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Ghost Boy
This horror novella concerns Will and Alice Harding and their seven-year-old son Toby who have moved to a house in the countryside. They are hoping for a fresh start, but their past hides dark secrets which are waiting to emerge.
Soon Toby begins to change: his voice, his appearance and his demeanor. Finally accepting that something is seriously wrong with their son that traditional medicine is unable to cure, Will and Alice turn to folk magic for help.
But can they figure out what the powerful and mysterious force is that plagues Toby - and can they defeat it?
Soon Toby begins to change: his voice, his appearance and his demeanor. Finally accepting that something is seriously wrong with their son that traditional medicine is unable to cure, Will and Alice turn to folk magic for help.
But can they figure out what the powerful and mysterious force is that plagues Toby - and can they defeat it?
- GenresParanormalFiction
118 pages, Paperback
Published September 25, 2019
13 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 29, 2020
A young family (Will, Alice and Toby) move to a remote house in the countryside. When they start exploring the area Toby finds a kind of magic fountain, Nattie Fonten. Later on Toby gets lost in a field and when he comes back he says something about a pond he fell into. From this time on the boy is different. There seem to be two different boys within his body. Also the parents change and supernatural phenomenons frequently start to appear. Then there is a mysterious hooded woman sneaking around the house. What is the history of Hob's Pond? What is the connection to Nodens, the Celtic god of healing and of the dead? All of the sudden the whole landscape is full of magic and sinister sightings. Is there a cure to Toby and how will the story end for his father Will? Both authors convince with a very classic supernatural story. I especially like the mentioning of Nodens and the reference to paganism and human sacrifice. The novella was highly entertaining and kept me on the edge of the seat with its numerous eerie moments. A well done piece of fiction. Highly recommended!
November 8, 2019
A bitter unrelenting battle between good and evil with a wicked twist that takes your breath away.
February 9, 2021
I’m apparently gonna be that one low/average review amidst a shocking amount of 5 star reviews...
The positives: It was a well written book, with an interesting plot idea (and a pretty classic one for the horror genre).
But there was also so much about this book that I personally felt could have been better.
So for more than half this book, I was just begging for Will and Alice to separate or divorce. The first chapters where we’re supposed to feel sympathy for Alice and what she’s going through just doesn’t hit emotionally as hard as it should have, halfway through chapter 1 all I could think of was how annoying the narrator (Alice) was. Maybe it’s that we weren’t given enough time and depth to really get into her character and emotional state enough to feel for her? (It’s a short book, less than 200 pages). You know logically that you should feel for her, but it just doesn’t really develop. Especially when it’s insinuated that she starts having a thing for Simon... it feels very hypocritical. And just- I don’t even wanna get into that. Even if he turned out to be a good person, and even character, in the end.
I actually felt a bit bad for Will in the beginning, because yeah he cheated, but she gave him another shot and as far as I saw he wasn’t doing anything to warrant her hostility (even if it’s understandable from a logical perspective that she’s just lashing out). You definitely don’t by the end though. The last chapters had me yelling “Will, WTF” out loud.
Now for the meat of it: the story is weird because one moment it’s saying this spirit is evil, it’s vile, it basically has no purpose but to make people miserable. Then the next it’s like “oh yeah actually, this was a little boy who was ripped from his home due to war, with no family, thrown into a town full of cold, judgmental pagans, and sacrificed to one of their “gods”... because he was evil. ...sort of. He was a little jerk and they didn’t want him, it still counts. Anyway, we have to send him back to the lake our ancestors drown him in to get rid of him.” Um, what?!
Like, I understand that the main characters felt like they had no choice, but at the same time this was unsatisfying as hell, and I would have given it another star if the ghost boy either had gotten loose and burned down their entire freaking village, while Alice and Toby walked away. Or if the actual goal of the ghost had been to destroy the town while possessing Toby, and once he’d done so had been able to move on. Emotionally that would have felt so much more enjoyable.
Especially towards the end where Ingrid, the “problem solver” character just decides “well, I can’t separate the ghost from your son so they’re both just gonna have to die in the lake (again)”. There’s no sympathy for the people in this village, not just here but from an instance before too, and quite a bit of it for the child their ancestors murdered.
From the reader’s perspective it’s just... really unsatisfying to have that kid returned to the lake. As humans we usually strive for happy endings, or at least bitter sweet ones. That kind of ending would have just felt hollow. Especially since nothing else really comes from this whole experience- Alice and Will don’t fix their marriage, yet they don’t seem to be any closer to divorce either, no one really changes or grows...
Even the very ending didn’t really help. The whole (SPOILERY SPOILERS) “Surprise, he’s possessing the dad now” thing, makes it feel like the ending to a Goosebumps book. And it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the book. Making it feel even more unsatisfying. At least from my perspective.
