The Haunting of Rainier Asylum

The Beckoning Dead #2

by Ambrose Ibsen

"Get home early, unless you want to meet Watchful Tom..." Having explored the shadowed ruin of Beacon Hill, Sadie and August are drawn deeper into a dark and winding history. It was at the infamous Rainier Asylum that local horrors were first conjured, and compelled by a mix of duty and guilt, the librarians begin to look into the institution's sordid past. For years, locals have reported seeing something hideous stalking about the abandoned asylum—something with large eyes and twisted limbs. When a young farmhand meets this diabolical presence face-to-face and disappears, Sadie and August decide to visit the site to search for him, certain that his disappearance is linked to their investigation. There, they find the nighted corners of the shuttered institution are astir with many terrible apparitions. The things that walk the halls of Rainier Asylum are horrific beyond imagining, and as she descends into the depths of the forsaken building, Sadie stumbles upon something most unexpected—something that connects her to the very horrors she seeks to overcome. The Haunting of Rainier Asylum is the second novel in the Beckoning Dead series.

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

153 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 26, 2019

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

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time Sadie and August try to solve the riddles about Rainier Asylum. The urban legend of Watchful Tom is superb, the hide and seek with evil forces in the old asylum was a bit overlong and almost burdensome. But very creepy and haunting. We still don't know who or what Sadie's mother really was. I bet more will be mentioned in the follow up book. If you're looking for a dark and atmospheric horror tale this definitely is the right one. Reads like a nightmare at most parts. Recommended!

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Haunting of Rainier Asylum
by Ambrose Ibsen
Another good creepy story with Sadie and August but this time it is about an Asylum and a story of Whistling Tom. It's a fairly short book but packed with enough suspense to make it a good read. Not super scary but just enough to be creepy!

[Shainlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second volume in the Beckoning Dead series by Ibsen breaks the mold. It was excellent and it was hair raising. It isn’t like you wander into the same frights in his novels, but this was truly unexpected.

The fear for Sadie was ramped up and there were times during a passage where I could not make myself be in her headspace. It was a lot. I had to stay outside as a spectator.
If I had done this read uninterrupted this would have gone much better for me personally, but I didn’t let it detract from my rating. I will probably read both books again with no gap.
So, there is a link (which I will not reveal) between what Sadie and August battled in the first novel and this Asylum. What can they do but see if they can help or see what they can find out about the link and how it affects Sadie. Do they really have much choice?
Abandoned asylums are creepy on their own merit, but imagine one that no one manages to come out of, in a field, that is near nothing but a pig farm- surrounded by disappearances.
The Rainier Asylum’s past is enough to keep most people away; and therein lies the story, the link, the menacing horror bound to it.
Every page I read greeted me with something macabre and dark. This series is just getting interesting. I can’t wait for the next one.

[Chris Berko · Rating 4 out of 5]

YES!!! Now that's a sequel. The Haunting of Rainier Asylum continues the story from book one, adds to it in terms of scope and history but totally does its own thing. Ambrose Ibsen has a very descriptive, but not overly so, prose and obviously has a clear vision of his characters, settings, and monstrosities because I was easily able to "see" what he was describing no matter how surreal or impossible those things were. I needed my scare itch scratched and I remember being impressed by book one so I picked this up. No disappointment here, this did the job. The main characters once again go play Ghostbusters and end up filling in more of one of their family histories and ain't none of it pretty. The frights are real, the asylum genuinely unsettling, and the story is fast paced and entertaining. Now I have to read book three because I NEED to find out what is in that damn box first introduced in book one! Well done Mr. Ibsen, you've crafted a pretty impressive supernatural mystery!

