second chance at life. Ash won’t let him.

In life, Danny’s charming and magnetic twin had been a budding psychopath who privately terrorized her family—and death hasn’t changed her wicked ways. Ash has haunted Danny for twenty years and now, just when he’s met the love of his life and has a chance at real happiness, she wants more than ever to punish him for being alive—so she sets her sights on Danny’s new wife and stepson.

Danny knows what Ash really wants is him, and he’s prepared to sacrifice himself in order to save the ones he loves. The question is: will he make it back this time?

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Paranormal, Ghosts, Mystery, Suspense

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Andrew Pyper was a Canadian author. He published over ten fictional books, including The Demonologist, which won the International Thriller Writers Award, and Lost Girls, which was a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book of the Year.

Pyper also published under the name of Mason Coile.

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok - there was nothing new here and I found the end part a bit...vague and lost my interest. A tiger? what was that all about? I actually wish he wrote a different book -the bits about what it was like for him and his family living with Ash - knowing what she was was the best part of the book.

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2016/02/09/b...

The Damned somehow missed my radar when it was first released, but I’ve wanted to read it ever since I found out about it last summer. So when a review copy from the publisher showed up on my doorstep in advance of its paperback release complete with a brand new cover, I dropped everything else and jumped into it that very same day.

I ended up devouring the book. Partly, it was because of its quick-pacing and slickly written style, but also, it simply might have been the fact I was really hungering for a good horror novel. It’s been quite a while since I’ve revisited this genre, and by that I mean pure, psychological paranormal Horror with a capital H—the kind designed to chill you to your bones. The Damned fit the bill perfectly, delivering in spades what I needed.

The story held promise from the very start. It introduces us to our protagonist Danny Orchard, who is no stranger to death. It’s even the topic of his bestselling book, a memoir about his trip to the “other side” after almost dying in a fire that claimed the life of his twin sister Ashleigh when they were both sixteen. His writings have made him a celebrity in certain circles, and Danny often finds himself on the road signing books or giving talks at near-death experience groups all over the country, meeting others who have had their brushes with the afterlife and survived to tell the tale. Often, their accounts are of hope and filled with a sense of peace, with most grateful to be given a second chance at life.

Danny’s own experience, however, was a lot different. His sister has been dead for twenty years, but her presence haunts him still. In life, Ash was the picture of perfection—smart, beautiful, popular—eclipsing her twin brother in every way. But behind that façade, she was pure evil, as the Orchard family have always known even before she started outwardly exhibiting her psychopathic tendencies. Ash reveled in hurting others, manipulating their emotions and destroying their lives. And unfortunately for Danny, death hasn’t changed her one bit. For so long, he has remained alone and detached, afraid to truly live his life again lest the ghost of his vengeful sister decides to take it out on those he cares for. But a twist of fate leads him to fall in love with a woman named Willa and grow close to her young son Eddie, and now just as Danny had feared, Ash is out to take his happiness away from him.

This was truly a nail-bitingly intense story, expertly structured and paced to give the reader the full effect of the horror that has plagued Danny his entire life. Pyper knows it’s no fun when the author shows his hand too early, so he teases us, doling out the details one agonizing morsel at a time, and I couldn’t help but eat it all up. Danny’s past is gradually revealed, starting from the beginning when he and Ash were almost declared stillborn in the delivery room—until miraculously, both babies managed to pull through with strong, steady heartbeats. But was it really a miracle? Or was it something more sinister? These are the kind of surprises waiting for you when you read this book.

Hands down, my favorite thing about this book was Danny’s relationship with his sister, especially before she died. As a ghost, Ash is terrifying—but she was also a lot more complex and interesting when she was alive, her personality and misdeeds recounted in Danny’s memories. Ash is as evil as our protagonist is not, but in spite of this, there’s a bond between the two siblings that can never be severed, which puts a knotty twist into the dynamics of their relationship. As Danny searches for a way to free himself from Ash, the story even takes a mysterious turn, leading readers on a hunt for clues to discover the truth behind the circumstances of the fatal fire that one twin came back from but the other did not. As it turns out, there was a lot more to Ash’s life that was hidden even from Danny, and I do enjoy a good mystery with my horror.

The phenomenon of near-death experiences is also an ideal topic for a book like this. It’s a subject rife for speculation about what lies beyond, and Pyper uses our natural fear of the unknown to make The Damned even more psychologically nerve-wracking. The best part about this novel is what it doesn’t tell you, allowing your imagination to fill in what is implied so you can draw your own disturbing conclusions.

I am immediately adding Andrew Pyper on my list of must-read authors. It’s not often that I come across a horror novelist whose style I enjoy so much, whose prose includes more than just the stark display of frightening elements, because it’s clear that he takes the time to infuse his writing with a poignant, artful quality as well. Plus, I love supporting Canadian talent. I highly recommend The Damned if you’re looking for your next spine-chilling read.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to set some boundaries for myself with this book: no reading after dark. Seriously. It made me crazy. Why does a supernatural element in a story make me into a crazy woman? I can read true crime, all about serial killers and even the gruesome details of what all they did. I can read all about forensics and autopsies while eating lunch. But throw some supernatural aspect into the story and I am reduced to hiding under the covers and praying for morning. That said, I did like the book and as much as it scared the poop out of me, I had to read to the end to see how it all got resolved.

What if you had a twin sister? Who was a psychopath? Who controlled your life and everyone in your family? And who saw no reason to stop controlling all of you after her death? What if you almost died when she did, but returned to life after a near-death experience? You’ve seen the afterlife (The After) and written a best-selling book about it, but you have nothing in this life that makes you happy. Until you meet the love of your life.

This book is all about what Danny is willing to do for love. To what lengths will he go to keep his new wife and stepson? How is he going to break the link between himself and his twin, Ash? Thankfully, most of us don’t have to make this kind of decision—mostly we have to decide issues like am I willing to move to be with my beloved? Can I be a decent step-parent? Am I willing to sell/rent out my house and maybe sell my furniture? Am I willing to possibly have to divide my assets with this person at some undetermined point somewhere in the future? (Can you tell that I’m not a romantic?)

Well told and gripping, but it’s only getting three trembling stars because I am reading outside my genre comfort zone.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Damned, Andrew Pyper centers a story around the afterlife. Our protagonist Danny has been there and back three times, has found success as an author detailing his experiences, but unfortunately is haunted by his dead twin sister.

