The Seance in Apartment 10

by Ambrose Ibsen

Would you like to speak to the dead? When Tori moves into a studio at the rundown Lamplight apartment complex, she gets more than she bargained for. The faucet leaks, the water heater barely functions and the lack of air conditioning makes the summer nights brutal... But worst of all is the dark presence that stalks the building. When she and her friends play around with a Ouija board, Tori learns first-hand why the living have no business communing with the dead. Something sinister is roused in the process, and her life begins to spiral into madness soon thereafter. She suffers terrible nightmares, hallucinations, and feels as though she's being watched at all hours of the day. And that's only the beginning. If the spirit has its way, it'll consume her completely. With a terrifying specter on her trail and only a few cryptic clues about the building's curious past to aid her, Tori searches desperately for a way to get rid of the spirit. What has escaped from the underworld will not go back so easily, however.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Ghosts, Supernatural, Paranormal, Ebooks, Ghost Stories

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2017

About the author

Once upon a time, a young Ambrose Ibsen discovered a collection of ghost stories on his father's bookshelf. He was never the same again.

Apart from horror fiction, he enjoys good coffee, brewed strong.

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This creeper is on Kindle Unlimited for those that have it =)

Here's the thing people: DON'T USE OUIJA BOARDS!



I really enjoyed this book. Yes, there are a lot of stupid moments, but that's what a lot of horror is all about =) So, we have Victoria who wants to take some summer courses in school so that her fall courses aren't so draining. She's going to school for nursing. She decides she wants to move out of her fathers house and move into a cheap little apartment and not into the dorms. Wellllllllll, that would all be find and dandy but she picks the creepiest, run-down place around. Who cares if the rent is low.

LAMPLIGHT APARTMENTS-- 3636 MELROSE STREET
STUDIO APARTMENTS
SHORT-TERM LEASES
MOVE-IN SPECIAL-- $99 DEPOSIT MOVES YOU IN
$200/MONTH, WATER AND TRASH INCLUDED
CALL 419-555-1820 FOR A TOUR

That was the ad that Victoria saw in the paper. Sounds great, yeah.

Victoria and her dad go for a tour of the place and it's a huge building with only one other person living there and it's decrepit. But Victoria loves it and wants to have it. So her dad says fine and there you have it. The End.

Just kidding. Victoria meets her one neighbor when she goes over for a visit. He's a nice old man on another floor, he tells her some lady killed herself in the apartment above hers just a few months ago. Joy to the world.

BUT, before all of that, Victoria tells a couple of her friends about her new apartment and they insist she has a party. Victoria doesn't want to because the place is tiny, no air, but she says okay anyway. One of the girls invites a friend to come with them. This girl Cat just happens to bring a board with her. Stupid. So after they eat pizza and junk and get drunk and there is a storm, they start with the board. They never get to say good-bye to the spirit from the board because something bad happens to Cat and she ends up in a coma for a bit.

Well, then Victoria starts having all of these nightmares and going into Evelyn's room < -- the woman upstairs who killed herself. Things get pretty creepy. Even though there were stupid moments the book had some good creep to it!

And don't use the freaking Ouija boards people. Stuff comes out of those things!



Something came out of this one alright and it wants into your soul! Idiots!

Cat finally wakes up and wants Victoria to get out of the place which Victoria does. She moves back with her dad. But Cat and Victoria come back for a final showdown but is it really the final showdown?

I loved it. The creep vibe of the old apartment and other stuff is just right! Enjoy =)

[Zain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just What You Asked For.

Why do people keep playing with Ouija Boards? Haven’t they seen movies where something bad always happens to somebody?

This book is no exception. Dumb girl and her friend wants to play with one in a house that’s already haunted.

So spooky things happen…as expected.

Three stars. 💫💫💫

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a creepy freaked out book by author, Ambrose Ibsen! I have other books by this author, but this one has to be one of the spookiest I have read by him!

A little backstory:

Tori wants to move into an apartment off campus against the wishes of her father and when her father sees the condition of the apartment she has picked he tries desperately to talk her out of it. But nothing deters her from her decision and her father finally bends dishing out the rent money for her.

