If You See Her

by Ania Ahlborn

The house on Old Mill Road has stood in an open field for longer than Jesse Wells has been alive, its crooked windows and jutting turret tormenting the kids of Warsaw, Michigan the way only a haunted house knows how. Everyone imagines that something terrible lurks within the house’s abandoned rooms—especially Jesse and his two closest friends, Casey and Reed. But when Reed chooses the house as a backdrop for his own suicide, childhood ghost stories are transformed into a nightmare that sends Jesse into a downward spiral of grief. Nearly twenty years later, Jesse stands on the collapsing steps of the house that snatched away his best friend. Casey has asked him to revisit their old demons, if only to help them find closure that’s long overdue. But tragedy finds them once more, and Jesse is left forever changed. Now, left to cope with the disaster that had become his life, Jesse must unravel the mystery behind the house that has terrified him since he was a boy. To fail is to lose everything he has left. But success might come at an even a higher price.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Paranormal, Audiobook, Mystery, Supernatural

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 22, 2019

About the author

Born in Ciechanow Poland, Ania has always been drawn to the darker, mysterious, and sometimes morbid sides of life. Her earliest childhood memory is of crawling through a hole in the chain link fence that separated her family home from the large wooded cemetery next door. She’d spend hours among the headstones, breaking up bouquets of silk flowers so that everyone had their equal share.

Author of nine novels, Ania's books have been lauded by the likes of Publisher's Weekly, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times. Some titles have been optioned for film.

Hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ania currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina.


For more from Ania, visit her site, or connect via social media on Facebook and Twitter.

Web: http://www.aniaahlborn.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aniaahlborn
Twitter: @aniaahlborn

Reviews

[John Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A descent into madness!

A old and neglected house on the edge of a no hope rust belt town - a house with a tragic history. Three bored young boys visit the house as a dare and so begins a tragic chain of events. One of the boys, now a middle aged man, a teacher, husband and father, once again becomes obsessed with the house. He begins to imagine what had caused the house to become abandoned in the first place and who had lived in the property. His obsessive imagination slowly begins to spiral out of control with tragic consequences for his career, marriage and family. This is a dark, slightly supernatural, tale of how an unhealthy obsession could trigger the complete mental breakdown of a, law abiding, level headed individual. Or had other factors come into play? A brilliant story and well recommended.

[Zoeytron · Rating 3 out of 5]

An old abandoned farmhouse with a No Trespassing sign posted, an automatic magnet for kids.  Having drawn you in once, it is reluctant to let you go.  Years later, it still messes with you, pulling at you, and as your mind begins to unspool, your real life is paying the price.  The degradation of your soul is taking place, you are obsessed by a wraith with a hideous mouth, a bloody grinning gash with jagged teeth.  I have something I want to show you.

Rating is based on how this stacked up against my favorites from this author, "Brother" and "The Devil Crept In". 

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesse looses two of his friends in an eerie deserted farm house. They commit suicide. In the course of events he more and more falls into a state of madness. What about the mysterious girl to be seen in the upper window of the farm house? What about her destiny? Jesse starts to write her story. Where does he get the ideas from? Is it fiction or is Georgina, the girl who formerly lived there, manipulating his mind? Will Jesse solve the riddle in the end and get his family back? Compelling book with many eerie motifs (e.g. references to Regan from The Exorcist with setting up Georgina) and desperate situations. It was a bit winded at parts and the end didn't fully convince me , even disappoints me a bit. But it was an extraordinary buddy read. Thanks for inviting me in. If you're looking for the ideal book for cold autumn nights this definitely is worth reading. Really recommended!

[Luna · Rating 3 out of 5]

“He said you wanna know the truth son? Lord, I’lll tell you the truth Your soul’s gonna burn in a lake of fire…………Can I play with madness?” As I read this novel this Iron Maiden song kept playing in my head as did Black Lodge by Anthrax (ps just a phenomenal song – do yourself a favour and you tube it). As " If You See Her by Ania Ahilborn" deals with a haunted house (like a lodge) “Deny your body is sceaming, But your heart and your soul they’re bleeding, Just to fall asleep is a godsend, Until your demons appear again………Give me the one thing you can’t give, Take me to the black lodge where you live.” Kind of odd but a few of the reads I have had of late made me think of certain songs. This was so true with the above two songs and this book.