It's a fantastic premise and Pyper makes this a very engaging read. His concept of the afterlife is simple, but I thought it was very creative. For almost all of the novel, I had this pegged at five stars easy. This was the perfect mix of descriptive prose (at times extremely good), realistic dialogue, and plot development.
It's a quite immersive and a fast read, and it's too bad that at 73% in, I had hit a few days where I became too busy to read.
This break in momentum caused my reading enjoyment to suffer. This was at a point where a lot of action was beginning and I would have much preferred to cruise into that from where I was at in the story rather than come into it cold. I had thought that I would have to drop a star because of how I was feeling, but that would be so unfair to the book. I'm sure if I didn't have a break forced on me the whole thing would have been terrific.
But it was really good. I enjoyed this a lot and loved the characters.

I'd have to say 4.5 stars overall, but I'm rounding up here. I still hold The Guardians as my favourite of his, but only by a very slim margin now.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Danny Orchard wrote a bestselling memoir about his near-death experience in a fire that claimed the life of his twin sister, Ashleigh, but despite the resulting fame and fortune he’s never been able to enjoy his second chance at life. Ash won’t let him. In life, Danny’s charming and magnetic twin had been a budding psychopath who privately terrorized her family and cruelly manipulated all of her peers. Even after being burned alive, death hasn’t changed her wicked ways.

This was an uncomfortable read. It's not often I see young females in horror accurately portrayed as psychopaths without being too over-the-top. The way the afterlife was portrayed and the way Ash's sinister presence was felt all throughout the story had me on edge. Just when you think you've seen it all, you learn something new about her that makes her even more despicable. She was a unique and terrifying villain.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should probably start with a disclaimer: I’m a huge Andrew Pyper fan and am predisposed to enjoy anything the man writes. I was first introduced to Pyper in 2008 when I won an ARC of The Killing Circle from Random House. After that thrilling reading experience I promptly went out and bought copies of his previous books. I will say that, although I enjoyed The Damned and his previous The Demonologist, Pyper’s earlier books are my favorites. Pyper is a great writer. I would say this book, like his previous, could be described as literary horror.

The Damned features Danny Orchard, a writer living off the proceeds of his first and only book: a memoir about his near-death experience. When Danny was a teenager, he and his twin sister Ashleigh were in a horrible accident that claimed her life and almost took his. Although Danny eventually recovered from the accident, his heart stopped beating for a few minutes, which allowed him a glimpse of the afterlife. After a failed attempt at university, Danny wrote about this experience to great success. Now in early mid-life, he keeps busy attending Afterlifer meetings (think AA, but for people recovering from death) and the occasional speaking engagement. He is lonely and friendless and desperate to fall in love. There’s only one problem. His dead sister Ashleigh won’t let him find happiness. Every time he starts to build a relationship, Ashleigh’s ghost appears to sabotage it. Danny thought he could avoid all meaningful contact with people, until he meets Willa and her son Eddie. He falls in love at first sight and decides to risk everything to have a shot at having a normal family life. Things seem to go well at first, but before long Ashleigh begins to interfere.

Like with Pyper’s previous book, the male protagonist must venture out on a journey, a quest of sorts, to resolve the supernatural problems in his life. In this book Danny travels to Detroit, where he grew up, in an attempt to uncover the truth surrounding the accident that took Ashleigh’s life. He suspects she was murdered, and he hopes solving the crime will be enough to put her soul to rest. Unfortunately for Danny, Ashleigh has other plans in mind.

Pyper’s choice of setting is fitting. Detroit, with its crumbling buildings and decaying neighbourhoods, is a kind of hell on earth. For Danny, his childhood in suburban Detroit was a living nightmare. His mother was depressed and suicidal, his father was an absent workaholic, and his sister was a dangerous psychopath. It was not a far stretch to imagine Detroit as a literal hell, as it was for Ashleigh. When not tormenting Danny and his loved ones, she resided in hell, which bore a striking resemblance to Motor City.

There are several things to recommend this book. For those of you who enjoy horror, there is the creep factor. In particular, there is one intensely terrifying basement laundry room scene that had me squirming and literally afraid to turn the page. I had the impression something would jump out at me. I also loved Pyper’s version of hell. The best way I can describe it is as a mix of Beetlejuice’s Neitherworld and Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. In other words, really graphic blood and guts stuff mixed with extremely bizarre and zany elements.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. My only criticism is that I wished Willa and Eddie had been more significant characters. They were only included to provide the motivation for Danny to chase down Ashleigh and put an end to her shenanigans. They remained quite two-dimensional and I didn’t have any emotional attachment to either of them. I didn’t care what happened to them. If I had, perhaps I would have been even more invested in the story and even more freaked out by what happens. Ashleigh was a much more prevalent force and Danny’s attachment to her was stronger than his attachment to his new family. Which I guess was part of what Pyper was trying to say: those we loathe and fear and whom we want to forget can have a powerful hold and influence over us, perhaps even more so than those we love and admire and respect.

Lastly, as I was reading this, I kept thinking “This would be great as a movie”. There are so many scenes that would be awesome in a horror film. Turns out this may happen, as Legendary Pictures has optioned the movie rights.

[Joy (joyous reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Pyper’s latest tells the story of a Detroit-native best selling writer who knows a thing or two about dying. Having survived multiple close calls gives him the perspective of what being dead – even for a few minutes – felt like. In this novel, Andrew explores the afterlife, unfinished business and the limitations (or lack thereof) of twin intuition.

Death Becomes Him.

From the moment of birth, Danny and his twin sister Ashley were already familiar with death. When they were born, only one of them came out the womb breathing. You can say that their mother made a bargain with any one listening to save her children. It just so happens that the bargain came with a hefty price. From then on, Ashley has been a different creature altogether.

She seems to have something evil lurking inside her. Her powers of manipulation knows no bounds. She can will anyone to do her bidding; even persuade someone to hurt themselves to the point of suicide. When they were teens, Ashley and Danny died in a house fire. While Ashley stayed dead, Danny, somehow came back wearing their dead mother’s watch; a watch that was buried with her when she died. Everyone’s theory was that Danny was saved by his mother in the afterlife.

His memoir has garnered some nationwide attention. The story of how he almost perished along with his sister in a fire many years ago gave him the morbid reputation of being somewhat of an expert. And while he’s determined to forget about the past, and move on to the land of the living, his dead twin sister refused to let things go.