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author needs his thesaurus taken away

[maskedbookblogger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Den ersten Band der Reihe um Sadie und August habe ich nicht gelesen, habe mich aber gefreut mit diesem zweiten Band in diese Reihe starten zu können. In „Der Spuk im Rainier Asyslum“ geht es um das Rainier Asylum, worüber seit Jahren das Gerücht um sich geht, dass dort etwas Abscheuliches mit riesigen Augen und verdrehten Körperteilen herumschleicht. Als wäre dies nicht schlimm genug, verschwindet plötzlich ein junger Mann in diesem Asylum. Sadie und August entscheiden sich der Sache auf den Grund zu gehen und begeben sich zu diesem schaurigen Schauplatz. Vor Ort stolpert Sadie über etwas Bösartiges und Unerwartetes. Etwas, das mit Sadies Gabe - Übernatürliches zu erkennen - zusammenhängt.

Obwohl ich den ersten Band nicht gelesen habe, bin ich problemlos in dieses Buch eingestiegen. Ich konnte mich mit Sadie sowie August schnell anfreunden. Man erfährt über die Figuren und deren Hintergrund hier recht wenig, was ich aber hinsichtlich der Plotausarbeitung und des Schwerpunkt des Buches nicht schlimm fand.

In diesem Buch hat mir besonders die Atmosphäre gefallen. Dem Autor gelingt es die düstere Stimmung um das Asylum hervorragend zu übermitteln. Besonders gelungen empfand ich, dass der Autor alles knackig auf den Punkt bringt. Es gibt in diesem Buch keinerlei Abschweifungen oder unnötige Längen. Spannung ist somit reichlich vorhanden. Die Geschichte wird nämlich auf einem konstanten hohen Erzählniveau geschildert, bei dem man als Leser kaum zur Ruhe kommt. Zum Ende des Buches hin merkte ich aber, dass inhaltlich auf Ereignisse aus Band 1 eingegangen wird. Diesbezüglich werde ich mir Band 1 zulegen müssen, um noch mehr über Sadie, ihre Gabe sowie ihre Mutter zu erfahren.

Fazit: Mit „Der Spuk von Rainier Asylum“ entwirft der Autor einen spannenden Horrorroman mit einer düsteren Atmosphäre, der sie in ein unheimliches Asylum entführen wird. Keinerlei unnötigen Längen, alles auf den Punkt gebracht und ein guter Anteil an Gruselmomenten. So will man das als Horrorfan. Ich vergebe 4,5 Sterne, aufgerundet auf 5 Sterne.

[miss_mandrake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mitreißend, gruselig und atmosphärisch hab ich den ersten Band der "Beckoning Dead" Reihe beschrieben, und genau das kann ich auch über die Fortsetzung "Der Spuk im Rainier Asylum" sagen!

Aber bevor ich meine Meinung im Detail mit euch teile, hab ich noch eine Empfehlung: Da "Der Spuk von Beacon Hill" mit einem ziemlich fiesen Cliffhanger endet und Band 2 dort auch direkt wieder anknüpft, sollte fürs bessere Verständnis die Reihenfolge eingehalten werden.

Eines muss ich über den Autor Ambrose Ibsen unbedingt loswerden: Er weiß definitiv, wie man eine bleibende klaustrophobische Stimmung erzeugt, die selbst mit der Zeit nichts an Spannung einbüßt - ganz im Gegenteil. Je länger man der Protagonistin Sadie folgt, desto greifbarer wurde ihre Angst für mich und an ein oder zwei Stellen, hatte selbst ich (bei Tageslicht) eine leichte Gänsehaut bekommen.

Wie schon im Vorgänger setzt der Autor auch hier nicht auf Blut und/oder Gore, sondern legt den Schwerpunkt eindeutig in eine atmosphärisch feiner gestrickte Richtung. Dennoch gibt es intensive Szenen, wenn beispielsweise in der vermeintlich verlassenen Irrenanstalt Dinge in schmutzigen Wannen zucken und sich langsam daraus erheben.

Wer also gerade spannenden Lesestoff aus dem Haunted-House-Bereich sucht, der ist hier definitiv der richtigen Adresse!
Von mir gibts eine klare Leseempfehlung und einen gratis Tipp dazu: Legt Band 3 bereit - der Cliffhanger am Ende ist erneut ziemlich fies!

