Constant Echo grabs your curiosity right from the start. Immediately you want to know more about the characters and why they are being brought together. I also wanted to know what made this house have the reputation of being haunted, but that could just be me!
This book is about 3 friends (Reagan, Matthew and Patrick) who haven’t spoken in years, yet all receive the same letter telling them they need to return to their hometown and visit the house of their worst nightmares. The house is your typical “haunted house,” but the house isn’t the problem. The problem is that Reagan’s best friend, Mary, was killed in the house on Halloween of their senior year.
After Mary’s death, Reagan went to live with her aunt so she didn’t have to live in the small town with constant reminders of Mary and the tragedy of what happened. She didn’t have any contact with Matthew or Patrick over the years, and Matthew was Reagan’s boyfriend at the time of Mary’s death.
I think the characters are mostly relatable. I also love Michele Stratton’s writing style. There is a mild hint of a possible future romance. I feel there is an underlying message of don’t let yourself live in the past. Life is too short as it is, so don’t waste the time you have, as you never know when your time is up.
I think Constant Echo was both fast paced and exciting. It definitely kept my attention through the whole thing. It was a novella, so it was a short read, and has positive and negatives, which brings me to my only complaint. I felt like there was more to the story than the reader is told, and I desperately wanted to know what I was missing! I’m just nosy like that though lol. From what I understand, Michele Stratton is planning to write the story of what happened 10 years prior. I think this will fill in the gaps in my mind, and I look forward to reading it when it is released.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good ghost story but doesn’t have a lot of time to become too emotionally invested in the story itself or the characters.