What do you think?
Rate this book
Ishmael Jones #11
Haunted by the Past
NEW ISHMAEL JONES NOVEL FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING URBAN FANTASY NOVELIST SIMON R. GREEN. SUPERNATURAL DETECTIVE ISHMAEL JONES IS BACK IN THIS LATEST INSTALLMENT OF GREEN'S POPULAR SERIES.
Ishmael Jones knows all there is to know about solving mysteries. Together with his love and partner in crimes, Penny Belcourt, he specializes in cases of the weird and uncanny.
Lucas Carr went to Glenbury Hall, an old country manor house turned hotel. He signed in at reception, took his key, and went upstairs to his room. But he never got there. Somehow he vanished along the way, with not a single clue to suggest what might have happened to him.
Lucas belonged to the same mysterious organization that employs Ishmael and Penny, so they are sent in to solve the mystery. But when they arrive at grim and isolated Glenbury Hall, they discover it has a reputation as one of the most haunted old houses in England. None of the usual headless monks or walled-up nuns—just stories of lost souls that dance with the statues in the grounds; doors that won’t stay shut, and rooms that aren’t always there; and something that prowls the house in the early hours, endlessly searching. They say . . . it crawls.
Does Lucas’ disappearance have something to do with the organization or the Hall’s haunted past? Ishmael and Penny have to work their way through a series of mysterious clues and misleading suspects, uncovering secret after secret, before they finally arrive at a truth that no-one suspected.
The problem with history is that it’s not always content to stay in the past.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
About Simon R.
“A macabre and thoroughly entertaining world.” —Jim Butcher on the Nightside series
“A splendid riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, conveyed with trademark wisecracking humor, and carried out with maximum bloodshed and mayhem. In a word, irresistible.” —Kirkus, Starred Review of Simon R. Green's Night Fall
“[F]or those who want a fantasy-genre mash-up that doesn’t slow down.” —Booklist on From a Drood to a Kill
“Simon R. Green is a great favorite of mine. It’s almost impossible to find a writer with a more fertile imagination than Simon. He’s a writer who seems endlessly inventive.” —Charlaine Harris
Simon R. Green is the New York Times best-selling author of more than sixty science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels. Green sold his first book in 1988 and the very next year was commissioned to write the best-selling novelization of the Kevin Costner film Robin Prince of Thieves. From there he went on to write many more series of books, including Deathstalker, Nightside, Secret History, Forest Kingdom, and the Ishmael Jones mysteries. His books have sold more than 3.8 million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
Ishmael Jones knows all there is to know about solving mysteries. Together with his love and partner in crimes, Penny Belcourt, he specializes in cases of the weird and uncanny.
Lucas Carr went to Glenbury Hall, an old country manor house turned hotel. He signed in at reception, took his key, and went upstairs to his room. But he never got there. Somehow he vanished along the way, with not a single clue to suggest what might have happened to him.
Lucas belonged to the same mysterious organization that employs Ishmael and Penny, so they are sent in to solve the mystery. But when they arrive at grim and isolated Glenbury Hall, they discover it has a reputation as one of the most haunted old houses in England. None of the usual headless monks or walled-up nuns—just stories of lost souls that dance with the statues in the grounds; doors that won’t stay shut, and rooms that aren’t always there; and something that prowls the house in the early hours, endlessly searching. They say . . . it crawls.
Does Lucas’ disappearance have something to do with the organization or the Hall’s haunted past? Ishmael and Penny have to work their way through a series of mysterious clues and misleading suspects, uncovering secret after secret, before they finally arrive at a truth that no-one suspected.
The problem with history is that it’s not always content to stay in the past.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
About Simon R.