Jesse, Casey and Reed are 11 year old best friends when they come upon an abandoned house. Jesse wants no part of it and he gets freaked out when he sees a girl on the fourth floor of it who is very ghostly. He strongly believes that he just ran from the house never telling anyone about what he saw. Yet Reed becomes infatuated with the house as he went into it originally and Reed becomes obsessed with the house always wanting to go back. Seven years later they are all back and something again happens which leads Jesse to believe the house is possessed.

Nineteen years pass and Jesse and Casey are friends still. Jesse is married to LouEllen and they have an infant child Ian. One night Casey shows up all frantic at Jesse’s house wanting to go back to the haunted house in Warsaw Michigan. Jesse thinks he’s crazy for wanting to do so but Casey has made a living out of featuring abandoned houses and buildings on his you tube channel and is quite well off because of it.

Since I mentioned Warsaw Michigan the author uses the Detroit area as a backdrop. She mentions the attractions, the sports teams the music talent and so on and again like Death of the Black Widow which does the same I am so happy to see it as I identify with it as you see I live right across the river from Detroit and know the area extremely well. Lake St. Clair is mentioned and I basically live on that lake in Canada. It’s just good to see Detroit’s come back carrying on in print. Having said that I don’t get why Warsaw and Zion Michigan are used as small townships within an hour of Detroit because they simply don’t exist. Yet like I said Eminem is even mentioned and I even added him to some spotify accounts due to this book. Not a rap fan at all but Eminem had some great stuff and surprisingly fits in with my predominantly metal collection.

So Jesse eventually goes to the haunted house with Casey and again something very bad happens. With some very bad things happening to Reed and Casey due to a visit to that house Jesse begins to think he may be next in line as far as a house/ creepy girl ghost target.

I want to give thanks to my friend Leeanne who invited me to read this as a buddy read. There were 6-7 who participated and it was my first buddy read and I really enjoyed it. I mention this as we all saw some potential for this book but it never really materialized and none of us would call it true horror. I myself can literally scare myself to death over such subject matter – haunted house novels but I do read them. As an example about a month ago I ordered The Exorcist and when my wife saw it she freaked and didn’t want it in the house. It just seems that certain things like The Exorcist book come with an aura and it is a bad aura. I immediately tried to sell it off to various friends who read. One buddy went crazy on me soon as I mentioned the book. He thought of the movie and said I now ruined his day as it would bring back flashbacks of the movie and he already knew he wouldn’t sleep that night. He advised he would never allow that book in his home. So apparently my wife isn’t the only cray cray. Also on the buddy read itself the topic of should I use a Oujia board came up and the board was unanimous in shooting it down along the same bad aura suspicions so clearly people think along these lines.

I offer the above examples because I really think the author here wasn’t writing a horror per se. I think she used the backdrop of the haunted house as an aura or theme in much the same way as the examples above. One of the readers on the buddy read asked why Jesse wouldn’t explain certain things to his wife. My answer is he would look like a fool in trying to rationalize this, people would think he's crazy and trying to rationalize this could even get you a visit to the psyche ward. I mean who really believes in hauntings and the like except for maybe us horror readers. It just sounds so unbelievable doesn’t it? It’s not rational I guess. Yet Jesse becomes consumed by what he BELIEVES and what he believes is not very good at all. I asked my wife if she thought one could drive themselves mad or over the edge. We both thought of a person we knew who was schizophrenic and regardless of that disease we both could envision becoming so consumed by fright and fear and irrationality that one could in fact lead themselves into the abyss. So this is what I believe the author was attempting but clearly it wasn’t successful as the buddy read thread didn’t really see it that way. Yet to me I think of this book more along the lines of a psychological thriller so to speak.

