In the summer of 1992, a young girl named Isabelle disappears into a vacant building and is never seen again. She becomes another name alongside many others who have vanished when stepping through the building's doors.
Boyd Dwyer knows a thing about missing people. At least he did when he was a cop, but that was before Morgan died, and before his drinking problem forced him into an early retirement. Now the only job he can get is the one no one else wants -- protecting a building with a violent and disturbing history.
It's not so bad until he starts getting phone calls late at night. It seems someone really wants to talk to Boyd and confess something awful.
Derek Neville has been a cynic ever since he found out the dish ran away with the spoon. He has been making up stories since he can remember, thanks to a very overactive imagination. He once taught a small town to believe in dance again, but that's neither here nor there.
Some of his short-story work has seen publication in college literary magazines, anthologies, and short-story contests.
He currently resides in New England where the weather changes every other day.
I thought this book was very well written and it kept me reading and freaked me out in a few places. It kind of reminded me of those twilight zone movies.I definatly recommend this if you like horror with a mystery.
Boyd, former police detective and haunted by the loss of his daughter and failed marriage, is now working the graveyard shift as a security watchman on a hotel building site.
What begins with a queasy gut feeling about this place soon turns into the suspicion that someone is there as well, playing nasty tricks on him. But when strange things start to happen and his dog Lady disappears, Boyd comes to believe that something sinister may reside here.
Being tormented by mysterious phone calls which sound like his daughter calling for help, Boyd is not only tormented by the ghosts haunting this place but by his inner demons as well.
This is one of those books where almost nothing happens but nevertheless it's creepy as hell... The author did a great job building a super-scary atmosphere without giving away too much. It was refreshing to read a story where horror is not created by descriptive scenes and brutal force, but by subtle hints and weird situations which gently raise goosebumps and send shivers down your spine.
While the ending felt a bit crowded and rushed with both the explanation of what happened to Boyd's daughter in the past and what goes on at the building site, this book left me in awe for its simplicity which held me in its grip with every well-written word. An astounding debut novella by an author we will surely be hearing a lot more from in the future.
(I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review)
GHOST BOX is a very scary book, and I loved everything about it, which is why I decided to post my review. It's no secret that weird as I am, I've loved the Supernatural as long as I've lived. GHOST BOX has everything in a Supernatural horror novel I crave: haunted locations, sinister entities, danger and death; missing children, fires, killer's. It's well-written and very readable. And most of all, it satisfies my single most essential criterion in horror or Supernatural: the story is ultimately terrifying, in its implacability. There really is No Escape.
PART SPOILERS. Thank you to Derek Neville for the free copy of this book. A very cleverly developed story, that engages the reader from the very first chapter and around every new corner there is always a new twist. I actually would have preferred this book as a novel, as I would like to be taken back to the history of Badge in detail, show lots more investigative work, more scary happenings in the building and also a much bigger buildup to the death of Teddy. The first chapter itself could have been developed into a whole short story. The end was very clever, as you are made to feel safe when Boyd wakes up to Lady licking his face and I even considered the fact that it may have all just been a dream. But, just as a scary story should be, nothing is as it seems and there are hardly ever any happy endings!
I live right by Lansing, NY (I even swam on a team at Lansing High School), so the setting was a bit of a treat for me even if I didn't recognize the setting described.
The writing for this was nice and clean. Mr. Neville did a great job creating a creepy atmosphere and adding layers of suspense, but I think it was missing a bit more meat. It was over quick, and I wasn't quite sure what to think at the end, but I will watch for more of Neville's work in the future.
I really enjoyed this. My only complaint is it could have gone further. This was a delightful little horror story and so much more could have happened, and there could have been a bit more of a glimpse into the history behind the building, so much potential not even touched, but very entertaining and filling just the same.
The story was great through the whole book and it was really well written. But the very last chapter, though.. WHAT? I honestly have no idea what that's supposed to mean.