“A macabre and thoroughly entertaining world.” —Jim Butcher on the Nightside series
“A splendid riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, conveyed with trademark wisecracking humor, and carried out with maximum bloodshed and mayhem. In a word, irresistible.” —Kirkus, Starred Review of Simon R. Green's Night Fall
“[F]or those who want a fantasy-genre mash-up that doesn’t slow down.” —Booklist on From a Drood to a Kill
“Simon R. Green is a great favorite of mine. It’s almost impossible to find a writer with a more fertile imagination than Simon. He’s a writer who seems endlessly inventive.” —Charlaine Harris
Simon R. Green is the New York Times best-selling author of more than sixty science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels. Green sold his first book in 1988 and the very next year was commissioned to write the best-selling novelization of the Kevin Costner film Robin Prince of Thieves. From there he went on to write many more series of books, including Deathstalker, Nightside, Secret History, Forest Kingdom, and the Ishmael Jones mysteries. His books have sold more than 3.8 million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
283 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 6, 2022
30 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Simon R. Green
312 books3,209 followersSimon Richard Green is a British science fiction and fantasy-author. He holds a degree in Modern English and American Literature from the University of Leicester. His first publication was in 1979.
His Deathstalker series is partly a parody of the usual space-opera of the 1950s, told with sovereign disregard of the rules of probability, while being at the same time extremely bloodthirsty.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
His Deathstalker series is partly a parody of the usual space-opera of the 1950s, told with sovereign disregard of the rules of probability, while being at the same time extremely bloodthirsty.
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 18, 2023
4.5 stars
February 28, 2024
A solid book in the series. I was surprised that not a lot of people died before Ishmael and Penny figured everything out, usually in these books people die left and right. But the overall events had nothing to do with the main plot of the series, this was just a sideways job so to speak.
March 8, 2024
Haunted by the Past
By Simon R Green
This continues Ishmael and Penny's hunt for Ishmeal's past. They plan to take some time off to follow up some leads but ends up working along the way. They find what they where looking for and more questions too! This had a very creepy vibe to it, that's for sure! I have enjoyed this series so much. Not as much as his Nightside series but that series is hard to beat!
By Simon R Green
This continues Ishmael and Penny's hunt for Ishmeal's past. They plan to take some time off to follow up some leads but ends up working along the way. They find what they where looking for and more questions too! This had a very creepy vibe to it, that's for sure! I have enjoyed this series so much. Not as much as his Nightside series but that series is hard to beat!
March 27, 2023
It's a strong mystery, but it feels like it was a letdown after the last book.
If you are looking for more answers, there are none, no more information to the arching storyline.
If you are looking for more answers, there are none, no more information to the arching storyline.
July 23, 2023
Not the best from Ishmael Jones, another haunted house where nothing much happens.
Lucas Carr , a member of the secret organization that Ishmael works for, checked into Glenbury Hall, an old supposedly haunted country manor house turned hotel, and then promptly disappeared. Ishmael and Penny are sent to find out what happened to him.
And that's about it. Penny gets a creepy feeling, Ishmael tells her nothing's there, they ask a bunch of questions and get lied to, and the cycle repeats itself until Ishmael finds out the truth. Not very difficult to figure out, not very mysterious, not very supernatural, and nothing to do with Ishmael's past.
Lucas Carr , a member of the secret organization that Ishmael works for, checked into Glenbury Hall, an old supposedly haunted country manor house turned hotel, and then promptly disappeared. Ishmael and Penny are sent to find out what happened to him.
And that's about it. Penny gets a creepy feeling, Ishmael tells her nothing's there, they ask a bunch of questions and get lied to, and the cycle repeats itself until Ishmael finds out the truth. Not very difficult to figure out, not very mysterious, not very supernatural, and nothing to do with Ishmael's past.
May 10, 2025
Reading this book was a bit of a surpise and not in a good way sadly. Now it is promoted as book 11 in the Ishmael Jones series however this feels more like a 9.5 in the series (the original run was 10 books which I felt came to a suitable conclusion). Then along came this title claiming to be number 11 and am sorry it just does not fit in.
