I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review
What Haunts Me, by Margaret Millmore, is the first book in the budding Ghost Killers series, and yet another book in my accidental run of books set in San Francisco 😛 I do seem to be inadvertently attracting them lately. I love recognising landmarks like the Sutro Bath ruins and Louie’s.
George Sinclair is a man with a unique problem, or so he thinks at first. George can see ghosts, or demons, the terms being interchangeable for certain paranormal beings that tend to sport older fashion clothing, and round-rimmed glasses. Some of these are harmless, but others attach to living human hosts, like invisible parasites, and grace their unwitting victims with medical maladies.
George isn’t as alone in his dubious gifts as he first believed. There are others out there who can see the spirits, and in seeing, can banish by poking them. George uses a trusty yellow pencil. A female ghost killer named Billy who saunters into George’s life soon after he realises his gift uses an ornately carved chopstick.
Along with people like George and Billy, there are those out there who would exploit the gifts of the more powerful ghost hunters and warp them to create long-lived humans, and even allow for full demonic possession. Frederick Vokkel is one of these people, one who is very intimately linked to both George’s and Billy’s families.
Fun stuff- this story sank its hooks into me from the beginning. It had fast pacing, and memorable characters (especially Phil). It kept me questioning things right til the end, and even there at the end were unexpected surprises. I still wanna know more about the significance of the Harry Potter/ John Lennon type glasses the ghosts all wear. Billy has a theory, but she admits it is mere speculation. The ghost killers, and their gifts and backgrounds, reminded me a lot of Grimm. Only a Grimm can tell who is a wesen unless the wesen chooses to show themselves, and the Grimm follow lineages gifted in taking out wesen. The cover is a lovely piece of awesomeness! It really fits the essence of the story within.
Not so fun stuff- there really wasn’t much in the way of not so fun stuff. The manuscript would benefit from another grammar/spell check, but the errors were few and far between. My reader’s mind easily glossed them over. Biggie was omission of commas when they were needed. There were a few places where it seems auto-correct decided to be special. One place is at the beginning, when George is getting on the elevator right after we first meet Justine. He refers to the other passenger as a new ‘edition’, instead of a new addition to the building. Auto-correct, while helpful at times, occasionally makes a right muddle of things. The other day, mine decided I wanted to watch Princess Minibike instead of Princess Mononoke. Go, auto-correct! Not…
???? Recommended for any who love a good paranormal thriller, along the lines of The Sixth Sense or Grimm.
