A Man Among Ghosts
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15
Ratings1
Average rating2
You'll love this if you like the movie Jacob’s Ladder, Stephen King’s The Dead Zone or Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. After surviving a near-death experience, David finds himself haunted by ghosts in the old Victorian house he is renovating. These tortured souls beg for his help and offer him protection from a demonic presence that wants David dead for a crime he doesn’t remember committing. Even more surprising, he soon learns these are spirits of people who are not yet dead. Is this real, is he hallucinating, or is someone trying to drive him insane? As his paranoia ramps up, he discovers the truth is even more bizarre. The haunting won’t stop until he kills a man named “Fitz.”
Reviews with the most likes.
Rating: 2.5 leaves out of 5Characters: 2/5 Cover: 3.75/5Story: 1.5/5Writing: 2/5Horror: 2/5Genre: HorrorType: EbookWorth?: NoHated Disliked It Was Okay Liked LovedWant to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book. First thing I want to say is if Steven would find a better editor it would be a good story, or at least decent. The writing alone was just... not the best. For example, how he said someone was sitting but they were also rolling around? That part could have been TERRIFYING if I wasn't drawn out of my zone of focus. Again, with the right editor this could have gone from a 2 to at least a 4.
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A Man Among Ghosts by Steven Hopstaken is a gripping and haunting thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The story follows David, who after surviving a near-death experience, finds himself haunted by ghosts in an old Victorian house he's renovating. These spirits are not yet dead and are begging for his help and offering him protection from a demonic presence that wants him dead. As his paranoia ramps up, he discovers that the only way to end the haunting is to kill a man named “Fitz.”
The book starts off slowly, but once the plot kicks in, it becomes impossible to put down. The writing style does initially seem clunky, with repeated use of phrases such as ‘David imagined,' which can be distracting at first. However, it's worth reading through this to get to the meat of the story itself.
The characters are well-crafted and fleshed out throughout the book. There's an excellent balance between action and introspection that provides depth to each character and their motivations. One of the strongest aspects of this novel is how Hopstaken makes readers feel as if they're part of the story itself.
Overall, I would highly recommend A Man Among Ghosts. The chilling storyline will keep you guessing until its jaw-dropping climax while its interesting characters make you care about what happens to them next. It's easily one of the best books I have read in awhile, despite some initial hiccups.
ARC via NetGalley