Also, as I mentioned it didn’t work at the horror level. The book didn’t bother me in the least and as mentioned I tend to freak myself out when reading such themes. I will admit though that at night while awake in the middle of the night I could envision the haunted house and the fourth floor where our ghost girl lived. I could picture her ugliness and scariness but again I was never really bothered by my images as there wasn’t enough drive behind the author’s punch. Also it was felt by many including me that the timelines for the evils committed were spread to far like 37 years and in my mind evil likes to work a lot faster than that! Evil likes being busy.

So I can’t rate this four stars and I won’t rate it three. It was an enjoyable read and I want to read more of this author as there is clearly a lot of promise here. It’s close to four stars given the totality of it all but I will rate it 7.4 out of 10 😊 Check it out for yourself…………

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of beta reading this book with my friend and business partner, Ashley (You can see us mentioned in the acknowledgments in the back!). Beta reading is fun because you get to have conversations with the author, in this case, Ania Ahlborn (who is witty & hilarious) and ask questions and make suggestions. Then, when you read the final copy, it's always interesting to see what changes were made (if any) and what stuck or what was scrapped. So it took me a little bit longer to read this book simply because I had already read it AND because I was really looking for those portions Ania said she changed up a bit.
So my reading experience might be a little bit different than everyone else's.
I have been a rabid Ahlborn fan since I read my first book written by her called, BROTHER. Having read several books now, BROTHER is still my favorite--this happens to me a lot. I find that my first encounter with an author's work is usually the one that gets tucked in as the favorite.
That book has this unputdownable quality--an urgency and a pacing that is unrelenting.
I feel like that kind of story is Ania's wheelhouse (The gore, the unflinching horror coupled with realistic characters the reader gets helplessly emotionally invested in).
But Ania also dabbles in the atmospheric, creeping dread style of horror and IF YOU SEE HER is that kind of story.
Some teenage boys go out to a haunted house to explore. One boy is excited to take photos. Their trip goes horribly wrong and what happens there ends up haunting them into their adulthood.
There are some large sections of this book that deal with dark and troubling subject matter via internal monologues processing emotional trauma. There is a heavy thematic element of suicide. I say that because it feels important to let readers know who might have some sensitivity there.
I have to admit that there are some lulls in this story. I find that if there is a promise of paranormal activity or a haunted house--my heart always wants to get to those scenes and I potentially get frustrated if there is too much delay or teasing. Ania does lay on the teasing pretty thick--a pretty effective hook to keep turning the pages but also I longed for some action/dramatic scenes.
This has a nice climax/resolution in classic Ahlborn fashion--plenty of grim, creepiness and an unshakable melancholy vibe that Ahlborn fans show up for time and time again. The perfect read for your October TBR!

[Sydney Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one! Maybe a bit slow in the middle, but just the right amount of spookiness to keep me going. Ania’s writing is just too good.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

IF YOU SEE HER, by Ania Ahlborn, is a novel with a premise that drew me in immediately--a mysterious, abandoned farmhouse that is rumored to be haunted. Our first glimpse of it takes place twenty years in the past, when three friends--Casey, Reed, and Jesse--drive to the old structure, due to one's obsession with it . . .

". . . A place that had always been there. Always. Since the beginning of time."

Although questions are raised when Reed dies there--except for his two friends that were with him--it was an open and shut case. Yet 20 years later, the questions persist for Jesse and Casey.

". . . What the hell happened inside that house? . . . "

When back in the present, Alhborn paints a picture of the other two friends. Casey, a successful U-tuber showing empty, derelict buildings, and Jesse, a teacher at the small-town school he once attended--barely staying afloat, financially.

"There's no ultimate solution. No perfect way to solve your problems."

When Casey appears at Jesse's one night, uncharacteristically manic and unsettled, the two end up revisiting the house of their nightmares--one in which they never truly escaped.

". . . sometimes a place grabs ahold of you, and this one's got me in a vice grip."

As far as the main characters go, Casey was by far the more interesting of the two, in my opinion. Outwardly easy-going and charismatic, his inner emotions were always carefully shielded. By contrast, Jesse--an alcoholic that sobered up only with the help of his, now, wife--is in a constant state of depression. Even with the good things he has, he's always brooding--whether it be about the past, or about a future he knows he'll never attain.

