Pitcher Plant: A Pacific Northwest Suspense

by Melissa Eskue Ousley

When Tawny Ellis spots a fixer-upper on the Oregon coast, she and her husband jump at the chance to own a cottage near the beach. But as expensive repairs turn their dream home into a nightmare, their marriage unravels. And worse...the house is not quite vacant. Something in the house's dark past remains.

Tawny's daughter has a new imaginary friend, and she bears a striking resemblance to a little girl who squatted in the cottage with her drug-addicted mother. After breaking in and camping out, they vanished, and have been missing for years.

Now the house’s previous owner is enraged with Tawny. As he stalks her family, Tawny suspects she knows what happened to the last people who slept in the house. Her family might be next.

Praise for Pitcher Plant:

“A fun read that combines a classic haunted house story with romance and a very creepy serial killer.”
--Hester Young, Author of The Gates of Evangeline and The Shimmering Road

“Melissa Eskue Ousley draws you into a drafty, old fixer-upper on the turbulent Oregon Coast with the perfect mix of creaking floors, creepy dolls, and mysterious footprints in the unfinished basement. She’s crafted a suspenseful page turner that harkens back to childhood ghost stories with a touch of paranormal that will keep you guessing!”
--Kate Dyer-Seeley, Author of Scene of the Climb

Genres: Fiction

255 pages, Paperback

Published May 12, 2017

About the author

Melissa Eskue Ousley is an award-winning author living on the Oregon coast. Her dark fantasy, Constellations of Scars, won a 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Award. Her suspense novel, Pitcher Plant, won a 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award. Her young adult novel, Sunset Empire, debuted in a bestselling boxed set. Her short stories have been included in Rain Magazine, The North Coast Squid, and various anthologies.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book.
An interesting story.
An easy read.
Received as a Gr giveaway.

[Anne Pyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The suspense in this story brought me great fear, and often I would be too scared to read further. I set it down several times, too fearful to pick it back up due to the thriller/horror aspects of the story. Even when the story ended amicably, I still found myself tense, expecting another betrayal.

While this story has an interesting suspense plot, the rest of the story feels lackluster. Many chapters are taken up with side plots involving home renovation and childcare, which do not add to the greater plot much at all. In addition, the romance in the book proved disappointing, condoning unhealthy behavior and ending in a predictable manner.

I rank this book a CONSIDER READING due to its intense suspense combined with lackluster outside plot events. Its Kindle price makes it worth a casual reading if wanting to explore the thriller side of reading without delving too deeply into the intensity of it.

[Janis Couvreux · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tightly woven, succinct tale of suspense, all told in the first person by affable Tawny. As she sketches a loving portrait of her young family, and lofty goals once she and her husband purchase a challenging fixer-upper, we begin to sense trouble in paradise and that the house might be slightly off base. What is going on in that basement? Author Melissa Eskue Ousley has the gift of gab and through ideal dialogue sequences, she captures the images, the personalties, and quiet life of a small town, while building apprehension and fear that all is not well grounded.—Janis Couvreux

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pacific Northwest suspense, set in Seaside, Oregon. An old house with great bones and a lot of baggage. Haunting and creepy in all the right places and down right terrifying exactly where it should be. It took me longer than normal to read this because I could only read it during the day. There is no monster more horrible than a real one and Melissa has once again written a novel that will keep you turning pages! So good, pity there were only 5 stars to give.

[Marit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so much fun to read. It made me smile and gave me the heebie jeebies at the same time.

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by a fellow PNW author, "Pitcher Plant" by Melissa Eskue Ousley had a moody Pacific NW atmosphere well suited for gothic mystery. It's a slow build with enough creepiness to keep me engaged and interesting characters with complex relationships intertwined with the remodeling of a historic house. I enjoyed the story and read it in two days because I was too curious to know what was going to happen next. It isn't a nail-biter, but it does urge a reader onward to the end with its creepy last few chapters. And the end isn't tied into a neat bow like so many standalone stories. It definitely clears up the mystery, but like life, it leaves the characters in the process of moving on that was oddly satisfying. Of course, now I want more.

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was reading, I wasn't quite sure what this book wanted to be; a romance, a ghost story, or a murder mystery. It attempted all of them, but felt committed to none. I enjoyed the placement at Seaside and even with a few name changes, I felt like I was walking around it all my favorite local spots. So, in the end it is a good quick read for a rainy day on the Oregon coast.

[Aubrey]

So far it's an awesome story very well written. Can't put it down

[Christie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun ghost story, set on the Oregon Coast.