From the Grave and Beyond.

When Ashley was alive, Danny didn’t have much of a life to speak of. He lived in his sister’s effervescent shadow. But they know something was wrong with her. She’s feared, especially at her own home. Their mom drank herself to oblivion, and ended up drowning in an apparent suicide. Their dad worked all hours just to avoid being at home. When she died, it was almost a huge relief for both Danny and his father. Because then, they’ll be able to live without the every day fear of being around Ashley.

Years go by, Danny couldn’t hack college. He had no social life. Relationships are non-existent. That is, until he meets Willa and her son, Eddie. Now that he’s happy, however, Ashley couldn’t let him have his peace. She starts haunting his little family. But if there’s one thing Danny understands about restless ghosts, it’s that they have some unfinished business that’s anchoring them to this world. If he ever has any hopes of achieving a peaceful life, he needs to find out what Ashley wants even if he had to die over and over again.

With One Eye Open.

Sorry for the over long summary. It was the only way I could explain why this book was terrifyingly good. I mean, what’s scarier than a ghost? Hmm. I don’t know. Maybe a psychotic ghost? Ashley was that and more.

I’m the type of person who needs to watch a horror flick in broad daylight. The first time I watched Paranormal Activity, it was one sunny summer afternoon. Even then, I ended up hollering for my husband to turn the tv off. And I ended up sleeping with the lights on for at least a few days.

This book was a freaking nightmare. Sometimes, I had to calm my racing pulse before I could continue reading. It is why it took me a while to finish this less than 300-page novel. If I could read with one-eye open I would. But we all know that’s impossible. There is nothing worst than a violent ghost. And Ashley is the absolute worst.

If you can stomach reading with raised gooseflesh, The Damned is highly recommended. Dark family secrets, sinister vengeful ghost, and a glimpse of the different kinds of hell that await the dearly departed. This spine-tingling book is terrifyingly good!

[Gatorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat disappointing effort from Pyper, who is one of my favorite authors. This tale of the symbiotic relationship between twins, one good and one evil, and their different journeys to the afterworld has interesting things to say on the subject, and the last 50 pages are stellar, but it's a slow ride there. The book drags in getting to its point and feels like it's never going to make it. The writing is top-notch, as always with Pyper, and the characters have substance, yet the book doesn't come to life until the last 50 pages, although when it does it finally becomes the fascinating thrill ride you expect from Pyper. I just wish it kick-started sooner. I'd give it 3.5 stars. Recommended but be ready to give it time to develop.

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot of bad horror out there, poorly written and plotted with no respect for the genre. Some of it written by big name writers in the field. Thank God (or in this case perhaps someone else in a warmer climate) for The Damned and Andrew Pyper to remind us what bumps in the night does not only stay comfortably under your bed but will reach out and pull you down and chew your face off!

"...Danny, do you know what this is?'
He pulled something out of his pocket and held it in front of my eyes.
'A watch,' I said, squinting. 'Mom's watch. The on Granddad gave her.'
'That's right. Know how you got it?'
'What do you mean?'
'After the fire. When the doctors--when they saved you. They opened up your hand and you were holding it.'
He looked like he might cry. I couldn't tell if it was because he was angry, or grief-stricken, or impatient to know what he wanted to know. More than anything it looked like he was afraid.
'You gave it to me,' I said. 'Going up in the elevator.'
'Elevator?'
'In the Ren Center. When I was--'
'No, no--'
'--wherever I was when I was gone.'
'No. I couldn't have.'
'But you did.'
He pulled the watch away as though it were a gift he'd suddenly reconsidered giving. And then the tears fell. A reddening, unshaved face of frightened tears.
'I couldn't have given it to you, Danny. I couldn't,' he said. 'Because your mother was buried wearing it..."

Danny Orchard had a near death experience and wrote a bestselling book about it. But what he didn't write about is sometimes when you come back from death, you don't come back alone. Danny's twin sister Ashleigh died in the fire that almost took Danny's life and as selfish and vindictive as she was when she was alive, she has become something far worse in death.

Everyone loved Ash when she was alive. Always the popular girl, the one everyone wanted to be around while Danny just sort of melted into the shadows. But Danny knew the real Ash and knew she was cruel and deadly. He also knew she would never let him go. Then Danny fell in love and his new wife and stepson Eddie brought him a happiness that he had never felt before. A happiness that Ash wasn't ready to let him have.

"...Who was that?' he said.
'Sorry?'
He glanced up the stairs to make sure nobody was standing there.
'I can tell you don't want to talk about it. Like every time I've been about to open my mouth your face is all Don't do it. But I don't think I can do that anymore.'
'Okay. Okay. So what are we talking about here?'
'The witch,' Eddie said..."

Danny understands what Ash wants him to do and he is willing to don anything to protect those he loves. But Ash be satisfied with him alone, or will she make those he loves pay for bringing him happiness.

The Damned is a creepfest. The kind of horror that doesn't just hack off your arm but crawls under the skin where you can see the tracks and bumps of it moving before you take the axe and cut it off yourself. At the heart of this horror novel is the relationship between Danny and Ash and how her anger and bitterness destroyed any chance at love and family he might have ever had. From his new wife, to his stepson, to their own mother and father. The relationship between brother and sister is incestuous in an emotional state, though not physical, it is that of a dominant and submissive. Ash ever in control and Danny bowing to whatever she wants or needs until he finally has something to fight for.

Pyper strikes the right cord of creepy to dark to taboo to just turn the freaking lights on because I don't want to see what steps out of the shadows already.

This is horror, old fashioned slam bam thank you mam horror. Maybe I'll call you tomorrow and maybe I won't. This is the horror that has been missing in this genre and with hope and prayer, to whoever is listening, bring it back.

A real good read!!

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot off the heels of his bestselling 2013 novel The Demonologist, Andrew Pyper returns with a novel about death, life, and the ways we’re haunted in each of them. Building on some of the themes that characterize Pyper’s recent output, The Damned is another rock-solid entry into an already impressive oeuvre.

At sixteen, Danny Orchard and his sociopathic twin sister Ashleigh died in a fire. For whatever reason Danny came back, and Ashleigh isn’t happy about it. Two decades after the fire, Danny is the author of a best-selling memoir describing his experience on the other side, and the unwitting progenitor of a nationwide “support group” for people who have had near-death experiences.

