Ghost Story, Mystery/Thriller -- 5 stars
Twenty-five years ago, 5 year old Maggie Holt and her parents fled Baneberry Hall in the middle of the night, leaving everything they owned, never to return. Maggie's father wrote a best selling book, House of Horrors, about their time in the Victorian estate that has hounded Maggie her entire life. When her father passes away, she is surprised to find that she has become the sole owner of the famous abandoned estate. Now the owner of a house rehabbing business, Maggie decides to fix it up and sell it. And, while she's at it, maybe she can find out if anything in her father's book actually happened, because honestly, she can't remember much. ----- I am always on a hunt for a good ghost story, and this is a spectacularly spooky novel that stands heads above the usual in the genre proving blood or floating visions are not necessary for raising the hairs on the back of your neck. Mr. Riley alternates Maggie's story with chapters from her father's book, slowly peeling back the layers of Baneberry Hall's history, revealing the complicated stories of the house and the people who have lived there. He conceals the final truth until the very end, and the reveal is a sad, satisfying surprise.
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