Tori realizes that the apartment is a little rundown but she figures that she will get use to it and at least she has her own place off campus. Tori starts hearing things though like moans and creaks coming from the apartment above her head. She thinks that she has a neighbor, but finds out that no one is living up there and hasn't been for awhile.

Tori's friends decide to come over for a get together and one of them brings a Ouija board hoping to find out that everything is good with the apartment. But no one realizes that all is not well within the apartment building and when the Ouija board is used it opens up a portal to hell as something crosses over into their realm sending all of them on a ride into horror!

What happens to the friends when they use the Ouija board? What crossed over from hell? No spoilers here as you will have to read the book!

Thoughts:

This was one scary ride and not a whole lot happens in the beginning of the book, but there is a slow build up to fear as the book rolls along. About the middle of the book is when the crap hits the fan and the real horror begins, then the book really stepped into the creep zone.

There is a whole new meaning to the words "scare factor" as the book takes off at a rapid pace and the more I got into the story the more I could not put down the book!

Ambrose Ibsen definitely knows the meaning of "fear" as he will keep your nightmares fueled with spooks! Giving this one five "Scare the Pants Off" stars!

Oh and moral of the story: "Do Not Play With Ouija Boards!"

For images and gifs on this review, please see my blog:
https://booknookretreat.blogspot.com/...

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE SEANCE IN APARTMENT 10, by Ambrose Ibsen, explores what happens when a college girl--Tori--decides to rent an efficiency apartment for the summer, in order to take an extra summer course. The atmosphere in this complex is immediately foreboding. Besides the rusted mail slots, the threadbare carpets, and the fact that only one other tenant resides in the building, Tori is determined to show her father that she can live on her own. However, it doesn't take long for her to admit--at least to herself-- ". . . this space was not fully my own."

At a "moving in celebration", one of her friends, Cat, brings with her a Ouiji board in order to make sure the space is "good" to inhabit. Although some of the others aren't very happy with the idea, Tori agrees to let Cat hold an impromptu seance.

". . . The world we know is driven by many energies, and those energies are manipulated by the inhabitants of a world beyond our understanding . . ."

There are certain rules that Cat explains they must follow--such as ending with a "Good-bye" to close off any openings into their world--but when a sudden emergency befalls them after contact is made, the others rush off to get help for their friend, abandoning the "game".

What follows is a sense of being watched, of not being safe, in Tori's new apartment. Visions of a deceased former tenant and something infinitely more malevolent begin to torment Tori each night.

". . . we'd invited something into this apartment, had tapped into a world where the dead roamed . . . "

The tension that Ibsen brings to this novel begins within the first few chapters and steadily increases. Even when there is a slight pause in this--a feeling of semi-normalcy in Tori's life--he works things back to the unrelenting suspense.

". .. . Maybe we were caught up between the folds of two worlds . . . suspended in a grey area . . ."

Tori's character is fully developed in this novel. We know her backstory, her personality, her reasons for wanting to be on her own, and most importantly, what motivates her to allow Cat to begin the seance in the first place. I didn't get anywhere near as strong an impression with the other characters; however, in this story, I felt it didn't detract from anything, as the main focus centered around Tori.

". . . We hadn't said "Good-bye", though . . . "

Overall, another satisfying supernatural novel by Ambrose Ibsen. If nothing else, you might hesitate a bit before signing a lease on that new apartment . . .

" . . . It never stops . . . Because death is not the end."

Recommended!

[Shainlock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, it stands to reason if you want your own place; your very OWN... do not let some cuckoo stranger come in and plunk down a ouija board and start messing around.
This is going in my book, “Blips and Blunders : Things you do not do at a Housewarming. “
Great job, Ambrose.

[Latasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

don't play with ouija boards!

I really enjoyed this one. I think it's one of Ambrose Ibsen's better books.
Tori is excited to finally have a place of her own. She invites some friends over. One of them brings an ouija board to meet the spirit(s) of the building. Little do they know, this building has really, really bad spirits and a bad history.
Like I said, I enjoyed this one. The first half of it reminded me of a really, really good Fear Street book. Then it gets really scary. i was really concerned for Tori. I won't say how it ends but I was frustrated with it and liked it too. A particular character really irked me at the end.
I'm glad i read this and look forward to reading or listening to more by this author.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I thought it would stop. That I could take it with me in death. But I couldn't. It never stops. Never stops. Because death is not the end."