Having lived most of his life alone thanks to the interference of Ashleigh’s highly possessive spirit, he manages to meet someone, fall in love and get married. His wife and stepson are the world to him, and his sister intends on destroying that world. Ashleigh soon becomes able to affect things in a very physical way. From this point on the tension ramps up and the story moves at a brisk clip. Things escalate so quickly that, midway through, readers may find themselves wondering how half a book remains to be read.

Structurally it’s an interesting book. It’s divided into three parts, with a brief epilogue to wrap things up. The first part deals with Danny’s past, the second with his current predicament. Hints of the film Insidious run throughout the novel, and the final act goes into territory that typically isn’t traversed in horror fiction with as much detail as it is here. The ghostly surreality of the whole thing bears echoes of T.M. Wright’s writing. Even considering these similarities, Pyper’s novel is very much his own, and fans of those types of stories will have that much more incentive to read it.

The Damned is a thrill ride to be sure, but it’s one that’s not afraid to explore some big issues. It explores the biggest ones, really – life and death, with Danny and Ashleigh respectively symbolizing each one. They’re no mere caricatures, though. They’re complex characters (even Ashleigh is disarmingly sympathetic at times), moving through a plot-focused narrative. There’s a vivid, cinematic quality to the writing, particularly in some of the more nightmarish settings, and the story shifts seamlessly from dark family drama to detective fiction to horror, all with tightly written and nuanced prose.

This is the kind of book that can unsettle, anger, and bring you to tears, sometimes all at once. It’s a cerebral read that still delves into our universal, primal fears and concerns. Simply put, The Damned is a consistently engaging thriller that readers of dark fiction shouldn’t pass up.

[Steve Stred · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t often make it a habit to re-read books, but as time marches on and I get further from the books that first introduced me to Andrew’s work, I knew I had to dive back in. I’ve spoken many, many times of discovering ‘The Demonologist’ and purchasing both ‘The Damned’ and ‘Lost Girls’ immediately after finishing ‘The Demonologist.’

It’s an odd thing though, isn’t it – re-reading. Seeing different things pop up that you’ve some how missed or that now connect you to the book in a way you never expected.

When I read this, six years ago in Abbotsford, I was married and we didn’t have a kid yet. In October that year, we’d move to Calgary, as I pursued my Olympic dreams of competing for Canada in Bobsleigh and by August of 2016, our son would arrive. I was a completely different human. And maybe that’s why I really liked this book, but didn’t love it? Maybe that’s why some of the more emotional moments that reading now absolutely crushed me, didn’t have the same weight back then? I can’t say. While reading this for the second time, I came across a scene that left me so rattled, just bathed in sorrow that I had to put the book down for the rest of the night as the tears that came wouldn’t allow the Kindle screen to be visible. I actually messaged Andrew the next day about the scene. I can’t believe I’d forgotten about it, as I know it’ll never leave me now, but again – that may be because of where I am now versus where I was then.

What I liked: In my recent review of ‘The Demonologist’ I mentioned Andrew’s look at grief and searching for a missing loved one over a five book arc. ‘The Damned’ falls into the fourth of the five books, released in 2015 and just two years before the final chapter of this saga, ‘The Only Child’ arrived in 2017.

‘The Damned’ follows Danny Orchard, international best-selling author about his memoir where he died and came back to life. The reason this particular memoir exploded – he died trying to save his twin sister, Ash, from a house fire and he brought back proof of the afterlife. What proof? While he was in The After, the name given to the place between life and death, he found his mom and she gave him her watch that she was buried with.

I typically don’t like getting too personal in reviews, but with ‘The Damned’ I’m going to. So, apologies, as normally I try to just focus on the book itself. In ‘The Damned,’ when Ash and Danny were born, Ash died and was brought back to life, the doctors and nurses saving her. Danny alludes to the fact that throughout her entire life, Ash has been ‘evil,’ that something lies just below the surface that maybe she brought back with her from over there.

I’ve discussed it before, but I typically don’t share it that often, but when my son was born, both him and my wife were pronounced dead. They were both officially gone for six minutes before they were both able to be revived. Efforts had been stopped but for some unknown reason, the anesthesiologist suggested they do something for my wife and something for my son and both worked. It’s a moment in my life that was crushing as I signed papers for organ donation etc, but also a moment of sheer amazement and disbelief as suddenly the ER Nurse burst into where I was waiting and told me to follow her as they were back. Now, I don’t believe either of them brought anything back over from the other side, reading this part in the book was very surreal. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten that this book had this story line.

The main plot point of ‘The Damned’ is that Ash continues to haunt Danny, working hard to prevent him from any happiness in his life. This ramps up when Danny meets Willa and her son Eddie and they become a family unit quickly.

If you’ve read any of Andrew’s writing before you know how devastatingly descriptive he can be. Simply turn of phrases have dagger-like impact on the reader and with ‘The Damned’ he doesn’t hold back.

One thing that I felt reading this was this was one of the few works that really seemed to wear the research books on its sleeve, and not in a bad way. ‘Proof of Heaven’ by Eben Alexander is a focal point of this novel. In Alexander’s non-fiction, real book, he describes what happens when he died and when into his after. Andrew offers up a number of philosophical questions throughout this one, but they seem to be rooted in the idea of what may await us when our time on this planet is over.

The book itself also reminded me of Richard Matheson’s ‘What Dreams May Come.’ Caveat here – I love the movie and as of yet, I haven’t been able to bring myself to read the book. But this idea of finding one’s loved one and trying to make things right follows along well with Pyper’s five book narrative.

The last research/inspired by book that I’m suggesting (and this is 100% a hypothesis on my end) is Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. Pyper has spoken before of how, no matter what you think of King/King’s writing etc, one thing you can’t take away is how he’s changed the horror world. King is to horror as Kleenex is to tissue paper. Within ‘The Damned’ I found a few suggestions (and again this may have been me looking too deeply into it) that this story was offset just slightly from the path of the one true beam. We even get descriptions of similar parts ie: a beast chase (which is even the beast featured on book 4.5 of the series), a train/monorail type vessel, the singular narrative of following a pull etc. Time and time again, I wondered if this was Andrew, not so much writing a book to be thought of as a Dark Tower book, but his own personal tribute to that fictional world.

