I'm thrilled to be one of the stops on the blog tour for The Lingering by SJI Holliday and sharing my review today. First of all let's take a look at the description for the book...
Married couple Jack and Ali Gardiner move to a self-sufficient
commune in the English Fens, desperate for fresh start. The local village
is known for the witches who once resided there and Rosalind House,
where the commune has been established, is a former psychiatric home,
with a disturbing history.
When Jack and Ali arrive, a chain of unexpected and unexplained
events is set off, and it becomes clear that they are not all that they
seem. As the residents become twitchy, and the villagers suspicious,
events from the past come back to haunt them, and someone is seeking
retribution…
At once an unnerving locked-room mystery, a chilling thriller and a dark
and superbly wrought ghost story, The Lingering is an exceptionally
plotted, terrifying and tantalisingly twisted novel by one of the most
exciting authors in the genre.
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What a wonderfully creepy atmospheric read this was, I spent my time reading this book feeling curious and every so often going “ooh” and then reading as fast as I could! All I can say is that it was so easy to become fully immersed in the story. The Lingering had such an addictive feeling to it, I hated putting it down and couldn’t wait to see how it would all come together in the end. There was a brilliant build up of suspense with details revealed about the characters making them even more intriguing. I loved how slowly but surely bits and pieces are shown but on occasion even more questions being raised. With very different characters to follow they created a great balance within the story and for me each character felt just as important to the storyline.
This story was cleverly crafted with not only mysterious characters but a setting that makes you feel as if you are walking the corridors and entering the rooms right alongside the characters.
The house itself is almost like a character creating the perfect amount of tension so I experienced plenty of eerie feelings. It was brilliant how the little snippets of information regarding this house were revealed with the reader discovering that there is quite a dubious and dark history to both this house and village. I have to admit to scaring easily but I think this was the perfect story for me. I did get chills up my spine but not so much that I was turning on all the lights and having a sleepless night. If you keep an open mind you will enjoy this story even more and to be honest it was so easy to be swept along with the events in this book!
There are secrets and darkness around ever my corner and I loved every moment! The way I would describe The Lingering is that it is a truly addictive mystery along with having a brilliant paranormal edge that will chill you and thrill you in equal measure!
With thanks to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for my copy.
S.J.I. (Susi) Holliday is a pharmaceutical statistician by day and a crime and
horror fan by night. Her short stories have been published in many places
and she was shortlisted for the inaugural CWA Margery Allingham prize
with her story ‘Home from Home’, which was published in Ellery Queen
Mystery Magazine in spring 2017. She is the bestselling author of the
creepy and claustrophobic Banktoun trilogy (Black Wood, Willow Walk and
The Damselfly) featuring the much-loved Sergeant Davie Gray, and has
dabbled in festive crime with the critically acclaimed The Deaths of
December. Her latest psychological thriller is modern gothic with more
than a hint of the supernatural, which she loved writing due to her
fascination and fear of ghosts. She is proud to be one of The Slice Girls has
been described by David Mark as 'Dark as a smoker's lung.' She divides her
time between Edinburgh and London and you will find her at crime-fiction
events in the UK and abroad.
Huge thanks for the Blog Tour support rachel x
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