Without giving away spoilers this title seems to make no reference to the revelations that occured in book 10 and to some degree in book 9 as well. Yes it does reference a house that was the focus of a previous story so there is some grounding however i feel that it has over looked some quite dramatic changes that occured in the last installment,
So yes it was fun read and yes it did feel like a Ishmael jones book to a degree but sadly something about it jarred with the wider series I had so much enjoyed working through
Without giving away spoilers this title seems to make no reference to the revelations that occured in book 10 and to some degree in book 9 as well. Yes it does reference a house that was the focus of a previous story so there is some grounding however i feel that it has over looked some quite dramatic changes that occured in the last installment,
So yes it was fun read and yes it did feel like a Ishmael jones book to a degree but sadly something about it jarred with the wider series I had so much enjoyed working through
December 23, 2022
Spooky and disturbing
I like how you can never quite tell what kind of problem Ishmael and Penny will run into. This time, neither do they — the first half is mostly wandering around a haunted house, trying to figure out who’s lying to them and what’s going on. It was spooky enough that I had trouble sleeping, though!
I like how you can never quite tell what kind of problem Ishmael and Penny will run into. This time, neither do they — the first half is mostly wandering around a haunted house, trying to figure out who’s lying to them and what’s going on. It was spooky enough that I had trouble sleeping, though!
November 12, 2023
Haunted by the Past, by Simon R. Green
Ishmael Jones, 011
★★★★☆
288 Pages
1st person, single character POV
Themes: murder, science fiction, aliens, secret organisations, haunted house
Triggers: mentions of gore, violence and supernatural beings, historic child abuse, mentions of historic drug use, satanism and devil worship
Genre: Contemporary, Murder Mystery, Science Fiction, Crime
Haunted by the Past is the eleventh book in the Ishmael Jones series and feels like more of a standalone than the other books in the series. This one doesn't mention or even hint at the events of the previous book, which was closely linked and followed along from the previous few books. This one doesn't recognise the other survivor of the alien crash or mention what the Organisation really does – both of which were major factors of the previous book.
Again, we have Ishmael and Penny investigating something for the Organisation, this time it's the sudden disappearance of a low-level agent who attended a historic society conference – he checked into the hotel, got his key and two of his three bags of luggage, made his way upstairs but never made it to his room and never returned to collect his third bag of luggage.
The mystery of the man's disappearance is interesting enough, but he disappears from an old house in a quaint little village that is full of mysterious stories and tall tales of ghosts and monsters. Then, once everyone gathers together while Ishmael and Penny investigate, another person mysteriously goes missing, which results in a shocking twist that proves all men have the capacity to become monsters, and some men create the worst monsters themselves.
The cast are small but interesting:
Arthur and Marion Glenbury – husband and wife, owners of the house
Ellen – their daughter
Catherine Voss – respected local historian and an aunt to Arthur
Wendy Goldsmith – member of Ravensbrook Historical Society
Lucas Carr – employed by the Organisation, member of Ravensbrook Historical Society, missing presumed dead
With tales of the house 'eating' people, creatures that roam the halls and crawl rather than walk, and a long-standing history of people going missing, connections to the disappearance of a Lord who was about to oppose the King and a gathering of party-goers who were never there, there's no end to the stories that surround the Hall.
While the concept of another haunted house, locked-house mystery was well done and original despite having used the concept multiple times throughout the series, I did find that there were two big storylines repeated from previous books, almost word for word, and there were multiple other concepts and phrases repeated from previous books. Specifically, the story of being afraid of the dark, of hearing footsteps that only ended up being delayed echoes throughout an old house. Those stories were told in the House on Widow's Hill and Into the Thinnest Air.
Here, nearly all the suspects bare one and the missing man are related to each other, so while everyone has a motive for the disappearances and a reason to make the spooky stories seam rooted in reality, Ishmael has to work out who has the most powerful motive amongst them, as well as the means and opportunity. This is a story less about clues and more about fitting the pieces together, like a jigsaw where all the pieces are the same size and shape but they only form the right picture when put into the proper order.