The ending of this is superb. The book gallops along from start to finish, but I think this is the one book (out of the five narrative I’ve proposed) that ends decidedly on a different note than the other ones, but it is spot on perfect.

As for the scene I mentioned earlier that absolutely devastated me – if you end up reading this either because of my review or because you’re a Pyper fan – when you get to there, you’ll know. I almost wish I’d never read that chapter, so soul crushing it is.

What I didn’t like: With all the books I truly love, it’s often hard to find things I dislike, but I want to stay fair and objective. When it comes to ‘The Damned’ I think the character of Ash will be very polarizing for readers. A character you either loathe or absolutely wish wasn’t involved at all. She is the perfect character to pull Danny along – his twin and the ‘better’ version, but she was absolutely infuriating.

Why you should buy this: ‘The Damned’ manages to be both a fantastic thriller where our character Danny searches for the answers that’ll set him free, but also a possession-type tale where his twin sister comes back to haunt him and inflict trauma on him and his new family. Pyper is an absolutely stunning writer, and honestly if you’ve not figured out I love his work, I don’t know what else to say ha! My second go-around with this book really surprised me, especially with just how much of the book I’d not remembered and how much of it I connected with in a new and very emotional way. This is one of the very best by one of the very best and if you have it on your TBR, do yourself a favor and bump it up. Stunning work.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pyper's writing impressed me a while back with Lost Girls, enough to give him another try. He has certainly progressed as an author, not to mention veered into supernatural territory, which may or may not be progress depending on the audience. I enjoy a well told scary story. This book had much going for it...an original plot about two twins (one good, one evil, of course) straddling both planes of existence, the land of the living and The After. It had some very nice eerie scenery, nice to see someone finally using Motor City as the nightmarish underworld it has indeed become. It was very well paced. It should have been more likeable, it might have been really good, except it was just too slick. It's like Pyper's progressed into something of a glib territory with his writing. This book read like a movie. Wham, boom, bam, scene after flashy scene, with barely any character development/insight/exposition, any of those things that distinctly denote a book worth reading. It ends up a fairly superficial and all too showy exploration of what might have been a very interesting subject. Entertaining enough and a quick read, but lacked character and, like the evil twin, soul. Cinematic. Quite literally.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another terrifying thrill and tension-fest from one of Canada's most consistently brilliant writers. Pyper is one of very few authors on my "buy at first sight" list and that's for good reason. He crafts fantastic and tense portraits of real people caught in terrible and truly frightening situations.

There's a wonderful exploration of the bond between twins and family and the intriguing dance that happens when one family member is a little "off." Pyper explores these themes along with the possibility of escaping one's past and of redemption in a tightly written and wonderful tense storyline.

Pyper delivers fear the way a pro fighter delivers punches to the throat.

Strongly recommended. But if you read it, do keep a few lights on; and maybe a few talismans of your choice against the evil that might be lurking in the dark corners of your room.

(Reviewed from Advance Readers Copy)

[Jaksen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this so fast - skipping a lot, skimming other parts - I never had it up in my 'Currently Reading list.'

I'd read some of Andrew Pyper's books before and liked them, but this one, meh...

The story of a man haunted by his evil twin sister who died in a fire when she (and he) were sixteen. Good premise, but disappointing carry-through. The girl haunts and taunts, teases and tortures, and it's all meant to be very scary and horrible and there's lots of descriptions of the dead girl and how her skin hangs off her body, yet...

It's too much, and so much it gets boring. I got to the point of who cares. Yeah, she's awful. Wow, yeah, she almost killed Danny Orchard, the MC, but he dies a lot anyhow, which is another part of the book. Danny's died a few times and always 'comes back,' and even wrote a book about it called, 'After.' Wow, how unique.

It isn't. It's dull. It shouts too much in your face to the point you get saturated by the same old, same old, and I wanted to read some Jane Austen just to read anything where something NEW happens.

I skimmed the last 100 pages...

Two stars, just barely.

[Melissa Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars hands down. If a book can keep me reading while feeling like I do than you know it's one hell of a book!! I expected nothing less from what I read in various places, the synopsis and the short prologue that sucked me in. Impeccable writing.....

Review to come.....

Thank you @simonbooks @legendary entertainment and the Author Andrew Pyper for the copy of this one of a kind book. Now I 'cannot' wait to see the movie!!!!!!!!!!

[Lynn Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
https://lynnsbooks.wordpress.com/2015...

he Damned is a very gripping and quite chilling read about one particular family whose lives are beleaguered by the daughter from hell!

Danny and Ash Orchard were twins. They both nearly died in childbirth but just as all hope was lost, and their mother frantically preyed to anything out there to keep them alive, they made a miraculous recovery. Makes you think of that old saying about being careful what you wish for.

Anyway, Ash is the perfect daughter. Beautiful, popular, clever, successful – everything you could possibly wish for really – apart from a mile wide evil streak that she uses to secretly torment her family! Behind closed doors she is evil and vindictive. Now, I’m not giving away anything by saying that Ash dies – it’s fairly obvious from the book synopsis – and her brother, again, almost dies with her. Having experienced a near death experience however he writes an incredibly successful book about the afterlife which he experienced briefly during his brush with death. Of course, he never really gets to enjoy his success because his sister won’t let him. She haunts him relentlessly. She may be dead but that doesn’t make her any less of a psychopathic bitch!

At the start of the story Danny reflects on his past giving you the chance to catch up with the family’s history and it’s not particularly a bundle of laughs! Ash really is quite beguiling, she has the ability to provoke, cajole and simply make people submit to her will and mostly they are obsessed and bewitched by her. Only her family seem to be aware of her true nature. They fear her and the fear drives a wedge into the heart of their family causing them to break apart. Until that fateful day. The twin’s birthday when Ash dies in a fire and Danny almost dies trying to rescue her.

We then move on to the present. Danny finally has a chance of happiness. He’s met a wonderful woman and wants to marry her and bring her and her young son to live with him. His newfound happiness seems destined not to last. It seems as though Ash is becoming stronger and she’s no longer content to simply haunt Danny, she has two new potential victims to focus on.

As I said, this is a very engaging read. Pyper has managed to write a creepy story combining horror, chills and a certain creep factor. On top of that we experience the strange world of ‘hell’ or at least Danny’s version of it when he’s forced to travel into his sister’s realm. This is a frightening place. Dark and violent with fantastical creatures that stalk the night. Believe me that you wouldn’t want to pay a visit here. Anything can happen there – and probably will!

