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A review by bookandcoffeeaddict
Elderwood Manor by Angeline Hawkes, Christopher Fulbright
5.0
I've heard good things about DarkFuse’s horror offerings, and I've got to say, I was not disappointed at all. Gorgeously creepy descriptions and fantastic pacing made this novella a great way to scare myself silly for an evening.
The book opens in kind of a classic horror setting: a desperate man driving down a dark road to his family manor, a place he promised himself he would never return to, but extenuating circumstances have forced his hand (in this case, he needs money and his mother has called him home on her death bed). When Bruce and his son Cody get to the grand manor, the house and the grounds are pretty ramshackle and empty – except for something evil lurking in the shadows. The story follows your typical Must Survive Until Morning course with a rather original backstory to the origin of The Evil, imaginative ghastly creatures, and some great scares along the way.
Elderwood Manor is a great haunted house/dark family secrets/evil-has-tainted-this-place story. There are no slow points. From a graceful, foreboding opening, the tension is ratcheted up at just the right points and the suspense is kept at the perfect pitch. This book kept me on my toes, wide-eyed and fingers-crossed almost from beginning to end.
I loved the descriptive language used in this novella – the writers do a fabulous job of pulling you in and bringing the story to life, both a blessing and a curse when it comes to horror. There’s some blood and gore here as well as some pretty disturbing imagery. These parts are brief and far between, but if you’re sensitive to that you may have to skim some parts.
I really enjoyed this novella and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to paranormal horror book lovers, especially those readers who love books centered around a haunted house with a horrifying history.
*I received an ARC of this book to review. You can find this review and others like it at BookAndCoffeeAddict.com, along with recommendations for a fantastic cup of coffee.
The book opens in kind of a classic horror setting: a desperate man driving down a dark road to his family manor, a place he promised himself he would never return to, but extenuating circumstances have forced his hand (in this case, he needs money and his mother has called him home on her death bed). When Bruce and his son Cody get to the grand manor, the house and the grounds are pretty ramshackle and empty – except for something evil lurking in the shadows. The story follows your typical Must Survive Until Morning course with a rather original backstory to the origin of The Evil, imaginative ghastly creatures, and some great scares along the way.
Elderwood Manor is a great haunted house/dark family secrets/evil-has-tainted-this-place story. There are no slow points. From a graceful, foreboding opening, the tension is ratcheted up at just the right points and the suspense is kept at the perfect pitch. This book kept me on my toes, wide-eyed and fingers-crossed almost from beginning to end.
I loved the descriptive language used in this novella – the writers do a fabulous job of pulling you in and bringing the story to life, both a blessing and a curse when it comes to horror. There’s some blood and gore here as well as some pretty disturbing imagery. These parts are brief and far between, but if you’re sensitive to that you may have to skim some parts.
I really enjoyed this novella and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to paranormal horror book lovers, especially those readers who love books centered around a haunted house with a horrifying history.
*I received an ARC of this book to review. You can find this review and others like it at BookAndCoffeeAddict.com, along with recommendations for a fantastic cup of coffee.