Third time's a charm. It's official; I'm now a bona-fide fan of the author. Three books I've greatly enjoyed, and each stands apart without blending. Not always an easy feat, especially if in a similar genre and trope (haunted spots). While I didn't dig this one quite as much as the other two I've read (in case you're curious, they are The Sick House and A House by the Sea), it's a fun little spook story that offers some different twists while keeping up the familiar for fans of the haunted stuff.

It's a novella size sampling that doesn't harbor nearly as much creepiness as some of his other works, but that's not to say it doesn't dish out its own goods. Enter the Ouija, creepy spirits without moving mouths, and a tiny mystery. The feeling of suffocation in the tiny apartment as it keeps growing darker is felt with the well-done writing style. Tension is tight, especially when she's caught (more than once!), and when she was attacking a window, I was especially tense. This would have been the scene where, if it were a movie, there would be high-strung orchestral music hammering on the audience's eardrums while they covered their eyes with their hands.

With horror I like to list how liberally it applies the blood splatter for those who are curious about gore level; there isn't much, if any, here. There doesn't need to be. It wouldn't fit into the vibe. This one is pure psychological tension all the way. It has what it needs: some creepy pauses, tense moments, characters dropped into volatile situations, a small mystery to keep it intriguing, an ending that closes the last page with a slam. Well done.

Oh, and don't use Ouija boards. This book tells you another reason why.

[Tom Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, but it just wasn't that scary (defined as: I didn't need to keep the lights on at night).

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice!

This is a story about some young college girls who get into a mess after playing with an Ouija Board one night. I loved how developed the characters were, the story kept me interested throughout and parts of it were very chilling! I really enjoyed this and look forward to more by Ambrose Ibsen :)

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this one on some deal and wasn't expecting much. It was a bit amateur as far as dialogue and character development, but otherwise genuinely scary and enjoyable.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

The writing was good enough, though there were some habits of the author that set my teeth on edge. For example: turning words that are not contractions into contractions. (i.e. that had into that'd. I suppose technically you can make words up, Shakespeare did it and so did Mark Twain, but if you're going to do that, make sure it isn't ridiculous.)

My biggest issue with this is that it was formulaic and the characters were massive stereotypes. The overweight nerdy friend who became out of breath at the merest suggestion of physical stress and who was profusely sweaty was an issue for me. Granted, perhaps I'm sensitive to this because I am that nerdy friend, but c'mon. Do you have to continue to feed the stereotype? Get creative. Do something new.

The plot was your basic horror movie plot. Stormy night, lights go out, scary moment, bloody scene and boom the apartment is haunted.

Thanks, but no thanks. I've seen this movie 100 times and read the book 1,000 times. I was disappointed because the idea had merit.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Doom and gloom in Apartment 10’

This is the story about Tori, a college student who moves away from campus halls into her own cheap, but dark and grotty room, found in a quiet, old, ugly apartment block located on the other side of town.

After hosting a ‘room-warming’ party for her close group of friends, the girls eventually become bored and decide to entertain themselves by dabbling with a Ouija board which accidentally summons up something more malevolent and sinister than they were expecting. And then the brown stuff really begins to hit the fan...

A good old fashioned, well-written, haunting ghost story with scares, evil spirits and ghostly goings on that provide a much welcomed uncomfortable shudder and shiver or two on the road to it’s inevitable, but deliberately desolate conclusion.

Overall, a decent ghost story which is well worth a read, though I did find the ending to be a little weak, tame and slightly incomplete.

A definite hit for all fans of Ambrose Ibsen and his particular brand of sinister creepiness and horror. Rating: 3.7 unworldly bright stars.

[RivetingReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun spooky paranormal book! There was a specific scene that was super creepy that I loved reading. I would recommend reading this one for spooky season if you want a shorter story involving a creepy apartment and a Ouija board. This is a pure example of why I am never ever ever messing with them lol. Also, I absolutely love the cover!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tori, is hell bent on taking a summer course, so she can graduate from college ahead of schedule. Tori wants to live off campus during the summer. She has found an apartment that is not in the best of shape but thinks that it will be fine. Tori father comes down to look at the apartment and tells her, she should keep looking. Tori convince her dad, that things will be fine and you could not be the price. In this section of the apartment complex, there is only one other person living here. Tori figures that all of the students who were living here, went home for the summer. Tori invites her friends, Julia and Annie to come over to celebrate her new apartment. Her friends bring along a girl name Cat. Cat wants to hold a seance and has brought along her Ouija Board. The other girls are not sure about this but go along with it anyway. Cat lights the candles and turns out the lights The four girls put their fingers on the planchette. Cat ask if there is a spirit in the apartment but the planchette does not move. Cat ask another question and the plachette moved. Cat tells them, that she had nothing to do with movement, but they had really contacted a spirit. After this, Tori suffers from nightmares and hallucinations. Tori also has a strange feeling that something is watching her. Tori searches for away to get rid of the spirit that haunts her apartment. Ibsen, does an excellent job of developing the main character. So far I have not read a book by Ibsen that I did not like> i highly recommend this book!

[J.D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary:

Victoria is super excited to finally have her own place, even if it is a small one roomed bachelor. Her excitement quickly changes to unease and horror when something dark and evil is released after a drunken seance with her friends that goes horribly wrong.
A woman in black begins showing up, gross things start to appear in her apartment and it becomes impossible for her to get a good night's sleep.
Fearing for her life, she must choose between simply running away or getting rid of the evil presence for good… If she manages to make it out at all.

Personal opinion:

This was a really fun and spooky quick read that I managed to finish in 1 day. I will definitely be checking out more Ambrose Ibsen books in the future!
The spirits haunting the apartment were pretty creepy by themselves and original. At certain points I was slightly annoyed at Victoria's blunt denial of what was going on in her new place out of pure stubbornness. It did, however, make the story and ending better overall. Plus I have to give her credit for her courage. There is no way I would have lasted as long in that place.
Overall this is a creepy and great book that I would recommend to anyone who loves paranormal / ghost stories!

[Andrew “The Weirdling” Glos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounding up from 3.5 stars. I was a little disappointed in this book, which is a rare experience for me reading Ibsen. I really liked all of it until the last act, which involved a series of choices made by the protagonist that just didn’t make sense - not only for the way we had known her in the book thus far, or in general.

Other than that, as is typical for Ibsen, this was a solid and enjoyable tale of a haunting. I liked that it revolved around a young college woman getting her first crappy apartment - a very relatable phase of life which isn’t written about enough. Her friends are annoying and a bit toxic, but then again at 20 you often have a bunch of those friends and don’t even know it. The dad is very well done, with the perfect balance of worry about the crappy apartment and a parental “I need to let her do this on her own” sensibility.

I also enjoyed the spook. It has a bit of twist in the end and I really like how Ibsen has been expanding his repertoire lately by adding some cosmic horror elements these last few years.

All around, the usual good, solid work by Ibsen - but the last act just really irked me.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4 stars. I really enjoyed this book. It's been a while since I have read horror og ghost type stories as they just don't seem to give me the chills.

The plot was simple in this and a little predictable but it was so well written it have me goosebumps and creeped me out a bit.

Lost a star due to the ending. I had high hopes for a twist or a shock. But it didn't happen.

[amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am old enough to remember when commercials selling ouija boards would air on the television.

I was young. I had to be maybe 4 or 5 . The girls in the commercial all seemed to be having fun in the darkened room, chanting words, the planchette ominously moving but me??? I was BORED by it. Sleepovers at that time for me meant Barbie doll wars and endless brownies in my easy bake oven. Who wanted to waste their time in the dark playing with who knows what? I didn’t know what ouijia boards were at the time and thinking about a toy company selling them is hilarious to me now. I could just imagine the outrage and rightly so.

Some things shouldn’t be trifled with. For that way madness lies.