I enjoyed the way the story progresses starting out as a look at the family dynamic and the strange bond between the twins. It then turns more sinister by degrees until becoming a chilling ghost story and from there descending into horror. I must confess that to a degree I found the hauntings the most chilling aspect of the read. I thought ‘hell’ as created here was, well, definitely hellish! There was some downright nasty business going on down there but I found the chilling hauntings were great for building the tension .

In terms of characters – well, really this is the Ash and Danny show. There are peripheral characters such as the parents, a few schoolhood friends and Danny’s new wife and son – but really these are not the main thrust of the story and so I suppose you could be forgiven for thinking that they’re not terribly fleshed out. The focus is of course on the twins and the continuation of the struggle between them that has always been part of their relationship.

Criticisms. Nothing really to speak of. Like I said above I think I preferred the haunted elements of the book to the horror side although I did find the world ‘below’ fascinating to read about.

This was definitely an addictive book – I read it in two sittings – racing ahead to to see what horrors would happen next and trying to unravel the mystery of exactly what was going on. I would have no hesitation in recommending this providing you like a good chiller/horror – and you understand about leaving the lights on when reading. Warning though – there are scenes of violence with blood and guts!

I would like to thank the publishers for approving me for a copy of The Damned through Netgalley. The above is my own opinion.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book because I have enjoyed many of his others & the story summary on the dust jacket made it sound like it was going to be a great read. And it started out that way, promising. I would have enjoyed more scenes between twins when they were younger, learn more about Ash etc. But then the story started to drag & I lost interest. It's not one of his best, that's for sure. I didn't find it scary. The ending scenes in the After were ridiculous, though I didn't figure out some of the twists. But by that point, I didn't care, I just wanted to finish "the damned" book so I could move on to something else!

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

** 4 1/2 stars

The nitty-gritty: A top-notch horror story with depth and emotion, beautifully written, with enough chills to keep me on edge.

Sometimes there is a scent that precedes her appearances, less borne on the air than held tight against my face, an invisible, smothering cloth. And soaked in this cloth an odor that carries a feeling with it, particular as the past. It's the same sugary, teenaged-girl perfume that clouded the rec room parties and school gym dances of our youth, combined with something foul, something gone wrong. A neglected wound spritzed with Love's Baby Soft.

This was my first Andrew Pyper book, but it certainly won’t be my last! The Damned is a fresh take on ghost stories and life after death, and at times it reminded me of both The Lovely Bones and What Dreams May Come, although it’s completely different from either of those books. Pyper has come up with one chilling and terrifying ghost named Ash, who hitches a ride back from hell to terrorize her family. This story scared the pants off me, and if you love the kind of atmospheric horror that creeps up on you slowly, rather than the bloody slasher variety, then you will love this book.

Danny Orchard is a semi-famous author who wrote a book about his experience in “heaven” when he briefly died in a house fire but was resuscitated soon after. But unfortunately, Danny didn’t come back alone. He brought back his twin sister Ashleigh, who died in the fire with him. Ash was a disturbed girl in life, and she’s even worse as a ghost. Danny’s grown up now and has met a wonderful woman named Willa that he wants to get to know better. But Ash is determined to keep Danny from ever finding happiness, because she’s convinced he shouldn’t be alive. If Danny wants to start a new life, he’s going to have to figure out a way to get rid of Ash for good.

That’s a very brief synopsis of a rather complex story, but I didn’t want to get into too much detail, because you’re going to want to experience each surprise for yourself. Danny narrates the story and flits back and forth through time, gradually revealing what’s happening. I love this method of storytelling, which may frustrate some readers, but it works so well for a story like this with so many mysteries to unravel. Danny tells us of his near-death experience in the fire, but he later admits that it wasn’t the only time he died and went someplace else. Little by little, the reader comes to understand what a terrible and lonely life Danny is living, all because he is being haunted by his psychopath of a dead sister who will go to any lengths to keep him from any kind of lasting relationship.

The best part of the story for me was Pyper’s atmospheric descriptions of Detroit, a city that nearly becomes a character itself. After reading The Damned, I’m convinced that the best city in the world to set a horror story in has got to be Detroit (side note: Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes is set there as well). I’ve never been there, and after reading this book I’m not sure I ever want to go there. Not only do we get to experience Detroit as it is today, with its seedy, rundown neighborhoods and abandoned car factories, but Danny’s various trips to the afterlife take place in a Detroit that is a scarier and more twisted version of the real place. I don’t think I’ve ever run across a story that pulls off this kind of “duality” as well as this one.

If you’re going to write a proper horror story, then you need to have some tormented characters who suffer at the hands of an evil entity, and Pyper gives us plenty of torment in this book. It seems Danny can never live a life of happiness, because each time he starts to get close to someone, sister Ash comes along and ruins things for him. And when I say “ruins,” I mean she injures or kills the new person in Danny’s life. So he has resigned himself to a lonely existence, rather than cause harm to someone he loves.

That is until he meets Willa at a support group for people who have had near-death experiences, called “Afterlifers.” Willa is an outspoken woman with a ten-year-old son named Eddie, who has her own terrifying death experience to deal with, but she and Danny recognize something in each other, and despite his fear of Ash screwing things up, the two begin dating. I loved their relationship, mostly because Willa is such a strong woman and doesn’t scare easily. She sticks with Danny even after she sees proof of Ash’s evil. I also loved Danny’s growing relationship with Eddie, who is wise beyond his age and even saves Danny's life at one point.

And Ash. I can barely talk about her without getting goosebumps! She is the epitome of evil, a girl who is popular and beautiful on the outside, but has a twisted mind and is able to manipulate people to do the unthinkable.

If you’ve ever given any thought to what happens when we die (and who hasn’t?), I’m afraid The Damned will not offer any comfort to you, because even those souls who are “good” end up in places that aren’t necessarily considered heaven. Pyper doesn’t actually use the words “heaven” and “hell” to describe the afterworld, but readers will understand what he’s talking about without them. In this version of the afterlife, heaven and hell are inexorably entwined, and Danny, who is intimately familiar with both life and death, can easily navigate this strange territory.