"You will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do . . . "

The atmosphere of that abandoned farmhouse is suitably dreadful. Everything from the run-down state it's now in, to the untamed drive that leads up to it. Alhborn paints a perfect picture of desolation with the hint of something more malevolent at the heart of it all.

". . . This place? There's something wrong with it. It's infected . . . "

Overall, I think the story at the core of this novel was unique to read about. The problem is that we really don't get to that pivotal point until about three quarters through. The entire middle half felt very repetitive to me, simply delving into Jesse's overwhelming depression in various settings. Nothing much occurs other than the worsening of his mindset. I think this may have worked if it had been backed by more tangible events, linking directly to the house on Old Mill Road, and its history.

". . . don't ask questions you don't want the answers to . . . "

I enjoyed the parts where tidbits were released about the past of the house, and what may have caused it to become what it now was. However, Jesse's relative inaction didn't do much to keep me invested in the story, and I simply found him overbearingly depressing. I don't believe you need to like the characters to appreciate a good novel, but I do feel you should have an understanding of them, or connection to, in order to "care" about what happens next.

"I amplified the negative . . ."

I believe I would have enjoyed this novel much more so if there was more to the main character, but the atmosphere and central idea managed to carry it to an average read for myself.

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read If You See Her for the Ladies of Horror Fiction Group discussion here on Goodreads. I’ve read several of Ania Ahlborn’s books and enjoyed them all with the exception of The Bird Eater. That one wasn’t meant for me! Anyhow, if you’ve read her work you already know that she writes a slow burn, atmospheric, moody creep-fest whose characters are typically stuck in a bleak situation. Her books have a melancholy feel to them so you need to be ready for that. If You See Her features several suicides and a character that chooses to revisit them over and over again in his head so please tread carefully if this is a trigger for you. Suicide features strongly in many horror novels but it’s not something I choose to purposely dwell upon for personal reasons so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to drop this book completely numerous times for this reason alone. But I stuck with it for the sake of the group read and I’m not entirely sure I should’ve. The things I do for you people, haha.

The prologue starts out strong. A group of teens head out to the local dilapidated haunted house. Three go in, two come out and you’re left wondering what the heck just happened. I was anxious to keep reading to learn all of the secrets despite and because of the thing that happened. I needed to know all of the answers. Chapter one picks up 19 years later where the memories of what happened in that house still linger with Jesse and Casey. Casey shows up at Jesse’s house one night disheveled and all worked up and convinces Jesse to visit the old house again. I screamed, “Don’t do it you dummies!” but they do it anyway. No one ever listens to me! As I suspected, things go very wrong. Jesse, who is still wracked with guilt over the first episode at the house, now has another horrible thing hanging over his head and spends the rest of the book attempting to hold his family, job and life together but it is difficult to keep it together when you’re possibly being haunted by a young ghost girl.

This book was well written and had a constant sense of dread and gloom looming over every page. I liked the dread. I love a slow-creep and I love creepy atmosphere and Ania Ahlborn is very good at creating it. With that said, I struggled to finish it because I didn’t connect to any of the characters on an emotional level. I don’t know if it was me, it certainly could be me, but I found them all a little too lifeless for my taste. Jesse was gloomy and obsessed and self-destructive and his wife was such a non-entity to me that I found it too easy to disconnect from the story.

The story is a slow burn, the "dream" sequences were effective and the ending was very fitting but I had too many questions about the origins of the paranormal aspects than I feel comfortable with and I felt myself slipping into a funk while reading it due to the suicides so I think I’m settling with a 3.

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!) · Rating 3 out of 5]

If You See Her is a slow-burning horror story; that is a tale of mystery, a haunted house, and demonic possession.
It took a little over half way for me to get properly hooked by this book, but once it started getting into the horror then I couldn’t put it down near the end!

Twenty years ago, three teenage boys enter a legendary haunted house in Warsaw, Michigan - the house on Old Mill Road. Little did Jesse and Casey know that only the two of them were going to get out alive. Their other friend Reed has an obsession with the house, and seemingly has chosen it as the place for his own suicide. What would lead a teenage boy to do this in front of his two best friends? The childhood ghost stories surrounding this house now feel like a very real horror story, as Jesse spirals into grief.