Tori is doing big things this year. She is determined to finally finish her nursing degree and she’s taking summer classes to speed up the process. She decides what;s best for her is to move into a studio apartment close to her school. It’s not perfect. It’s run down and just a tiny bit creepy but that doesn’t phase Tori. It’s just for a few months and she’s a big girl. She can handle it, right??

Uh…sure.

The apartment has its usual issues of course. The faucet leaks, the water heater sucks, there is NO AC (that’s a deal breaker for my ass), and oh yeah it’s fucking haunted.

One night Tori and her friends decide to dig out a Ouija board and hold a seance and that’s when they unleash something. Something cruel,something angry, something that longs to spill fresh blood.

Maybe Tori should have taken the summer off after all…


This was an interesting, short novella. I watch a lot of horror movies and a lot of them are mediocre and this basically reads like an average horror movie. It follows all of the rules of horror movies as well.

Rule number one is:

Never fucking hold a seance in a creepy fucking apartment building when it’s fucking storming outside.

LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? I had to put my kindle down and go for a walk when the girl was like, HEY. LET’S DO A SEANCE ARE YOU KIDDING ME CAT?! I also felt that the girl who suggested that they do the seance was pushy and completely rude. Minor spoilers:

Cat: Hey, Tori!! Let’s contact your dead MOTHER.

Tori: Um, I don’t really feel comfortable with that.

Cat: WHY? DID YOU HAVE A BAD RELATIONSHIP WITH HER???

Tori: No, but…

Cat: COME ON, LET’S TALK TO HER.

LISTEN, BITCH. HER MOTHER DIED ONLY TWO YEARS AGO. THE GIRL IS MOURNING AND CLEARLY MISSES HER MOTHER DEARLY. SHE DOESN’T WANT TO TALK TO HER. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?! Honestly, they should have thrown Cat out of the window and summoned her ass through the goddamn board if she wanted to hold a seance so badly. She was being a moody little shit the entire time anyway. Chuck the deuces and be done with her.


I feel that the plot of this book could have been a bit more cohesive. It was very generic and easy to guess what was going to happen. It’s a very quick read. I read this in about half an hour and felt that it followed a formulaic girl lets demon out of its portal-we have to get it back in-oh no we can’t- song and dance. It’s just not very memorable. The characters blend together and with the exception of Tori and her father they’re all very bland. Cat is completely unlikable and should have been punted. Creepy wannabe psychic.

2.5/5

[Veronica DelaCruz-Araki · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright for me, but not very scary. I kept getting confused with the layout of buildings and apartment. The author kept mentioning how small the space was, pretty much everything seemed to be a few steps away... and it's the only apartment on the entire floor? (Maybe that's just because I've never seen a tiny apartment having a floor all to itself.) Yet when the action starts taking place the apartment seemed so much bigger. After awhile it got a bit predictable too.

[Sassenach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plutôt un 3,5/5. Je suis toujours plongée dans des romans fantastiques depuis quelques mois, même si j’ai un peu ralenti ma cadence. Le titre de celui-ci m’a fait de l’oeil et j’avais envie d’une histoire se déroulant dans une maison ou un appartement, ce qui est le cas ici vu que l’essentiel de l’action se situe dans l’appartement 10 et plus général dans l’immeuble concerné. Le début m’a paru assez lent, les choses se mettent en place, on découvre Victoria et sa vie personnelle, on fait la connaissance de ses amies et enfin, on commence à rentrer dans le vif du sujet : la partie fantastique. Mais, même là, les choses avancent tranquillement, sans précipitation, avec quelques petits évènements que je n’ai pas trouvés vraiment effrayants et qui ont surtout révélé mon manque d’attachement à l’héroïne, qui m’a semblé franchement pas très fûtée et qui m’a souvent agacée. Mais les idées développées sont intéressantes et il y a quand même quelques moments bien tournés et un peu flippants pour les âmes sensibles (dont je ne fais pas partie … chez moi, il y a toujours des tas de bruits comme des bruits de pas au premier étage alors qu’il n’y a personne et cela ne m’a jamais empêché de dormir). La seconde partie du roman m’a donc mieux convenu, même si le grand final m’a paru un peu trop soft à mon goût. En tout cas, je sais que je ne m’arrêterai pas là avec cet auteur car il me semble qu’il a une bonne imagination dans le genre, qui reste peut-être à perfectionner !