The only misstep for me, and really I can hardly call it that, was an odd shift at about the half-way point of the story, when Danny decides to investigate Ash’s death, convinced that someone murdered her. Suddenly I found myself in the middle of a murder mystery, and although the horror elements were still present, the tone of the story at that point felt different. As it turns out, Danny uncovers even more horrors surrounding his sister, and this section ultimately made the story stronger.

Pyper throws in lots of small details—like Danny’s mother’s Omega watch that he brings back from the afterlife—that give this story so much depth. A final showdown (you know there had to be one!) between Danny and Ash takes place in a location that is not only poignant but somehow brings the realms of the living and the dead together. The Damned is a perfect book for fans of horror stories, but it will resonate with many types of readers, and therefore I recommend it to everyone!

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy! Quote above was taken from an uncorrected proof and may differ in the final version of the book.

This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy.

[☠Kayla☠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really something, I loved how easy it was to get into and how interested I was in it. That being said I only grt it a 3 stars because after being sick, and going through a small reading slump I grew tired of reading it. I think if I would have finished it before being sick and my slump it would have been a solid 4.5 stars, but for now, unless I read it again someday it's a 3 star for me.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know who Andrew Pyper was before digging into his latest novel THE DAMNED, but after reading it over three frenzied days, I know something about him: he understand what's so terrifying about the human experience. THE DAMNED is an original, clever and fierce horror novel that embroiders an entire mythology around the trope of the bad seed and the urban legends surrounding near dear experiences. If you're afraid that death might be the end of existence, THE DAMNED might make you think twice about what you're really afraid of.

Andrew Pyper's style is understated, almost intimate at times and draws you into the complicated interior universe of a twin who lost his proverbial other half. One of the calling cards of THE DAMNED is how terrific the character arc of protagonist Danny Orchard is, and how it brought the novel into several different, vivid settings. To be honest, I thought the last third of the novel went a little too deep into mythological territory for me, but the way the storyline twisted and unfolded kept me drawn in all the way.

THE DAMNED is a great example of a novel that is slightly flawed, but that's a memorable experience nonetheless. One of the fun horror novels I've read, this year.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine, well-written ghost/haunting story that kept me on the edge of my seat. I really cared about the "good" characters and feared for them.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't call myself a fan of horror, but The Damned was highly recommended to me, so I gave it a shot and my short review is: This is a quick read with some interesting ideas and a few chills. Not a waste of my time, but not something I'd "highly recommend", except perhaps, to superfans of the genre.

The protagonist, Danny Orchard, is a "D-List" celebrity. After dying on his 16th birthday, and returning from the other side with proof, he eventually wrote a best-selling book about his adventure and spent the next two decades attending meetings of survivors of near death experiences ("like AA with booze"), giving talks and signing copies of his book. What he never told anyone, however, was that his twin sister Ash, who died in the same incident but who was not resuscitated, had been haunting him ever since; as evil in death as she had been in life.

Sometimes there is a scent that precedes her appearances, less borne on the air than held tight against my face, an invisible, smothering cloth. And soaked in this cloth an odor that carries a feeling with it, particular as the past. It's the same sugary, teenaged-girl perfume that clouded the rec room parties and school gym dances of our youth, combined with something foul, something gone wrong. A neglected wound spritzed with Love's Baby Soft.

The ghost of Ash, jealous of her brother's survival, had been successful in scaring away friends and lovers from his life, but when Danny meets a widow and her ten-year-old son, he determines that their love was worth finally confronting his dead twin for. As his attachment to them grows, so too does Ash's power over objects in the land of the living, and the stakes are raised even higher when Danny realises that he can't push Ash back to the Underworld; she must be pulled from within.

Author Andrew Pyper's view of the afterlife here is intriguing: Not quite heaven and hell, but definitely divided into the desirable and the not. When Danny died at 16, he relived the happiest day of his life; hanging out with his Dad, driving through the streets of Detroit and chatting in his office at GM headquarters. When he followed Ash into her ever after, though, the setting was still Detroit but bleaker: The buildings gutted and tumbling; people shuffling zombie-like around circumscribed areas; monstrous dangers stalking Danny through fog-shrouded streets. And there is danger in this Underworld -- it's possible to die again here, and every time one does, the setting is the same but worse; darker and fouler. It's interesting to me that Pyper, a Canadian, would use Detroit as the setting here, but even in the scenes set in modern day, the real abandoned residential buildings and dead downtown conjures the dangerous and the spooky. (And Pyper should be forgiven for using Detroit as a stand-in for hell when it's also Danny's heaven; a city that was once full of optimism and industry.)

So, the plot is more or less believable and intriguing, and with short, punchy sentences, I was drawn forward and read The Damned fairly quickly (but not in a oh-my-god-whats-going-to-happen-I-cant-put-this-down kind of a way). There were a lot of metaphors in this book, of varying degrees of effectiveness, and chapter openers often had an overwritten feel:

Dawn arrived on crimson clouds. From the bed, I watched it color the city in Martian hues before it lightened to orange, then pink, as if the day were deciding between a palette of alien options before it landed on the yellow sun of home…I watched the night pull off the skyline like a sheet.

Essentially, this book comes down to characters, and as everyone else is pretty much window-dressing, it comes down to Danny and Ash (Danny briefly decided to really investigate his sister's death at one point and I found none of the hometown characters believable; they may have advanced the plot, but they were the weakest part of the book for me). Danny is a self-proclaimed introvert, which can make it hard to cheer for him, but there's enough of an underdog vibe to get the reader's sympathy. Ash is pure evil, which can be frustrating and strain credibility as her life story is revealed, but since there's a supernatural explanation for her behaviour, and that's true to the genre, she's believable in her own way. What elevates this book above a simple clash between good and evil is the fact that Danny and Ash are twins: He may have been afraid of her his whole life, but Danny can't help but feel connected to Ash (a connection he distinguishes from love); and Ash is single-mindedly focussed on Danny's destruction because of the connection (which isn't love or fraternity for her either). This interesting wrinkle is what makes this a three star instead of a two "just okay" star rating.

