Mandy is an author who writes historical romance after her marriage break-up she moves into an idyllic cottage in the country, to hopefully write something that will keep publishers interested in keeping her on contract. However, once living at Summer Cottage she experiences a number of events she cannot explain. She catches glimpses of someone in her home, hears sounds and suffers awful nightmares. She also manages to write a horror novel in a week, but has no recollection of doing so. Is something malevolent haunting her home?
I have been a fan of Scott Mariani’s Ben Hope books for years and was delighted to find he had dabbled a little in horror. As a short story, this will not give you any deeply chilling answers to the questions Mandy’s experiences pose, however, Mariani does write enjoyable suspense and chilling horror that had me on the edge of my seat. What I liked about this horror novella were the details which kept the story grounded in reality as sinister undertones saturated my senses as a reader.
Making the story about a published w river who shuns publishers and goes down the self-publishing route gave the story a realistic depth that is always a good foundation on which to erect fear and suspense. I was hoping this was a prelude to a much more involved horror novel when I was about 90% of the way through this, but alas it was all wrapped up with more questions than answers as a lot of short stories often end. However, it’s still a creepy read that I enjoyed very much.
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