It was an interesting story, with a few small twists, but mostly it was about figuring out what was fact amongst the historical fiction of ghosts, monsters and evil-doers that is so deeply rooted I the history of the Glenbury Hall. I liked the pacing and the attention to detail, how even small things had a big significance, and although I had my theory about who did it early on, the confirmation didn't come until the second half when all the pieces slotted together. Until then, everyone seemed likely to have a reason to tamper with the known facts.
While this doesn't read like a final book in the series, the fact it doesn't mention the recent revelations about the Organisation and Ishmael's past suggest that the series could continue in an almost-standalone capacity, where every book continues his work as an agent without referring to those events that would have closed the series. If there are more, I'll probably read them. I do love a good mystery where I'm never quite sure who to trust.
Ishmael Jones, 011
★★★★☆
288 Pages
1st person, single character POV
Themes: murder, science fiction, aliens, secret organisations, haunted house
Triggers: mentions of gore, violence and supernatural beings, historic child abuse, mentions of historic drug use, satanism and devil worship
Genre: Contemporary, Murder Mystery, Science Fiction, Crime
Haunted by the Past is the eleventh book in the Ishmael Jones series and feels like more of a standalone than the other books in the series. This one doesn't mention or even hint at the events of the previous book, which was closely linked and followed along from the previous few books. This one doesn't recognise the other survivor of the alien crash or mention what the Organisation really does – both of which were major factors of the previous book.
Again, we have Ishmael and Penny investigating something for the Organisation, this time it's the sudden disappearance of a low-level agent who attended a historic society conference – he checked into the hotel, got his key and two of his three bags of luggage, made his way upstairs but never made it to his room and never returned to collect his third bag of luggage.
The mystery of the man's disappearance is interesting enough, but he disappears from an old house in a quaint little village that is full of mysterious stories and tall tales of ghosts and monsters. Then, once everyone gathers together while Ishmael and Penny investigate, another person mysteriously goes missing, which results in a shocking twist that proves all men have the capacity to become monsters, and some men create the worst monsters themselves.
The cast are small but interesting:
Arthur and Marion Glenbury – husband and wife, owners of the house
Ellen – their daughter
Catherine Voss – respected local historian and an aunt to Arthur
Wendy Goldsmith – member of Ravensbrook Historical Society
Lucas Carr – employed by the Organisation, member of Ravensbrook Historical Society, missing presumed dead
With tales of the house 'eating' people, creatures that roam the halls and crawl rather than walk, and a long-standing history of people going missing, connections to the disappearance of a Lord who was about to oppose the King and a gathering of party-goers who were never there, there's no end to the stories that surround the Hall.
While the concept of another haunted house, locked-house mystery was well done and original despite having used the concept multiple times throughout the series, I did find that there were two big storylines repeated from previous books, almost word for word, and there were multiple other concepts and phrases repeated from previous books. Specifically, the story of being afraid of the dark, of hearing footsteps that only ended up being delayed echoes throughout an old house. Those stories were told in the House on Widow's Hill and Into the Thinnest Air.
Here, nearly all the suspects bare one and the missing man are related to each other, so while everyone has a motive for the disappearances and a reason to make the spooky stories seam rooted in reality, Ishmael has to work out who has the most powerful motive amongst them, as well as the means and opportunity. This is a story less about clues and more about fitting the pieces together, like a jigsaw where all the pieces are the same size and shape but they only form the right picture when put into the proper order.
It was an interesting story, with a few small twists, but mostly it was about figuring out what was fact amongst the historical fiction of ghosts, monsters and evil-doers that is so deeply rooted I the history of the Glenbury Hall. I liked the pacing and the attention to detail, how even small things had a big significance, and although I had my theory about who did it early on, the confirmation didn't come until the second half when all the pieces slotted together. Until then, everyone seemed likely to have a reason to tamper with the known facts.