I haven't read Andrew Pyper before, and as I see that his The Demonologist was an award-winning book, I wouldn't be against giving it a try. More intriguingly, I see that his earlier (non-best-selling) books were considered more literary -- and I can totally understand why an author might become more mainstream (errybody's got bills), but I am even more interested in seeing what those books might be about.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twins, Ashleigh and Danny Orchard were born dead. Their mother, not willing to accept the news, held her twins and prayed fervently. Unfortunately the wrong deity heard her pleas and when the twins miraculously begin breathing mom knew right away something was not quite right about Ashleigh. On their 16th birthday Ashleigh and Danny died again, this time – Ashleigh stayed dead (sort of) and Danny went on to write a book about his after-life experience, which was rather pleasant, all things considered.
Danny explains, “When you’re dead, you know that’s what you are. You always hear about the other ones, the souls who need help “crossing over”, the confused loved ones in those paranormal TV shows who ghost around at the foot of the bed, needing to be told it’s time to go. But in my experience there’s no mistaking it with being alive, because where I went after the fire was something better than being alive. Heaven, you’d have to call it. A slightly altered replay of the happiest day of my life.”

His book produced a following of “Afterlifers” but it wasn’t until Danny met Violet Grieg that he understood not everyone shared his pleasant “after life” experience and sometimes, when you come back you do not come back alone. That’s how Ash ended up on the couch beside him watching television and, that’s why he couldn’t lead a normal life. When Danny finally meets Willa, the love of his life, and her son Eddie, who immediately takes a special spot in Danny’s heart, he’s worried. He knows that Ash is jealous of his being alive and now she might do anything to ruin (end?) his life.

There have been a plethora of “non-fiction” books written about near-death experiences. I recall hearing somewhere, although I am not sure I agree, that as humans we are the only animals aware of our eventual departure from life so of course people are curious about what happens “after”. I speculate that as long as there have been human beings capable of thinking there have also been tales of ghosts and hauntings. In “The Damned” Mr. Pyper brings the two together in a very frightening way.

I love a good scary book and this one had several chill-worthy scenes. I was speaking to my daughter about “The Damned” (she also loves scary books for which I will not take the credit – blame, I mean blame) when I was about 2/3 of the way through this book and mentioned to her that “unless it goes south in the last part this could be one of the best ghost stories I’ve read”. Well, unfortunately, it did. I hate making negative comments about authors I enjoy but in this case the last ¼ of the book just went a little to far into “fantasy” realm for my taste.

Is it a good, scary read? Absolutely.

Would I recommend it? Yes – with the suggestion that you also pick up Mr. Pyper’s “Lost Girls” and/or “The Guardians” for more, and different, examples of what an excellent writer he truly is.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I LOVED The Demonologist and when I picked up this book I had very high hopes for the story and for everything. Let me tell you I was not disappointed! Ash was a great villain, she was very narcissistic and demanding! The way she kept going after him, and the way she didn’t want him to move on was crazy! This was a different kind of scary and creepy, I don’t think that I’ve read a book quite like this one so it was really new territory for me. Danny was a like able character and I loved the bond he and Eddie had, I firmly think Eddie was Danny’s savior.
Danny had a near death experience when he was a teenager but, on this experience his twin sister Ash died in the fire. Since that near death experience Ash haunted her family, and since Danny is the last of the family alive she has been haunting him. Her haunting gets worse when Danny decides to move on and he is a step parent to a boy named Eddie and he becomes a husband.
Ash haunts the new family causing a car accident that nearly kills his new wife and Eddie. So trying to get Ash to stop he goes back to his home town to try to figure out who murdered his sister and while he opens a new eyes on what his sister did when she was alive he comes up with the conclusion he has to stop her at all cost to save his new family. Will he be able to stop her before it’s to late? Check out this book to find out!

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEW: THE DAMNED by Andrew Pyper

Nearly middle-aged, Danny Orchard is a twin survivor and a best-selling author of a memoir of his own after-death experience. By choice, he is solitary and lonely, as he believes his deceased twin Ashleigh will intervene in any attempt to form a meaningful relationship. Unfortunately, Danny's belief is accurate. Born a sociopath, Ashleigh quite literally possessed no soul, but was infused by a drive for control and for cruelty. Murdered on her 16th birthday, she is neither "gone" nor "forgotten"; her Will attached itself to Danny the way an unformed embryonic twin sometimes emerges as an internal tissue mass in the surviving twin.

This novel is graphically violent, gritty, and gory, and includes some unpleasant "taboos." While.not for the weak of stomach or the easily offended, it is excellently written and was a one session read for me, as I couldn't stop till I finished. I'm now off to.peruse Andrew Pyper' s earlier excellent novels.

[Christine Hayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclosure: I purchased The Damned by Andrew Pyper in the spring of 2015 at an Authors’ conference sponsored by his publisher, Simon & Schuster. I do not know this author personally, but I briefly communicated with him about this book or several other subjects while I purchased a signed copy. The comments that follow are my own personal opinion. I received NO compensation of any kind, or from any one, to provide this review.

This book has sat on my shelf for several months. I finally got started reading it and never stopped until I was finished. The Damned is a psychological thriller/horror novel. I finished it in one day. The premise of the story is unique, and at no point was the conclusion obvious. Though probably not for every reader, this was an excellent story. I would definitely read his other books. Highly recommended to those who enjoy psychological horror.

[Patrick Gao · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was browsing around in Barnes and Noble when a stranger recommended me this book. I was honestly a bit skeptical when I read the preview, but decided to get it anyway. And I have to say, it is probably one of my favorite books I've read in the past couple of months. This book is VERY dark. And I enjoyed every succulent page. I have stayed up well into the night reading this book (even though I had early morning classes the following day). Needless to say, this book will keep you up at night. This book deals in many negative situations involving a grotesque murder, a pedophile, a psychotic/sadistic entity, and more. But Andrew ties them all together seamlessly. HIGHLY recommend this title.

[Sue Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this book gives you pause when you think about what happens and where you go once you cross the line of dead or alive.

I, for one, would not read this at night. Literally. I'm too visual and books like this stay with me foreverrrrrr.
That being said, if you like this kind of excitement in a book, you won't be disappointed. Even leaving my reading for daylight hours only, I can't stop thinking about this book.

All I'm going to say is that I'm infinitely glad I don't have a sister.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll tell you, at times I had a feeling I was reading a Stephen King novel. Once he crossed over especially. Reminiscent of Rose Madder or Revival, a perfectly "normal" ghost story then BOOM - here comes the creepy, weird things. The things nightmares are made of...

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An emotional supernatural ride

I loved this story, it kept me on the edge of my seat with creeping terror and thrills!! As the story progresses I find this story pulling at my heart strings a little. Overall it was a great supernatural thriller.