In the present, Jesse has set up a nice little life for himself. He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Lou-Anne and they have a infant son, Ian.
His old friend Casey contacts him, asking for Jesse to revisit their old demons together. Casey has been making videos about the house and wants them both to return there. To try and get some closure. But it almost feels like the house has been waiting for them, tragedy befalls them once more, and Jesse feels as though his life is forever changed.
As Jesse gets closer to the truth of what happened in this house and who haunts it, he runs the risk of losing everything. But he realises that it too late to turn back now. Will he figure out the haunted house mystery before it’s too late? 👻💀

3.4 Stars

[Brandon Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Depressed it’s my last Ahlborn book, but excited for what comes next!!

[Latasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

if you see her follows 3 friends and what happens to them after becoming obsessed with an old farm house. the story is fine but at times can be confusing. i think that was on purpose so we, the reader, is confused and questioning everything just like Jesse is. is he just dreaming this stuff, is it true? or is he just making it up as he goes for his book? later things are revealed to clear that up. it was hard to really like any of the characters. They are very human and flawed. i was really happy with the way the book ended.

[Kayla_Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining audiobook but definitely not my favorite book by the author.

[OutlawPoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a creepy and compelling story.

No spoilers here. I'll just say that I wouldn't go near that house for a million dollars!

The author does a wonderful job with her characters. They're so vivid and the reader is with them every step of the way - worrying for them and fearing with them.

The only thing that held me back from giving this a full five stars were that there were so many dream sequences. They were necessary to the plot (don't skim them), but I wanted more here and now horrors than I got. Definitely a personal preference and many readers may feel that these sequences added to the terrifying atmosphere of our house. For me, they were just a little much.

Still a fantastic read. I enjoy the author immensely and look forward to her next book as well!

[Lisa]

DNF @ 50%
This book was not for me.
It's very much about a person's descent into madness and this felt very unnecessary considering two of his friends have already gone down this road...and yet he learns nothing.
It was just too frustrating for me to get through.
Even though there's a ghost who sounds interesting!

[Lyn❤Loves❤Listening to Real Voices Only!!!!❤️🎧📚 Addict ON HIATUS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio..4.5 Stars
Story....4 Stars

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I hope I Never see "her!" My goodness, IF YOU SEE HER is one tremendously terrifying novel! A one-sitting compelling read, this novel definitely affected both my quality of sleep and my dreams. Even after so many decades of devouring the horror genre, well-tuned implacable supernatural horror can still do this reviewer in. And how implacable it is! No one can escape! Incredibly powerful book. With every Ania Ahlborn novel, I never know what to expect, and every single time I'm blown away. IF YOU SEE HER was no exception.

[Sarah * Between the Lines Book Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

My review is strictly my opinion and I still urge others to give it a read, just because I disliked it means you will, you may love it!!


I was really disappointed, I was hoping for something that would give me goose bumps. I attempted to go as far as 50% and just couldn’t push on any further.

Sounded like a spooky book, but didn’t meet my expectations as a reader.

[Rachelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet again another undeniably haunting, spooky kick ass story from Ania Ahlborn. I fell in love with her writing style after reading Seed and she has yet to disappoint. This story is creepy and it sticks with you.. highly recommend 🖤

[Lady MacDeath · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lost interest a long time ago!!

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Heeeeere’s ANIA!’

A good ghost story that also deals with madness, possession and obsession.

If you think of a cross between The Shining and The Exorcist then you won’t be far off the mark.

Lots of great scenes to enjoy along the way, though for me the whole story when melded together didn’t quite reach that ‘smoothly-coming-togetherness’ to make it a full 5 star hit.

However, I will most definitely be reading more in future from this extremely talented horrifyingly good writer of the dark arts.

Rating: 3.7 phantasmically glowing bright stars.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three friends. One house. A night they'll never forget.

Jesse, Casey and Reed are best friends getting ready to graduate high school and also ready to leave their small town behind. But, before they do, they decide to go to the old abandoned (possibly haunted) house on Old Mill Road. Reed has grown obsessed with the house and chooses to end his life in it with his two best friends as witnesses. That traumatic experiences shapes the lives of Jesse and Casey. Unable to overcome his grief from that day, twenty years later Casey asked Jesse to go back to the house one more time before it's demolished. That decision will have dire consequences!

This wasn't your typical haunted house troupe. The concept of the haunting revolved around a spiritual infection that passes from one person to the other which causes them to slowly go mad. The psychological horror aspect was interesting. We are able to witness the characters as they begin their slow descent into madness and become drawn back to the house.

The atmosphere is creepy and there are certainly some unsettling moments. <<<----I came back to this review to add what a huge understatement this is. This book freaks me out! It's not so much how I felt when I was reading it, but the lingering effect of this story. It's under my skin crawling around, and I can't seem to shake it. There have only been two other books that have affected me in that way: Come Closer and Creepers.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

One sentence synopsis: Jack Torrance fights Regan MacNeil in Alma Mobley’s house.

This was pretty good. Ahlborn is typically an author who either really grabs me or leaves me entirely cold. This didn’t really do either, and many of the plot elements left me a little mystified, either because they were fairly obvious and took the main character way too long to recognize (seriously, he spends three quarters of the book thinking that everything supernatural that is happening is just part of his creative process) or made no sense (why did the demon girl keep saying, “Two down, one to go,” about the main character and his friends, implying some sort of vendetta?).

So, all in all, it’s not Brother... but that’s a tough one to beat.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Ania Ahlborn. Been following her writing since Seed and it has been great to see her grow and gain a big following. She deserves every bit of it.

If You See Her was a good read but felt a little long winded the first ¾. It gained a bit of momentum the last quarter, but I thought it could have been better served as a shorter work. Novella maybe.

A solid 3 Star read. Maybe more, but it’s hard for me to judge as my reading schedule has been whacked out lately and I read this one in bits and pieces over way too long a period of time.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should have been a novella.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The world had gone fuzzy around the edges, as though a fog had descended upon that empty field…He had been crushed by the weight of his own fear.”

I delved into the writing of Ania Ahlborn last year, devouring Brother, The Devil Crept In, The Bird Eater, The Shuddering, and Apart in the Dark (a collection of two novellas. Upon her announcement of a new, self-published, book, it wasn’t a question of if I would buy it, but rather how fast I would click “add to cart.”

As always, no spoilers here. The synopsis above (from the Goodreads listing) does a decent job of letting readers know what they are in for without giving away too much. If you think that’s all this book is about, well, prepare yourselves. Ahlborn does deal with a few things she’s touched on in other works, but there are some great new ideas at play here, too.

Overall, I had a good time with this novel. Ahlborn’s characterization, particularly that of Jesse and LouEllen, is spot on. There are quite a few moments in which I HATED Jesse and others where I felt a bit of pity for him. I’m fairly certain this was all by design. Jesse’s character isn’t perfect, though. There are moments in which I found his actions confusing, but it didn’t heavily detract from my enjoyment of the novel.

There are two different stories at play here. The main one (of course) and another that is used to provide some backstory to the house that has seemed to ensnare both Jesse’s life and that of his friends. It is here that, in my opinion, there was some opportunity to really play with the intertwining a bit more.

There are hints of other books and movies within, I don’t want to provide specific titles for fear of giving away too much, but I think most horror fans will recognize them. I mention this because that pull to compare is so strong that I feel like it affected my enjoyment of certain parts. I was looking for or thinking of how another book/movie handled something similar and I lost my focus during some fairly important moments. This is something that may be entirely unique to me, but I wanted to be sure to mention it.

If You See Her falls solidly in the middle of the Ahlborn books I have read. It was a good, quick read and quite entertaining. The few things I mentioned above affected my experience a little, as well as some other small things. Decent characters, some AMAZING action scenes and writing, combine with a truly spooky antagonist to keep Ahlborn on my list of favorite authors. I will certainly purchase and devour anything she puts out in the future.

[Boris Bacic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is quickly becoming my favorite. The slow and steady escalation of the events in the book was really well written, so much that you can imagine what it's like being in the main character's head.

Just like with Ahlborn's other books, the ending was something completely unexpected.

The best part of the book, in my opinion, was the well-written main character and the gradual spiraling of his life out of control.

Gotta read this one if you haven't.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole lotta of nothing in this one. A slow burn to nowhere. Characters that frequently were forgettable. The plot didn’t offer much, thought the reading was largely boring. Almost did not finish this one. Probably Ania Ahlborn worst story.

Overall not a fan. This never clicked with me. So dull to read and went nowhere fast.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time to get into October spirit. Mysteriously, Kindle Unlimited only has some of Ania Ahlborn’s titles available. So I went with this one, sounded nice and spooky, great cover, plus Ahlborn is an undeniably talented writer who tends to deliver. This one, I must say, was one of her lesser efforts. Ahlborn’s already tackled possession (awesomely so), in her terrific debut Seed. And this kinda reads like a lackluster possession redux. And to think it all starts off as a seemingly traditional haunted farmhouse thing. Three kids go in, two come out. 19 years later, the two surviving now adults go in, one comes out. This is the story of that one guy, the last survivor, Jesse Wells, who can’t leave the place well enough alone. But alas, the tale veers into a distinctly Exorcist direction or it’s almost like there are two stories going on, one in which the tragic past of the haunted place revealed, one where in the present day Jesse is very much haunted by it still, something that might end up costing him all he holds dear in his life. Obviously, the stories gel together, Ahlborn’s too good of a writer for them not to, but…here comes the but…neither of the stories are all that original. At all. In fact they are as standard as genre standards are without much added to make them in any way original. The possession angle especially, the traveling demon thing, that’s been done so many times exactly that way, too many times to count on Supernatural alone and I quit that show after 10 seasons. I suppose the thing with a really good author is that one goes in with certain expectations and, in this case, might leave somewhat underwhelmed. Mind you, that’s strictly plot related critique, the writing itself is as good as ever, a genuinely literary descent into madness in a nowhere town in the snowed in Michigan. The setting claustrophobic both physically and metaphorically, with the strange scary farmhouse looming on the outskirts, exerting its terrible inextricable gravity. And Jesse hopelessly tumbling down, down, down. And it’s tragic to watch, but not so very much so, because Jesse isn’t an especially compelling protagonist and not all that bright either (despite desperately dreaming of being a writer), for one thing it never occurs to him to do any research on the place at all. The only way he finds things out is through his work friend who enjoys playing an amateur local historian. Jesse always suspected himself of being a coward, but he’s more of a milquetoast. Playing is safe is his game, but he doesn’t seem to think information would increase that safety. None of that forewarned, forearmed business for Jesse. Or Casey, for that matter. No research at all, just following deadly compulsions and irresistible magnetism of the abandoned estate. But anyway…read it for the atmosphere and you won’t be disappointed. And ideally, don’t make it your first Ahlborn read, so that you don’t end up judging the author’s talents based on this. According to the afterword, the book got interrupted by having a baby, about as disruptive of an event as one might imagine, so maybe that’s in some way responsible for the languid pacing and a certain lack of that wow, check that out sort of flights of imaginative fancy. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any way, just puts two different traditional yarns onto one and spins them. Slowly. It’s still miles above a lot of genre writing out there, it just isn’t author’s best work. So, good, not great. Dark psychological literary scares here, enhanced by good writing, stunted by lack of originality. October appropriate in every way.

[Aina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book starts with three teens going into an abandoned house. One of them jumps to his death and then we fast forward to almost 20 years later where we meet the other two again. This book shows the suicide of several characters and the deaths are rehashed many times. So if you find this triggering please be aware.

The main character, Jesse, starts having dreams of a girl and her family who used to live in the house. He wants to write a book about it but he’s having trouble sleeping and functioning. But he still doesn’t believe there’s anything wrong! Whatever’s left there affects Jesse’s psyche turning him into an angry, obsessive person. The whole book is basically him behaving worse and worse which gets repetitive and makes for a bleak reading. There are some scares but they are familiar if you’ve read horror before. If you’re looking for a real downer of a read, you might like this. For me, I didn't find it to be an enjoyable read.

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[ritα ۶ৎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

too slow paced. kind of boring. actually fell asleep