I received the ARC of this novella from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Before I start my review, I gotta admit thing first. Honestly, I never really interested in reading horror stories. Any horror stories. I don’t care who the author is or if the book is pretty popular among my friends. I even hate books (which basically are not horror-themed) which contain very little sparks of horror on it. I believed that reading is a joy where we could fully escape without having to worry about being lost because we can always close the page to come back. And I believed horror books could not give me that kind of joy. Until today. When I first encountered the author, Derek Neville, on GR offering ARC of Ghost Box novella, the blurb he wrote was really intriguing and made me curious. Then I made a visit to the author’s blog and came across the excerpt of this new novella. And by the end of the excerpt, I knew that this was more than just a crappy horror story and I was hooked to the story. Ghost Box is a story about Boyd Dwyer, a former cop who’s now a freelance security of some empty buildings. The reason he retired is the last thing he wanted to wrap his mind around his whole life. Struggling with ton of bills to pay and constant dark feeling he had inside, Boyd decided to take the job in supervising a long-time empty hotel named Westinghouse. That’s when the boring job he hatred a lot turns into something that strongly trigger his past and forever change his life. The idea of the story is really interesting and raising curiosities among readers. The content was dead intense and had me flipping the pages continuously without wanting to stop even though my surrounding had turned chillier. I liked it that even though the story went even scarier page by page, the mystery and tricky scenes inside managed to pull us closer even more. So that timid readers like me (even when I was so damn scared) would not want to put the novella away ‘cause my curiosity successfully won over my being scared. I felt a mixed-feeling reading this novella. When the secret behind finally revealed I felt damn terrible I wanted to cry so badly. And by the end of the page, I wished there was another pages behind it. The fact that the story that I was reading was all written in a form of novella was long forgotten somewhere in beginning chapters. I wished the book offered a longer and more vivid ending or I could not stop thinking (or hoping) the possibility of the sequel. Even though I had no idea how the sequel should get going… Generally, Ghost Box is nothing like a debut novella at all. The story was very well-written. I did not meet any errors on the book (or I thought I barely met any because I was just too engrossed wholly in the plot to notice any typing or grammatical errors). Derek’s writing style is really good and on certain parts I could sense the joke inserted naturally and made me laughed. Ghost Box can actually be considered as one of successful horror debut novella. And I’m hoping to read more of Mr. Derek’s writing in the future.
In Lansing NY, school was out for the summer & Isabelle Wheeler was riding her bike. Her mother Susan Wheeler warned her to park it so she could watch the celebration. It was about time for the 7/4/1992, parade to start. As Isabelle was waiting she met Badge. Her mother had warned her about talking to strangers. But he seemed OK.
Donnie Don Greene (Boyd boss, security business) calls Boyd Dwyer (security, former homicide detective). He wants him to go to work at a Westinghouse Hotel building construction site. Boyd meets Teddy Barrios (security) & he informs Boyd someone is PPL are getting hurt & someone is sabotaging the work site. After a couple of hours Boyd sitting at the desk starts searching the internet. The Hotel had a past history. It was once a HS. 6 faculty members & 14 students had died in a huge fire. Mr. Dubois (teacher) had walked into a classroom & committed suicide. There were also several missing children from that area. A new HS had been built across town. Another article the name Badge came up & Joseph Ellis (former student Lansing HS) had committed suicide. Boyd & Lady (German shepherd) were making their nightly rounds. Boyd got a strange phone call at work & an even stranger 1 at home. Boyd begins to piece more of the 30 yr. mysterious disappearance of a girl from Lansing NY. Ed Gambi (video surveillance, aka Badge) is the new security man. Boyd was on duty & the mysterious phone call again. Lady is missing. Will she ever be found? Will Boyd put the mystery pieces of the puzzle together of the missing kids or the mishaps at the Westinghouse Hotel?
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. Wow, a very well written suspenseful mysterious horror novella book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make great horror, animated cartoon, or mini TV series. 1 I couldn’t put down. There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free book (Goodreads; PDF) Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
First of all, I want to thank the author Derek Neville for sending me this amazing, bone chilling novella to review!
Isabella was riding her bike near the buiding; which was a highschool at the time, and was approached by a mysterious man. When she put her hand in his and followed him into the building she never knew that she would never step a foot outside again. Years later... Boyd is a retired homicide detective who is looking to restart his life after a family tragedy. His boss Donnie calls him to work at the Westinghouse Hotel building construction site. While he works there strange things start to happen, doors open and shut by their selves, and Boyd receives strange phone calls nightly. Boyd got on the computer at the front desk and started to do some research. He finds articles about students and teachers dieing in a tragic fire and the suicide of a teacher and also the suicide of another student. The most terrifying part is all of the children that have gone missing in the area. Boyd starts to piece everything from the last 30 years together and what he finds will chill you to the bone. Will he ever leave Westinghouse Hotel? Will he ever see his dog Lady again?