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book just wasn't scary. I kept waiting for the scare and it never arrived. My second biggest complaint about this book, though, was that the dialogue just wasn't believable. Tori would swear and it didn't seem to fit the situation and was such a weak exclamation. I don't think writing female dialogue really excelled with this book. I won't remember this book two days from now.

[Erin Talamantes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
A fun little novella!
I loved the atmosphere of this one and there is one scene that was absolutely freaky!
It’s nothing crazy unique or anything, but it was a fun, quick, and easy read.

[Dez Nemec · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard a lot of great things about this author, but I just couldn't really get into this book. Maybe I'll try another of his...

[Kim Friant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ibsen loves a creepy setting! And he’s so good at them! The Lamplight apartment complex just sounds scary. Cheap, sure, but dang! It’s not like anyone would be surprised to find creepy stuff happening in apartments like that. The story is pretty straightforward, but it is scary! I also like the uniqueness of it. While there were familiar elements, like the ouiji board seance, the story was still new. There were times when I had to tell Ivan to come sit with me because I was downright scared while reading. I think my only real criticism, which isn’t even enough to bring my rating down, is that I wanted to know a little more about that demonic entity. Other than that, the setting, the characters, the action, it was all awesome! Ibsen seems to get horror and I’m definitely going to read more of his books!

[Cat Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one struck a little close to home when we had an actual thunderstorm during a creepy, thunderstorm-y portion of the book. A big clap of thunder definitely gave me a start. I love books that can put me in a state of mind where I get spooked like that, when I'm so lost in it that reality takes me aback when it strikes.

This one is a super fast read, and I couldn't put it down until the last page. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

*4 Stars

[Doug Bolden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ibsen serves up a greatest hits collection of tropes, scenes, and tidbits from the last 20 years of horror in a fast-reading, fairly enjoyable novel(la?) that mostly bogged down during a few of the more "real" dialogues and in the aforementioned you have seen all of this before...

nosebleeds
ouija boards
new apartment
ghosts
demons
possession or horror experiences being bungled with mental illness
cursed tomes of forbidden knowledge
things in the mirror
entities that look like humans but have big mouths and bigger eyes
dead parent
college kids playing at dark things
nearly abandoned town/apartment complex
not badly intentioned but bumbling authority figures
cryptic dreams that explain everything
sleepwalking
sweet old neighbors
women in black
women in black peeking out from alleyways
a history of suicide
a burning abode
a weird interaction in a hospital
dark and stormy nights
flickering lights
disembodied hair being a living thing
a cooking episode where something is wrong with the eggs
thumps, bumps, and chills
etc...

You begin to wonder where the ghost children are or why there is no dark liquid dripping from the ceiling and regretting not playing bingo with this amazing potpourri. But, fair enough: horror is a genre of remix, reuse, and recycle. The genius is rarely in creating an entirely new creation—and every new creation often brushes against other creations before it...no Frankenstein's creature without golem or Pygmalion or Adam, no Dunwich Horror without The Great God Pan, no Martian Invaders without a hoax about canals*—but genius is instead in the grasping of the old and redefining and rediscovering the fear that breathed life into clay in the first place. This novel mostly rubs the wrong way in the sheer incessant averageness of its many homages. Nothing here stands apart and so for those well-versed in a variety of horror, especially horror with titles like "The Haunting of..." and "The ... Place" and "Oujia 7: Attack of the Planchettes" and "Blumhouse presents...", you have to dwell so utterly in the familiar that you paradoxically find yourself unable to coast—the main reason why familiar horror is so...relaxing—because you begin to crave new.