4,5⭐️

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

SpookTober read #5



Really enjoying this short ghostly series. Only 4 books 😫 This is #2

So much more suspense and dread in this instalment. Love it 😂

Although that asylum gave me the willies 😱

Ambrose Ibsen’s storytelling is wicked good❣️

[Katrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Für noch bewohnte Sanatorien bin ich immer zu haben.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this im sorry interesting story but it did drag a bit and sadie really got on my nerves I liked August though great cover too.

[Richard K. Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For being someone who does NOT like to read multi book series......I am HOOKED on the haunts and ghosts in this 3 book series by Ibsen! Cannot wait for book 3 to see what Sadie and August are going to come up against next!!!

Well, this was such a fun and creepy book and it picks up right after book one ends, however I did not like the story of this one as much as I did the first one, and I will not reveal what this is about so as not to spoil the first book if you have not read it yet.

But this story rotates around Sadie and August right after their hair raising and scares galore that they experienced on Beacon Hill in the first book, but this time they are investigating the Rainier Asylum that sits in the middle of a HUGE field next to a pig farm/slaughter house. And when the Devil and his minions of ghosts and demons come calling, you do not want to ignore their requests and calls for help......but is it really help, or a trap!? Ibsen knows how to spin a great and creeepy story with ghosts, demons and devils that you will not forget. I started this audio book yesterday and finished it today.....too bad his works are only available in audiobook or ebook. It would be fun to collect these on a shelf.

I gave this 3.5 🔪🔪🔪 Stabbys!

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m always happy to see a new Ibsen.

This one was good. Better I think than book 1 in the series. He seems to have been doing some Lovecraftian work in his prose of late and I enjoy it.

As is sometimes the case, I wished this one was a bit longer and more meaty. I also thought the protagonist was profoundly stupid not to try the eventual solution much earlier.

I’ll keep reading everything this guy points out. Just great fun with spooky stories. He intimated that 2020 will be his most prolific year and I’m looking forward to it.

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grab your blankets, make a pillow fort, because it is getting scary (or scarier)! Asylum explorations, hell, and more!


So, almost immediately after I finished book 1 I started book 2! After that cliffhanger I just had to continue. Plus, this series is just too good, you want to keep on reading and reading and reading. Though, at times I also wanted to just run and NOPE the hell out of there because it was scary. I t doesn’t help that this one takes place in one of the spookiest settings (at least for me), namely asylums. This one is long abandoned, but there are things crawling there… shivers Plus, given what we know about the asylum and what happened there years ago… lots of sadness and pain. Not a good thing.

The second book and we start off where we left off. I definitely loved that! No room for waiting, just go go go. Our duo is still shaking from the events of the last time, Sadie the most as she was the one holding Ophelia. After seeing something on the news and hearing the name of the asylum, the one that Mother Maggot came from, and also some other things, they decide to go. While I was all for solving the mystery, putting souls to rest, I was also so noping at how creepy things would get. I mean the previous book was SO SCARY.

I love Sadie and August’s friendship. I am so glad that they are friends and that there is no romance to be found. I think that would distract from things, plus I could use a book with male/female friendship, they are quite rare. I love that they are opposites, yet fit great together. August is so supportive and I love it. Many others may have run away from all the creepy stuff, but August is there for Sadie. He supports her, motivates her, talks with her when she is totally through with all the crap that is happening.

The asylum exploration was creepy as hell, especially when the duo makes the time-old horror mistake of splitting up. Yes, the wall is just a divider, but hello? If you have to run you have to be together. Not far apart. I was just shaking my head at this. But after that the story picked up full time and things got so scary and harrowing that I didn’t even care about the mistake and instead was fully immersed in the story and how creepy the asylum was. Every time I thought maybe she would be fine, things would happen again and we were in full terror.

I did think it was funny that Sadie kept calling for August each time she heard a sound or saw something. Often it was just NOT possible that it was August. I get that she misses him, worries, but come on, now is not the time to talk/shout/call out.

This time we get some more answers on some questions, but also get plenty more questions which probably will be answered in the final book. We learn what happens to Sadie when she goes to someone who is dead (NOPE). We see the thing that looks like her mom (NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE). There are some puzzles that are now solved, but the reasons why are still unnamed. It was really well written and I am glad that we got more information.