This novella was absolutely amazing and from the first page I couldn't get the will power to put it down. It had everything a good spine tingling scary story should have. It captured my attention from the very beginning and I kept on turning the pages, because I wanted to find out what would happen.Derek Neville is a new author, but I love the way his writing hooked me from the very beginning. It was very easy for me to read and the plot twist at the end still gives me goosebumps a day after I got done reading it. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a good scary story that will haunt you forever!
OH. MY. GOD. This book may be a "novella" but it is really really good, in fact a book that I could read over and over and over. It doesn't start off as scary and you think it will be the run of the mill ghost story so I hunkered down for a short read. Wow... was I mistaken, this book goes from a normal ghost story to a high level of suspense, terror, and horror.
Derek is a master at being able to set a scary stage that resembles a hotel, and not the Shining Hotel, not this hotel is the kind that makes you scared to step foot on the property, and not a pretty one at that. I mean it could have been beautiful if it hadn't been torched due to an angry resident. Or was it?
This book terrified me and I do not get scared easily. There was no real gore or any of that type of stuff, it was the unknown and in this book the unknown scared me. I think that the author really got down to what scares people and delivers.
At first I did not understand why the book was called Ghost Box, but at the end when looking back I realized why and it makes perfect sense. As that would spoil the book I will not tell you why I think it makes perfect sense. I think that everyone should read it because it is worth the read, even if it left me up at night.
I was lucky enough to come across this author asking for some reviews on Goodreads. Very lucky, indeed.
I can't stress enough that this is a debut novella, but it is easily on par with the best Christopher Rice or Dean Koontz is turning out with all their experience.
Sometimes a novella feels like a novel that just couldn't get all the pieces to fit so the chopped up version is all that is left. Others, it feels like a short story that just got carried away with itself and over does it on the descriptors. But in the best case, you wind up with a campfire ghost story that has everyone sleeping in their cars with the doors locked.
This story starts strong and wraps its tendrils deep. It never lets up. Just continues to weave deeper into your psyche. This one is just creepy enough to be real.
All of the elements pull together so seamlessly that you become connected with the main character on a very emotional level. This one works so good, you'll forget you are reading a novella.
I look very forward to reading more from this story line and Mr. Derek Neville.
Neville hits quite a few horrific chords in this terrifying tale about an abandoned, soon-to-be remodelled building with a mysterious and troubling past.
There's something about old homes, schools, churches and asylums that just scares the hell out of me. Derek Neville does a beautiful job of using a tired horror theme and making it into something that's definitely worth reading. The characters are well depicted, and our main character, Boyd, has an interesting past that is melded in with the rest of the story masterfully, creating depth and tugging at the readers heart, liver and gut strings all at once.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
I am someone who loves scary stories, so this novella was right up my alley. I very quick read, that left you wanting more. The story takes place in an abandoned school, that eventually becomes a work site for transforming the building into a hotel. Right there, super spooky. And then add in missing children and a creepy guy, and you have a great set up for a scary story.
I know that a novella isn't as long and drawn out as a typical novel, but I felt at times the flow of the story needed a bit more detail. I had to backtrack a couple times to remind myself of a character or what had led up to a situation. Otherwise, very entertaining and excited to read more from a new author.
Ghost box by Neville is a horror nouvella without too much horror. I don't like being scared out of my wits but with this story I had a handle on what was going to transpire except for the two security guards. They build the tension and one doesn't know what is real and what is imagined at the end. Who is Badge and why did he mess with the guards?
A friend of mine recommended this to me as it was free on Amazon the other day and it's probably the creepiest story I have ever read. I don't normally read horror stories, but this one wasn't a gory story or anything, just really unsettling and disturbing, but a great story overall. It's one of the rare books I've read where it sorta stuck with me after I was done.
This book is very much a thriller. I was trying to guess the ending the whole time and did not guess it. I like the suspense and how the author really takes us down memory lane with the character the in the end wraps it all up. I was left wanting more. thanks!
Not a very interesting story. Kinda difficult to follow when it was reality....flashbacks....supernatural...and anything else. Short enough to read the whole book, but plenty of better choices in the future.
An excellent short story about security guards looking after an abandoned site where children have disappeared and never been seen again and mysterious deaths occur. Builds the tension well and doesn't disappoint.
The story was just scary enough not to give me nightmares but scared enough to make me want to keep reading. I felt sorry and afraid for Boyd. Can't wait to read more. I HIGHLY recommend this story,you won't regret it. It sends shivers up your spine!