If this was someone's first- (or at least an early-to-them-) horror novel, I could see it hitting well. The characters are likeable. The motives are reasonable. The setting is adequate. As it is, if you have read quite a bit of horror, it still might sing for you. It is really a quick-reading, enjoyable story. You want to know the ending. You want resolution. It's not like the horror movies it references don't already have tons of similar works that still manage to sell well enough to keep getting made. There is something about a new, haunted place that scores time and time again. And in this case, a few important scenes do hit well: the cracking the eggs scene made me audibly go "ick", the first confrontation with the big bad in a small apartment, the dive into what one entity was up to... for every actually poor scene or set-up, there tends to be another that hits the mark. Just the way the main character's world devolves into this tiny, stuffy apartment with a single, partially blocked window into the outside: there's some metaphorical play, there.

Seriously, though, wrapping this up: what is up with the geometry of this place? One apartment per floor, each apartment described as really small (though large enough for a couple of chase scenes???) and there are multiple buildings like this side by side? And they have one window facing the parking lot attached to a fire-escape (that is barely used!?)? You picture 20'x15' multi-story buildings swaying in the breeze like emaciated fingers against the horizon. Trying to picture that is the true brush of the Other, here. I kid! But...you know...maybe not really...

* I told you I was that guy.

[Ferry Visser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ambrose Ibsen writes literary ghost stories. I read 'The Seance in Apartment 10' in one evening and again I was very impressed! It is not only an exciting horror story, but also has the necessary depth, which makes it literature.
A particularly intriguing motif in this macabre must-read is the oujia board. Using this board is the initiator, which triggers a series of paranormal events. Ibsen shows these in a visual and frightening way: subtle, tragic, horrific, but above all masterly! The stark ironic twist at the end is fantastic.
Furthermore, this story has the necessary depth. For me there are several ways to look at the story. The first is according to the ideas of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 -1860). For this German philosopher, reality is a misleading optical illusion. He calls this the veil of Maya. I was strongly reminded of this by the use of the word veil in some supernatural events in the story.
How can man break through this veil? The author shows this with the help of his sympathetic protagonist, Tori. For Schopenhauer, man exists physically, as he is seen by others, and inwardly through joy and suffering. The interaction with her friends and the other characters shows what she is like as a person. The I perspective allows the reader to see and experience her joy, pain and fear. Man wants to break the veil to overcome pain. And this is very important to Tori.
Then there is the opportunity to view the story from the point of view of the tension between childhood and death. In an intriguing way, this story shows how the death of someone affects the next of kin. Convincing and realistic, 'The Seance in Apartment 10' shows this through the main character. Faced with a death in her young life, Tori now finds herself face to face with evidence of the afterlife once again. Ibsen at his best is the development in the supernatural activity and the constructive approach. His descriptions can be very subtle about the dark and shadows. Or they have been portrayed in a vehemently terrifying way in a perfect antagonist.
The antagonist in this grisly page turner is a perfect fear symbol. And that is one of the strong points of this book. Not only does she prove that there is more after death, she also shows that man has no control over the mystery of death. In my experience, the heroine's adversary is once again a masterful personification of Ibsen.
In short, the ambiguous theme offers possibilities for different interpretations of 'The Seance in apartment 10'. The great personification of the mystery of death (antagonist) is great, which is why this novel is a must for fans of ghost stories and literature alike. #ambroseibsen #theseanceinapartment10

[G.A. Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story has a good premise, some good moments, but I felt it relied a little too much on suspension of disbelief over and over again, strong reliance on deus ex machina, if you will, and the grammatical errors were distracting.

As an example, "we'll have to make due." These should have been caught and corrected in editing, but were not.

There was an interesting secondary character, a neighbor who could have been further developed to play a pivotal part as an ally, or perhaps an adversary in the final act, yet was summarily discarded instead.

If the author revisits this work down the road, reads it as though it were written by someone else, and revises it, followed by a good edit, this could be so much stronger and compelling. I'd enjoy reading it again if that happens.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

This story takes scary to a whole new level! The author paints a scary story of a run down apartment and what happens when some friends decide to hold a seance. The author made me feel as if I was a part of the story. The twists were terrifying and the ending left me wondering. This author is easily becoming one of my favorites. If you're looking for a book that you won't be able to put down this one is it!

Another great book provided by my kindle unlimited subscription.

[§amantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read. Felt a bit messy at the end.