I loved that we also got a short chapter from John’s POV. That we see what happened to him and how he disappeared.

The ending, OMG, a cliffhanger! Argh, I am so happy I got all the books in the series to read and that they are out, because I am dying to know what is in that box and what kind of secrets the grandparents/her family had. I need to know! I guess this evening I will start the next one. Haha, though on the other hand, maybe a day without horror would also be nice.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Marcel Haußmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Also großer Fan von Geistergeschichten hab ich mich total auf Rainier Asylum gefreut, vor allem weil der Vorgänger auch schon so extrem gut war. Band 2 steht dem ganzen in nichts nach:

Seit Jahren berichten Einheimische, dass etwas in der verlassenen Rainier-Irrenanstalt herumschleicht – etwas mit riesigen Augen und verdrehten Gliedern. Nachdem ein junger Mann in den Gängen des zerfallenden Gemäuers verschwunden ist, beschließen die übersinnliche Bibliothekarin Sadie und ihr Arbeitskollege August nach ihm zu suchen. In den Tiefen der alten Anstalt erwartet die zwei das absolute Grauen ...

Nachdem krassen Cliffhänger aus Band 1, schließt die Geschichte nahtlos an die Ereignisse an. Sadie kämpft noch mit den Nachwirkungen der Maden Mutter, da wird sie auch schon in den neusten Fall verwickelt. Dieser legt, was die Atmosphäre angeht, nochmal eine Schippe drauf. Ambrose Ibsen schafft es eine sehr düstere und unheimliche Stimmung zu erzeugen, besonders in dem verfallenen Gemäuer von Rainier Asylum herrscht so eine Anspannung und Ibsen spielt mit dem Horror so gekonnt, dass man extrem mit den Charakteren fiebert.

Das liegt vor allem daran, dass die Sadie und August die Sympathien auf ihrer Seite haben. Besonders Sadie und ihre Vergangenheit werden diesmal noch weiter beleuchtet und wir erfahren einiges über die Zusammenhänge mit ihrer Gabe. Dadurch tritt August leider etwas in den Hintergrund, was etwas schade ist.

Insgesamt ist Ambrose Ibsen eine würdige Fortsetzung gelungen, die durch den Schreibstil, die extrem spannende Geschichte sowie der düsteren Atmosphäre besticht. Ich freu mich schon total auf Band 3 der Reihe und freu mich total, denn Ibsen hat einen vierten Band angekündigt. Eine absolute Leseempfehlung für unsere übernatürliche Bibliothekarin und ihren Assistenten.

4,5 von 5 Sternen

[Susanne Krajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alter Verwalter, was für ein Ritt mit gaaaaaanz viel Puls.

Nahtlos geht die Story weiter und ich fand es einen Zacken gruseliger als den Auftakt.

Nachdem Sadie sich noch von den Erlebnissen mit der Madenmutter erholt, steht schon das nächste Interessenobjekt auf dem Plan. Der Weg führt die junge Frau und ihren Freund August dabei ins Rainier Sanatorium. Atmosphärisch schlägt es für mich den Auftakt um Längen und jaaaaa, ich hatte Orden Puls. Es war absolut gruselig und düster. Ich meine, stellt euch ein altes Sanatorium vor, dass einfach vom Zahn der Zeit angenagt wurde und in dem es abermals Experimente gegeben haben soll. Die Stimmung nimmt einen dermaßen gefangen. Einfach Wahnsinn.

August spielt hier einer etwas magere Rolle, was durchaus ein wenig enttäuschend fand. Auch wenn ich das Gefühl habe, dass an ihm irgendwas nicht so ganz koscher ist. Wie man so schön sagt. Sadie konnte mich dafür absolut für sich gewinnen und ich ziehe echt den Hut vor ihr.

Fazit

Eine wahnsinnig spannende und auch gruselige Fortsetzung, die mich absolut in ihren Bann schlagen konnte. Ich wollte aufhören mit lesen, brauchte eine Pause, aber es einfach nicht. Ich bin gespannt, was wir noch so erfahren werden und ob August in Teil 3 wieder eine größere Rolle spielt. Vor allem aber bin ich gespannt, was als Nächstes auf die Beiden wartet. 5 Sterne von mir.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt greatly disappointed with this sequel after the gripping first novel.
This felt like a filler novel. The background is interesting and I like the story of Tom, but I didn’t get enough. It was very vague, and I think there’ll be a deeper dive next novel. I ate this book up in one sitting waiting for the hairs on the back of my neck to raise and they just didn’t.
My expectations were so high after the first novel.
The characters are so so lovable and I am very intrigued though so I will be continuing with this series. Eager for it to pick back up.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously. Mental institutions need to slow down on the evil entity summoning. You can’t find a good asylum to drop off your crazy relatives without there being rivers of pain and blood. Why can’t anyone worship ancient doughnut deities? The personal favours of the applefritter king are so much…tastier.
And the Glazed triad of infinite pastries, dude so so good.
I’m just saying, there are more strange entities out there than just the ones of pain, death, and horror.

[Avery (Book Deviant) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this and immediately jumped to the third one on Scribd and they took away my access :)) must be going through them too fast lmfaooo

Enjoyed this one about the same as the first, a lot more tension and horror aspects, not enough August, though. He was kind of shoved to the side for Sadie's solo mission, and I missed his commentary :(

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was okay, but I had a hard time focusing on the story so it didn’t really hook me at any point. Not very memorable. I have hope the next book will be better though so I’ll read on.

[Melanie Schneider · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wie viel schlechter kann man schreiben als in Band 1 schon nicht so hervorragend? Ibsen so: Hold my beer.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. Not as good as the first but still good and spooky. Though I have learned listening to spooky books on faster speeds kinda ruins the spookiness. Also how dare she rip pages out of a book. And how dare they leave it on that big of a cliff hanger.

[Frida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ziemlich gruselig für jemanden der keinen Horror mag, aber echt spannend und super geschrieben. Habs an einem Abends gelesen. Kann ich nur weiterempfehlen!!
:)

[Chloé Leclerc · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5✨

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, this was kind of disappointing. After the shock ending of book one, I had to start this one immediately. And it was good! At first. I was riveted up until they went into the asylum and then I was bored, even though that should have been the best part. I think they went in around the 43% mark and the whole rest of the book is just wandering hallways and exploring empty rooms. Then, of course, they split up and get separated at which point the rest of the book is just Sadie. August is the best part so that was sad. There were parts that were more exciting but overall, it was dull. The exploration just went on too long. Also, we still don't know what's in the box! The box was part of the cliffhanger from the first book, so to have it be the cliffhanger of the second book too is just annoying. I may continue this series eventually but, for now at least, I'll be taking a break.

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wieder richtig gut gewesen. Fieser kleiner Cliffhanger am Ende. Aber der nächste und vermutlich letzte Teil liegt schon bereit.

[Ashley MacMillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked this one better than the first!

[blembop · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 but I'll round to 3 mostly for the beautiful ghouls and monsters in the book. Otherwise, you can skip this one and know just as much about the plot as if you hadn't. What I'm starting to discover about this author is his tendency to write in a way that I feel is excessively wordy, seriously, Ibsen had a thesaurus next to him the entire time he wrote this one it seems. You will dredge your way through sentences composed entirely of minimum 6 syllable words, sentences that could have so easily been slimmed down to make more palatable while still remaining pretty eloquent. This wordiness can sometimes contribute well to the imagining of characters and scenes if done well, but in this book, I felt like all it did was make it harder to stay on track. I found it easy to tune out consistently throughout.

Anywho, other than the massive lexicon Ibsen needlessly displays, it was a fairly entertaining and fast story that failed to move along the main plot in a significant way. For example: instead of the box Sadie receives in the ending of the prior book being investigated ASAP, because this is the only reasonable thing to do when said box was used in a cliffhanger in the last book, our characters skip over it for seemingly no reason until the end of the book. August and Sadie head to Rainier Asylum and become separated in a very typical horror trope fashion. August plays very little part for half the book from this point on. We see dream sequences from Sadie's perspective and Sadie fights off the horrors of the Asylum. A LOT of flavor is added to the cult and history of the asylum here, but this sequence of events fails to reveal much about Sadie's mother that most haven't probably already suspected. and the box from her grandparents' house is conveniently avoided until the very end of the book, then used as a CLIFFHANGER FOR THE SECOND TIME. You'd figure this would have been one of the first sources our characters go to when researching the Asylum, but no. Why, you ask? It creeps Sadie out. God, this frustrated me.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings

I like the authors works. I read horror not to be scared but for the story. I think the character type is not my type the writing was good but the MC and her friend had me unconvinced as to why they would explore an asylum. Her reason was I feel bad for this missing guy which hides her curiosity about the asylum but it seems so weak at least in how it was developed. I just really did not care if they made it out because they were walking into a situation that was dangerous and they had past experience to back it up. In contrast, the series about the PI sees him doing dangerous things but it’s his job and it is a,ways with extreme reluctance. And he needs the money. But why does she need to look into this? The more she learns the more difficult it is to walk away. It isn’t like she is trapped by a mortgage in a haunted house her motivation seems so weak and undeveloped and it makes it difficult for me to care about her. When the two split up I kept thinking that is just horror rule 101 don’t split up and the friend just downplays the VERY obvious risk. It made little sense. You want to minimize threats not maximize them. I understand the author needed to create an opening for the events that followed but it seemed poorly executed.

[KaitoBeReading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mir war beim Start des Buches nicht klar, dass es eine Serie ist und ich offenbar nicht mit dem ersten Teil starte.
Dennoch lässt es sich ziemlich gut als "Stand-Alone" lesen, bei gewissen Punkten wäre das Wissen des vorherigen Buches (Spuk im Beacon Hill) vorteilhaft gewesen.

Ein sehr gut geschriebenes Buch, Spannung, Okkultismus, Geister und 2 Bibliothekare welche Mysterien lüften - einfach super!
Ich konnte ab der Hälfte gar nicht mehr aufhören zu lesen und habe so die letzten 100 Seiten regelrecht verschlungen.

Die Plots twisten praktisch an jeder Ecke und lies mit mit einem Wow-Effekt zurück!
Fand es auch toll wie der Autor die Verbundenheit der Protagonisten darstellt ohne eine sexuelle Spannung oder Romanze zwischen den beiden einzubringen.
Mann und Frau können meiner Meinung nach auch "nur" befreundet sein um durch dick und dünn zu gehen.

Ambrose Ibsen hat sich in diesem Buch echt verstanden mit der Übermittlung der Gefühle und Reaktionen. Keine waghalsigen Versuche dem Bösen in einer aussichtslosen Situation aus Trotz die Stirn zu bieten sondern man flieht, wie es vermutlich jeder von uns tun würde.

Zweites Buch vom Festeverlag und dieses Mal hat es mich echt überzeugt, werde defintiv die restlichen Bücher noch lesen.

[Jessa Layne • readwithjessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Beckoning Dead Series: Book 2

In The Haunting of Rainier Asylum by Ambrose Isben, Sadie and August are pulled deeper into the chilling mysteries of their town as they investigate the sinister past of the infamous Rainier Asylum. After a young farmhand disappears following a terrifying encounter with “Watchful Tom,” the duo heads to the abandoned institution to uncover the truth. As they explore the decaying asylum, they encounter terrifying apparitions and unravel secrets that link Sadie to the very horrors they’re trying to understand. The discovery Sadie makes deep within the asylum alters the course of their investigation, tying her fate to the haunted past in ways she never imagined.

I found this to be a fantastic continuation of the Beckoning Dead series, immediately picking up where the first book left off, keeping the momentum strong. The eerie atmosphere and ghostly encounters were spine-chilling, and the banter between Sadie and August added a refreshing lightness to the dark story. I particularly loved how the ghost stories intertwined with Sadie’s own journey, making the stakes personal. Overall, it was a perfect blend of horror and friendship that left me eager for more. I also recommend the audio book if you can get it! It is excellent.