I gave it 3 stars for the classic horror plot, and because it was nicely written in general... but it definitely could have been better. Like I could think of several ways to rewrite in a way that would be more satisfying...
No offense to the authors. This is all just my opinion and feelings. And I felt the need to share a different opinion to the ones on here.
The positives: It was a well written book, with an interesting plot idea (and a pretty classic one for the horror genre).
But there was also so much about this book that I personally felt could have been better.
So for more than half this book, I was just begging for Will and Alice to separate or divorce. The first chapters where we’re supposed to feel sympathy for Alice and what she’s going through just doesn’t hit emotionally as hard as it should have, halfway through chapter 1 all I could think of was how annoying the narrator (Alice) was. Maybe it’s that we weren’t given enough time and depth to really get into her character and emotional state enough to feel for her? (It’s a short book, less than 200 pages). You know logically that you should feel for her, but it just doesn’t really develop. Especially when it’s insinuated that she starts having a thing for Simon... it feels very hypocritical. And just- I don’t even wanna get into that. Even if he turned out to be a good person, and even character, in the end.
I actually felt a bit bad for Will in the beginning, because yeah he cheated, but she gave him another shot and as far as I saw he wasn’t doing anything to warrant her hostility (even if it’s understandable from a logical perspective that she’s just lashing out). You definitely don’t by the end though. The last chapters had me yelling “Will, WTF” out loud.
Now for the meat of it: the story is weird because one moment it’s saying this spirit is evil, it’s vile, it basically has no purpose but to make people miserable. Then the next it’s like “oh yeah actually, this was a little boy who was ripped from his home due to war, with no family, thrown into a town full of cold, judgmental pagans, and sacrificed to one of their “gods”... because he was evil. ...sort of. He was a little jerk and they didn’t want him, it still counts. Anyway, we have to send him back to the lake our ancestors drown him in to get rid of him.” Um, what?!
Like, I understand that the main characters felt like they had no choice, but at the same time this was unsatisfying as hell, and I would have given it another star if the ghost boy either had gotten loose and burned down their entire freaking village, while Alice and Toby walked away. Or if the actual goal of the ghost had been to destroy the town while possessing Toby, and once he’d done so had been able to move on. Emotionally that would have felt so much more enjoyable.
Especially towards the end where Ingrid, the “problem solver” character just decides “well, I can’t separate the ghost from your son so they’re both just gonna have to die in the lake (again)”. There’s no sympathy for the people in this village, not just here but from an instance before too, and quite a bit of it for the child their ancestors murdered.
From the reader’s perspective it’s just... really unsatisfying to have that kid returned to the lake. As humans we usually strive for happy endings, or at least bitter sweet ones. That kind of ending would have just felt hollow. Especially since nothing else really comes from this whole experience- Alice and Will don’t fix their marriage, yet they don’t seem to be any closer to divorce either, no one really changes or grows...
Even the very ending didn’t really help. The whole (SPOILERY SPOILERS) “Surprise, he’s possessing the dad now” thing, makes it feel like the ending to a Goosebumps book. And it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the book. Making it feel even more unsatisfying. At least from my perspective.
I gave it 3 stars for the classic horror plot, and because it was nicely written in general... but it definitely could have been better. Like I could think of several ways to rewrite in a way that would be more satisfying...
No offense to the authors. This is all just my opinion and feelings. And I felt the need to share a different opinion to the ones on here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 28, 2020
Ghost Boy: By Ian Taylor and Rosi Taylor.
Will and Alice are having some marital problems and move to a countryside house to try to start again. When Will takes their young son, Troy out for a walk and loses him, their troubles really begin.
Toby returns, but his character and demeanour have changed. The couple must work together to discover who or what has taken over their child and return it to where it came from before it’s too late.
This is an easy read, the story moves quickly and anyone with a penchant for the dark side will enjoy this book.
Will and Alice are having some marital problems and move to a countryside house to try to start again. When Will takes their young son, Troy out for a walk and loses him, their troubles really begin.
Toby returns, but his character and demeanour have changed. The couple must work together to discover who or what has taken over their child and return it to where it came from before it’s too late.
This is an easy read, the story moves quickly and anyone with a penchant for the dark side will enjoy this book.
April 26, 2020
Awesome!!!
This book hooked from the beginning and kept me entrenched until the very end! Once you start reading you will not be able to put it down!! Unbelievable ending too!!!
This book hooked from the beginning and kept me entrenched until the very end! Once you start reading you will not be able to put it down!! Unbelievable ending too!!!
January 30, 2020
New residents in a rural community, Will and Alice, who are trying to save a broken marriage, quickly become embroiled in a dark secret from the past that threatens the life of their young son. A brooding novella that grabs from the beginning with a totally unexpected twist at the end.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews