So, never having read anything by this author; Ambrose Ibsen I really enjoyed going on this haunted mansion story and finding out what in the hell was haunting and living in the mansion on Beacon Hill. The story starts out with a group of young girls daring each other to venture into their local 'haunted mansion' Beacon Hill.....and Girl, oh Girl, did things go wrong with this scary dare!
Ibsen's writing was very easy to ease myself into, and it was very well done without throwing your typical gore, sex and violence 'in your face scares'. He brings you along getting to know the characters which is something that i ususally don't like but in this case, it works out very well.
Sadie is a young 26 year old librarian who LOVES her job and books.....(as so do I!) and one day when she was young, was one of the girls i spoke of earlier....and after her and her friends escape a very life threatening experience in Beacon Hill she never spoke of it again. She was the only one that saw and could see ghosts, but can she really?
One day at work she encounters a young girl around 6 who is very precocious and asking all kinds of questions about why is Sadie a librarian and so on and so on, well her mother realizes she was Saides childhood friend and remembers that Sadie 'had a way with Ghosts, and seeing things that no one else saw'. When she asks Sadie for some help, because now her daughter seems to be haunted by a ghost, Sadie goes back to Beacon Hill. Is she ready to bring up the ghosts of her past and the past of the scary mansion on the hill?
I learned to love the characters of Sadie, and August! August with his obsession with bowties was the best, however Sadie gets kind of annoying at times but you get over it. Ophelia, the 'haunted daughter' of her friend reminded me of a character in the film 'The Haunting' and she is very creepy at times. Ibsen knows how to write a suspense filled ghost story, even though it started out slow a bit, it kept me interested and i could not wait to find out the creepy past of Beacon Hill. Will definitely be listening to the next book in the 'series' The Haunting of Rainier Asylum. It's funny because growing up in the Seattle area of Tacoma, there is a Beacon Hill in Seattle, as well as an old Rainier Asylum......Hmmmm? Was surprised that the book took place in Montpelier Vermont.