While this doesn't read like a final book in the series, the fact it doesn't mention the recent revelations about the Organisation and Ishmael's past suggest that the series could continue in an almost-standalone capacity, where every book continues his work as an agent without referring to those events that would have closed the series. If there are more, I'll probably read them. I do love a good mystery where I'm never quite sure who to trust.
December 18, 2022
I wanted to like it. I really did.
Ishmael and Penny are called in to investigate a disappearance. There’s no body but no reason for a kidnapping either. The person was last seen entering a manor with a dark history owned by a family with a long tho vague history of evil. No victim, enigmatic warnings — the investigators don’t really have any they can investigate.
Which makes for a nice change of pace from other haunted mansion mysteries in the series. I like the Ishmael Jones series because it does vary from spy to supernatural and back. The villain might be vampire or human or something else altogether. Variety is this series’s strength.
But not this time. Unfortunately, it just leaves Penny commenting on the overall but undefined creepiness of the situation, Ishmael reassuring her there’s nothing, and Penny bucking herself up because they’ve faced so much worse. It’s a conversation they have. Often. At least once and sometimes more each chapter.
I figured out whodunnit less than half in based on one of those odd details that don’t add up, that seem inconsequential but nibble at your brain. And I was right. . . but that irritating little detail was just a plot hole, something the author (and beta readers and editors) missed. Which is a cardinal sin in mysteries.
This is the 11th Ishmael Jones mystery. Simon R. Green rarely continues a series this long Nightside and Secret Histories went to 12 each I think). Maybe he’s running out of ideas for Ishmael. Which is sad, for me at least, because I’m a fan his other recent books. All I can hope is he’ll put a little more effort into the next Ishmael (assuming we get another).
Ishmael and Penny are called in to investigate a disappearance. There’s no body but no reason for a kidnapping either. The person was last seen entering a manor with a dark history owned by a family with a long tho vague history of evil. No victim, enigmatic warnings — the investigators don’t really have any they can investigate.
Which makes for a nice change of pace from other haunted mansion mysteries in the series. I like the Ishmael Jones series because it does vary from spy to supernatural and back. The villain might be vampire or human or something else altogether. Variety is this series’s strength.
But not this time. Unfortunately, it just leaves Penny commenting on the overall but undefined creepiness of the situation, Ishmael reassuring her there’s nothing, and Penny bucking herself up because they’ve faced so much worse. It’s a conversation they have. Often. At least once and sometimes more each chapter.
I figured out whodunnit less than half in based on one of those odd details that don’t add up, that seem inconsequential but nibble at your brain. And I was right. . . but that irritating little detail was just a plot hole, something the author (and beta readers and editors) missed. Which is a cardinal sin in mysteries.
This is the 11th Ishmael Jones mystery. Simon R. Green rarely continues a series this long Nightside and Secret Histories went to 12 each I think). Maybe he’s running out of ideas for Ishmael. Which is sad, for me at least, because I’m a fan his other recent books. All I can hope is he’ll put a little more effort into the next Ishmael (assuming we get another).
January 10, 2023
Ishmael Jones is human, mostly. His spacecraft crashed into an English field. The craft’s computer rewrote his DNA so he could pass as a human. He doesn’t remember anything before the crash. Now he works for the company. He is the monster who hunts monsters. He walks the dark side of the street. With his partner, Penny, he investigates mysteries. One such cast is the mysterious disappearance of Lucas Carr, a fellow company man. Carr seems to have been eaten by Glenbury Hall. It’s Ishmael’s job to persuade the haunted house to give up its ghosts.
Haunted by the Past by best-selling author Simon R. Green is the latest in the Ishmael Jones Mystery series. Even though this is part of a series, each of Green’s novels can be read as a stand-alone mystery. Green gives enough background in the prolog, and the stories don’t overlap. It’s a great read if you’ve followed Jones from the beginning or are discovering him. Even though there are similarities to past Green books, this is an all-new case with its own dark shadows. Green is a master at hiding clues and enticing readers with intrigue and mayhem. So join Space Boy and Spy Girl as they explore a house Haunted by the Past.
This review was originally posted at https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/pr...
Haunted by the Past by best-selling author Simon R. Green is the latest in the Ishmael Jones Mystery series. Even though this is part of a series, each of Green’s novels can be read as a stand-alone mystery. Green gives enough background in the prolog, and the stories don’t overlap. It’s a great read if you’ve followed Jones from the beginning or are discovering him. Even though there are similarities to past Green books, this is an all-new case with its own dark shadows. Green is a master at hiding clues and enticing readers with intrigue and mayhem. So join Space Boy and Spy Girl as they explore a house Haunted by the Past.
This review was originally posted at https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/pr...
April 16, 2023
I usually like Simon R. Green's pulpy, over-the-top, often self-referential writing style when I need a break from more complex reading material, but Haunted by the Past felt kinda bland. While I liked the return to the classic "supposedly haunted house" setting and the idea of a more Agatha Christie like whodunnit, the execution left a lot to be desired.
The repetition of certain tropes didn't bother me at all and the snotty side characters didn't put me off either. It's just that for about 70-80% of the novel, absolutely nothing happened. Penny and Ishmael asked their usual questions, as was to be expected with zero success, then ran around the property looking for the guy that went missing, then asked the same questions again and then ran around some more. Eventually, some things happened, Ishmael puzzled stuff together seemingly out of nowhere, the case was solved, the end.
Now, I know that Ishmael Jones novels aren't the most complex of affairs by any means, but most of this felt like even Simon R. Green himself was bored while writing it. And is it just me, or is Ishmael behaving like an utter jerk all the time now?
The repetition of certain tropes didn't bother me at all and the snotty side characters didn't put me off either. It's just that for about 70-80% of the novel, absolutely nothing happened. Penny and Ishmael asked their usual questions, as was to be expected with zero success, then ran around the property looking for the guy that went missing, then asked the same questions again and then ran around some more. Eventually, some things happened, Ishmael puzzled stuff together seemingly out of nowhere, the case was solved, the end.
Now, I know that Ishmael Jones novels aren't the most complex of affairs by any means, but most of this felt like even Simon R. Green himself was bored while writing it. And is it just me, or is Ishmael behaving like an utter jerk all the time now?
January 12, 2023
To much Penny a Watson she isn’t
I relished the opportunity to read the first Jones Book……. It survived the second but began to fall apart. The dialogue “pieces” were repetitive. Penny began to assert her ? WHAT? Authority? … she outgrew her shoes and began to take over more and more and became more and more offensive. Is this because a woman had to become a major asset by being assertive and offensive. The original Ismael Jones would not have tolerated her. I still enjoy the stories but what it could have become is in the cemetery.
I relished the opportunity to read the first Jones Book……. It survived the second but began to fall apart. The dialogue “pieces” were repetitive. Penny began to assert her ? WHAT? Authority? … she outgrew her shoes and began to take over more and more and became more and more offensive. Is this because a woman had to become a major asset by being assertive and offensive. The original Ismael Jones would not have tolerated her. I still enjoy the stories but what it could have become is in the cemetery.
July 19, 2025
This book has a lot of dialog and not enough action. Green returns to an old habit he sometimes has of having characters talk about what they think is happening while they wander around finding nothing much, so this series in usually entertaining but uneven over the whole course of 11 books. With the last few books actually plumbing the depths of Jones’s mysterious past a bit more, it was just a little disappointing to go back to a more basic plot with low action. But the characters of Ishmael and Penny still ring true to their forms.
February 5, 2023
Simon R. Green’s Ishmael Jones is assigned to discover why a bureaucrat from the organization has disappeared. So he and Penny Belcourt go to Glenbury Hall, an old country manor house turned hotel – a mansion Haunted by the Past (hard from Baen). The victim, Lucas Carr, belonged to a society investing the nineteenth disappearance of Lord Ravensbrook. Soon there is an Agatha Christie type mystery about who or what was responsible. Fun.
June 26, 2023
Our library doesn’t get many hard copy books any more therefore I had to borrow this as an audiobook which is not my favourite way to read books. Luckily I went away for the weekend so was able to listen uninterrupted in the car on the way there and back. I don’t think this was one of the better Ismael Jones books. It was quite slow and even at the end not a lot happened. Hoping the next book will be better.
December 17, 2022
Slower paced but still enjoyable
Sorry, no violent deaths or gory details in this one, but more along the lines of psychological terror of Christie and Hitchcock, with deduction finally winning out over red herrings and classic distractions. Refreshing to read an old school tale of detective work set in modern times. Score another one for the amazing Simon R. Green!
Sorry, no violent deaths or gory details in this one, but more along the lines of psychological terror of Christie and Hitchcock, with deduction finally winning out over red herrings and classic distractions. Refreshing to read an old school tale of detective work set in modern times. Score another one for the amazing Simon R. Green!
February 10, 2023
Green is a favorite author of mine and while I prefer the Nightside or the Secret History books, the Ishmael Jones series is an awful lot of fun, especially if you're an Agatha Christie/Knives Out fan. The can be a touch repetitious at times, but that doesn't take away from the entertainment. Enjoy!
January 23, 2023
I love this author. This book was fun, light hearted and spooky.
My only complaint is I'd give anything for him to write a book about this house with actual ghosts and monsters, cause the entire family lore, ghost stories and house were fantastically creepy.
My only complaint is I'd give anything for him to write a book about this house with actual ghosts and monsters, cause the entire family lore, ghost stories and house were fantastically creepy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2023
Not as good as the similar, but even more exciting Into The Thinnest of Air, but still very athmospheric and well written. You can read a detailed review in Bulgarian, if you click on the link:
https://citadelata.com/haunted-by-the...
https://citadelata.com/haunted-by-the...
January 4, 2023
Not wort time or money
I have read Mr. Green in the past. Thought this would be fun, sadly disappointed. I can not recommend it.
I have read Mr. Green in the past. Thought this would be fun, sadly disappointed. I can not recommend it.
January 9, 2023
A more straight forward mystery than the kind Ishmael and Penny usually solve.
January 18, 2023
A Great One
I love it when I don't have at least half the story worked out by the end. As Judge Graves said once, "A thumping good yarn." Couldn't put it down.
I love it when I don't have at least half the story worked out by the end. As Judge Graves said once, "A thumping good yarn." Couldn't put it down.
February 24, 2023
A very intense ghost story about a haunted place called Glenbury Hall. Lots of mysterious things happening. Hard to put down.
January 8, 2024
Finally, some answers.
April 5, 2024
Imaginative and twisted fun!
July 30, 2024
Not a Happy ending
Most of Mr Greens books have good endings. This one did not. I don't like this one about a father killing his self and leaving his family alone.
Most of Mr Greens books have good endings. This one did not. I don't like this one about a father killing his self and leaving his family alone.
June 26, 2025
First Ishmael and Penny book I read…probably won’t read another. Figured out the murderer pretty quickly. Not a great book.
May 30, 2023
I just enjoy these novels. Not of course what I was expecting and to be fair, a rather simple story line that felt a little too familiar, but since it's been a while since a new one, this one felt a bit more like the usual stories compared to the latest novels in the series, though in this one I don't feel like we learned anything in regards to Ishmael's past which is always fun to learn about.
February 20, 2025
A good mystery
A fun tale of ancient skulduggery, ghosts, demons and smugglers . . . Or is it? Ishmael and Penny at their very best unraveling the mysteries surrounding a house with an evil reputation a diabolical family with a fearsome reputation underpinned by frightened locals . . . I loved it!
A fun tale of ancient skulduggery, ghosts, demons and smugglers . . . Or is it? Ishmael and Penny at their very best unraveling the mysteries surrounding a house with an evil reputation a diabolical family with a fearsome reputation underpinned by frightened locals . . . I loved it!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews