Another one for your spooky season collection.
Nell, her husband Chris & his daughter Maude, rent Elder Cottage in a sleepy seaside town. A seaside town where Nell grew up & she didn’t want to return.
The family try to settle in & some of Nell’s old acquaintances appear, but she feels very ill at ease. Something is not right. The town feels wrong. The people feel wrong. The cottage …
The cottage seems to be alive - odd noises, strange carvings on the old beams & a secret hiding place reveals its contents.
A creepy book rather than scary. My imagination was having a party! A great read for Halloween. Recommended.

Tis the season for spooky ghost stories and I was dragged in by the cover of this one. The cool blue colour didn’t immediately scream ‘spooky read’ to me and I was intrigued as to what kind of scares I was going to be treated to.

Nell, her husband and her 12-year-old stepdaughter Maude are moving back to the town that Nell grew up in because they all need some time away. Renting a holiday cottage by the sea that is packed full of history and secrets, it quickly becomes apparent that something isn’t quite right. Maude and Nell both become obsessed with the place but they and the women in the neighbourhood all seem to have their own things to hide.

Elder House is a very intriguing setting and I wanted to spend hours exploring every hidden passage and uncover the meaning behind its secrets. There is no doubt that it is dripping in dark history and stories that no one has ever heard. The title of ‘The Hiding Place’ is perfect for Elder House itself because that is exactly what it is. Mason does a great job at creating a house that is alive with lost, searching spirits.

It seems that the house’s strange energy only affects females. There is a reason for that which is revealed towards the end, when stories of the house’s past start to emerge. Although I found this element interesting, something about it didn’t quite sit with me as believable. That might sound like a ridiculous thing to say about a supernatural story but it did unfortunately affect my ability to become thoroughly immersed in the atmosphere.

Nell and Maude have a strained relationship and Maude has an intense dislike for her stepmother. As an angsty pre-teen, this is a natural set of emotions to be dealing with. However, Maude read a lot older than 12 to me. I would not have been surprised if she’d been introduced as 16. I imagine that Mason decided that Maude was 12 in order to incorporate that ‘on the cusp of a new stage of life’ that often makes characters susceptible to the paranormal and spirituality.

Unfortunately, The Hiding Place just didn’t hold my attention for the majority of the narrative. I could see what Mason was trying to do with the book but it felt quite disjointed and confusing. The setting was well-written but very little else compelled me to pick it up.

I loved Amanda's first book, The Wayward Girls, so I was really looking forward to this, and it didn't dissapoint! She has a real talent for creating beautifully written, sympathetic and realistic adolescent girl characters (though I would stress that this is not YA fiction, it is more of a modern ghost story).
The novel mainly explores the difficult relationship between Nell and her 12 year old stepdaughter, but also covers the mother daughter relationships of a few other inhabitants of the village where they are staying. Nell and her husband are renting a mysterious house in the village where Nell once lived, partly as a holiday and partly as Maude, the stepdaughter has had to leave school for an unknown reason. Mason creates a great ominous atmosphere with just the right amount of spooky goings on, especially when the family discovers the hiding place of the title. When the husband leaves for work reasons and they are left alone, the tension of staying in the house, their relationship and Nell's longing for a child of her own come to the forefront.
This is a really different kind of ghost story, and if you are looking for something spooky but also sensitivily written and absorbing I highly recommend it.

A creepy and haunting novel that is perfect to read this time of year. It was a bit odd at times and I couldn’t really get into the characters or even like them that much.

Thank you to Tracy Fenton for my invitation to the tour and to Zaffre books for my copy of the book via NetGalley.

I have been reading alot of creepy, ghostly books lately and this one is all of that from the outset!

Nell returns to the seaside town where she grew up with her husband Chris and stepdaughter Maude. They have rented Elder House which is at the top of the cliff and as soon as Nell enters the house she doesn’t like it at all. The smell and the feeling that she has about it.

Nell goes exploring and ends up falling and then meeting her neighbour who recognises her name as a local one. Nell is visiting because of a family party invitation but you know that she is not happy to be here.

It is also apparent that something big has happened to Maude, she is not allowed unsupervised on the internet and Chris keeps asking Nell if she seems ok. Nell is also worried about Chris he seems distracted and she also has her own worries.

I really enjoyed the pace of the book we slowly begin to uncover the life that Nell and Chris have back home and that Nell is very successful in her own right. She meets Carolyn and her daughter Evie who live in a cottage below Elder House and Carolyn remembers Nell from school but Nell doesn’t really remember her. Then they discover something about the house that really ramps up the suspense and tension.

There is something about this story that is unnerving and unexplained and this keeps you reading. I love creepy books set in seaside towns and even in summer with the fog it is so atmospheric and eerie. I remember holidays to Scarborough as a child when the sea mist would be like a blanket across the bay.

This is a great story, unexplained footsteps, banging doors, and missing items all add to the trepidation of this book. Perfect reading for autumn evenings by the fire. 😱👻.

5 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

I loved The Wayward Girls and was really looking forward to the author's next book - and I wasn't let down!

The Hiding Place has the same mix of pacy read, atmospheric location and gripping characters. Properly terrifying in places, I couldn't put this down.

Thanks to the author and NG for the advance preview.

The Hiding Pace by Amanda Mason is a chilling and atmospheric slow burner. After receiving an invitation from her cousin to their wedding anniversary, Nell takes her husband Chris and stepdaughter Maude to her home town of Whitby. Chris rents them Elder House, a refurbished house that Nell feels as far too big for just the three of them, and doesn’t feel particualry homely. As a sense of unease settles over the family and tensions rise, Maude becomes intrigued by the atmosphere of the house and the strange markings on her bedroom ceiling, further fuelled by those who live around them. Secrets, both of the house and of those who live around Elder House reveal themselves with shocking consequences.

I love Whitby and it’s history so this book sounded perfect for me. The Hididng Place is very much a female led book, that looks at the different relationships women have as mothers, grandmothers, daughters and friends. Nell hasn’t been back to Whitby since her father died a few years previously, no longer having any ties to the town, but the invite from her cousin gives them to have a chance as a break as a family with Chris’s daughter Maude. From the start we are aware of tensions in the family, with Chris almost trying too hard to make everyone happy, and it is almost as if the house is feeding off that negative energy. Maude is feeling lost after being expelled from school and due to her mother having just had a new baby with her new husband, she is taking out her anger on Nell and decided to take the room in the attic to be on her own. In the attic she is drawn to the strange markings on the beams, there are also marks on the paneling in Nell’s room, add to this the sounds of footsteps and Elder House is a character in her own right, slowly giving up her secrets to Nell and Maude.

Amanda Mason keeps the tension and underlying malevolence throughout, not just with the house but also with the characters and the secrets they keep. Carolyn Wilson lives opposite Elder House, says she remembers Nell from school, although Nell isn’t quite sure herself, and Carolyn is trying far too hard to be friends. Maude befriends Kym, whose grandmother lives near Elder House, and she has her own personal interest in the history of Elder House, so being in the house with Maude fuels her research. Amanda Mason’s setting of Whitby was wonderful, with the ruins of the Abby, spooky atmosphere and an old house with a very worrying history. I will admit that my heart was in my mouth at certain points in this book especially as the book built up to it’s conclusion.

Deliciously dark and chilling, The Hiding Place is the perfect read for this time of year as the cold and autumn mists roll in. A house full of secrets and unusual carvings, family tensions, and a malevolent atmosphere make for a brilliant read and one I highly recommend.

Nell Galilee, her husband and twelve year old step-daughter Maude rent a holiday cottage by the sea, needing time and space away from home after Maude became involved in some troubling events. Nell grew up in this small, wind-blown town and has mixed feelings about returning, and it isn't long before she is recognised by a neighbour, seemingly desperate to befriend her. The cottage too has been empty for some time, and from the start Nell feels uncomfortable there. Something isn't quite right about this place . . .
Maude, furious about being brought here against her will and her father's attention falling so often elsewhere, soon finds herself beguiled by the house's strange atmosphere. There are peculiar marks in the roof beams above her bedroom, and in another room, a hiding place, concealing a strange, unnerving object.
As the house gradually reveals its secrets, Nell becomes increasingly uneasy - and Maude spellbound. But these women - and the women that surround them - are harbouring their own secrets too, and soon events will come to a terrible head . . .

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

My thanks to Bonnier Books U.K. Zaffre for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Hiding Place’ by Amanda Mason in exchange for an honest review.

I had enjoyed her 2019 debut, ‘The Wayward Girls’, so was very keen to read this chilling novel that combined family drama with an atmospheric Gothic horror.

Nell Galilee, her husband, Chris, and twelve year old step-daughter, Maude, have returned to the coastal town where Nell had grown up. While there to attend a family gathering, they are extending their stay due to Maude having been involved in some troubling events back home. So, they have rented the sixteenth-century Elder House. Definitely an unusual property for a holiday let.

Maude is furious about being brought there, especially as her phone and internet privileges have been taken away. When she discovers a number of peculiar marks and objects in the house they begin to exert an influence over her. Nell suspects that Maude has been spellbound… no further details to avoid spoilers.

This was a slow burn of a novel and while there certainly were unusual goings on at Elder House, it seemed that the main focus was upon the family dynamics, especially between Nell and her stepdaughter. Frankly, Maude was a bit of a nightmare so I felt empathy for Nell.

Overall, I found ‘The Hiding Place’ an engaging story though I would have preferred more emphasis upon its spooky and witchy elements.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

Elder House is the uppermost property of a collection of homes known as Bishops Yard, a house viewed with suspicion by those who live there all year around, and not exactly adored by holiday maker cum local girl, Nell, husband Chris and step daughter Maude.

It is not explicitly stated for quite a while into the story, but Maude has a ban on any internet connectivity, and her father has disabled all her apps, which makes for a very moody, irritable tween. Already feeling pushed out by her mother's new baby, Leo, she is massively resentful of returning to Nell's home town for a family party when she doesn't know anybody.

Nell and Chris run a gallery and jewellery business and there is an implication of Nell having undergone some event which has necessitated sea air, a reconnecting with family, and a timely escape. Except...there is a strange smell in the house, there are cracks appearing up the walls, and the angles of the rooms seem all slightly off key.

There is a creeping sense of menace as the crack in Nell's bedroom expands and reveals a hidden space, which contains a child's shoe. Who did it belong to, and where is the other one?

Why does a woman who insists that she and Nell were childhood friends, keep hanging around Elder House?

Nell has such vague memories of her childhood, and as a reader, your instinct is to feel for her, and hope that these disjointed memories will come back, and at the same time, you cannot help but think that maybe her brain blocked them out for a reason.

As tensions between Nell and Maude escalate, over missing items and sly comments, Chris does not help at all by running back to sort out the gallery, leaving these two without an intermediary.

You cannot help but feel that the title has multiple meanings- that there is a physical, and metaphorical hiding place, for a mystery to be unravelled, first someone has to be brave enough to uncover the truth.

This gothic, twisting thriller reminds me of Shirley Jackson, it has a sinister tone which is exacerbated by the seeming ordinariness of Elder House. And with the increasingly fractious relationship between Nell and Maude, will they be able to retain any of their previous warmth in time to face whatever is hiding in this creepy, cliff face home?

Another absolute winner from Amanda Mason, this is almost indecently unputdownable, you cannot wait to finish the boring things like work...feeding your kids...all those mundane things, whilst you are constantly trying to unravel the way that the narrative draws you in, solve the mystery, and learn this house's secrets.

When Chris, Nell and their daughter Maude decided to stay at the Elder House, they would never expect the things to go so difficult! They are not in their best moment as a family; Chris and Nell’s relationship is having some difficulties at the moment and Maude is not happy to be at these holidays, as you can imagine as any 12 year old. But let’s be honest, this is not the problem, the problem is the house, something strange is happening there and the neighbors are not helpful with the information!
I have to admit that it was difficult to understand why the family decided to stay at the house with all the weird things that happened to them, believe me, in my case I would return home immediately! But I think the point of the story is to face all the truths, even the ones more difficult and staying at the house is the only way to do it. Because, the relationship between Nell and Maude is difficult to say at least, but maybe the house will help them to trust each other?
I find the story engaging and twisted but sometimes it is difficult to know who it’s really talking to, so many characters and points of view make it a little bit difficult to follow.
This is a book that will make you afraid of your own home and weird sounds when you are alone… so remember to read it when the sun is shining!
Are you ready to discover “The Hiding Place”?

It seemed like the perfect book for me when I was staying in Scarborough for a short break, and I went to Whitby for the day. I downloaded the book and strolled through the streets and Abbey listening to this strange story.

It had been seven years since Nell’s father had passed away, which was the last time she had been back to Whitby. She had received an invitation from a relative inviting the family to a forthcoming family reunion party. As soon as they arrived at the cottage, it felt like it was a big mistake. The place was big enough to house fourteen guests, and there was only Nell, her husband Chris and his daughter Maude, who at twelve was having a tough time adjusting to her mum’s partner and the addition of a baby. She wasn’t going to make the holiday easy for anyone.

The holiday home sat among other properties high on a hill overlooking Whitby and felt daunting rather than having character. There was a strange smell to the place too. When one of the neighbours bobs in, she tells Nell that they used to go to school together, but Nell has difficulty remembering the woman. Nell was now a designer of sought after jewellery. Then Chris has to leave to deal with something in the gallery they own. Things go downhill rapidly after Nell and Maude find a hiding place in the cottage with a disturbing and unusual object.

Oh my, this seemed anything but a relaxing getaway for the family. The author adds subtle changes that are happening, and these steadily increase. It seems that everyone has their secrets as well as house keeping them. The story snowballs and grows with secrets of the past, desperation and folklore. Witchy happenings and beliefs, superstitions and desire. A great October read.

I wish to thank Net Galley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book, which I have reviewed honestly.

Nell, husband Chris, & 12-year-old step-daughter Maude return to the area where Nell grew up, both to attend an extended family party & take a much needed holiday. Nell & Chris have not been getting on recently, whilst Nell's relationship with Maude has deteriorated drastically, so she hopes the holiday will help set things right. The cottage where they are staying, Elder Place, is not what they expected though - it's recently been renovated but it's cold, feels damp, & Nell swears there is a strange smell. Nell starts to feel increasingly jumpy at the cottage, hearing footsteps & doors banging, & when Chris suddenly says he has to return home due to a business crisis, she is left to muddle through with an unhappy Maude.

Told from the points of view of several different female characters, this was an enthralling read. It starts off slow & takes a while to get going, but once it does it builds until the reader is drawn into the mystery of what's happening. Is the cottage haunted or is it down to human interaction? What secrets are the various characters hiding from each other? I found I sympathised more with Nell than Maude, & the less said about Chris the better - business crisis or not, he just disappears & then blames Nell for what happens. Indeed, you're never quite sure whether there is a crisis or if it's just an excuse for him to get away, the author seemingly leaves the reader to make up their own mind. Overall, I really enjoyed reading it & it was suitably spooky for the time of year.

Thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Are you in the mood for a slow-burning, chilling ghost story? Then The Hiding Place is one to add to your TBR list. Sometimes the most effective scary stories are the ones that take their time to build up the atmosphere and use the power of suggestion to maximum effect. Which is exactly what happens here.

Nell, her husband Chris and her 12-year old stepdaughter, Maude go back to Nell’s hometown at the seaside for a family event they’ve been invited to. Chris – unfamiliar with the town – rents them a large, imposing house for their stay.

Named the Elder House, from its lack of decorative finish to big scale and relatively isolated setting (it’s in an area that’s now mainly holiday lets, so a lot of the surrounding houses are empty), it conveys a sense of menace from the get-go.

It turns out the house does indeed have a rather chequered history, as Nell and Maude soon discover. Maude becomes sucked into the pull of the house; things get moved and go missing, there are some suspicious marks carved into the wooden beams and both Maude and Nell hear the tapping of little feet running through the house…

Alongside the Gothic, creepy story, the plot also looks at various types of mother/daughter relationships. From the central Nell and Maude stepdaughter one to secondary characters Evie who is dealing with her overbearing mother and Kym, who is very close to her grandmother.

The small-town setting easily allows for all the character’s lives to interweave and adds a rich backstory to the plot when you understand just how they do all relate.

I will admit that in the middle, some sections felt a little slow and I did want the reveals to come at me a little faster, but on the flip side, the slow burn was what gave The Hiding Place its heady atmosphere, so it depends how you like your Gothic reads. I was fully engrossed in the story until the last page though – and suitably creeped out too.

The Hiding Place is a chilling, atmospheric thriller that will definitely stay with me. It’s a perfect book to read at this time of year as the nights draw in and Halloween approaches.

As frequent readers of my blog may know I love books that feature creepy houses so this book instantly appealed to me. I really enjoyed slowly exploring the house and discovering it’s disturbing secrets. I was very intrigued by Maude’s discoveries and was soon trying to work out what happened there.

The coastal setting was perfectly for this book as the town has a real life history of witchcraft making the book seem more realistic The atmosphere in the book slowly increases with things gradually becoming stranger and stranger. I found myself reading faster as I neared the end, both wanting to find out what was happening and not sure I would like the answer. The ending was brilliant and I thought the conclusion very clever.

Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Zaffre for my copy of this book.

Although this is described as a ghost story, it is actually much more than that, and a great read

I was initially attracted to the intriguing cover, which is given an extra magical feel with the addition of shiny metallic highlights, and the mystery element of the story. I'm not a fan of anything too creepy and so I was pleased to discover several strong female main characters and an intricately woven modern story of interconnected families and their relationships and dynamics. There is also plenty of historical interest and exploration of superstitions and ancient enchantments. There is a ghost aspect to the story which can be chilling in parts and not something I personally would have wanted to read at night, but I'd say more on the creepy side rather than being terrifying for the sake of it. A relief for me and I felt pitched at just the right level with a well rounded, atmospheric and immersive story line.

This is a perfect read for autumn, spooky, ghostly and haunting. Nell has returned to her seaside hometown with her husband, Chris and stepdaughter, Nell for a family party. They have rented a holiday cottage called Elder House. From the outset Nell feels uncomfortable in the old and eerie house. The electrics are unreliable and there is a strange smell about the place. When the, in my opinion, untrustworthy Chris is called back to work, Nell and Maude are left to face the house alone. Their relationship has been fractious for a while and the cracks begin to deepen as the atmosphere in the house darkens with limping footsteps and banging doors.

This is a novel about the supernatural but also about relationships between family and friends. It is very well written and clever in the way it weaves strained relationships with ghostly occurrences. The tension heightens as the story develops and the action moves to a dramatic conclusion.

The characters are well portrayed and the background of a grey and windy seaside definitely adds a chill to the tale.

In summary, a terrifically chilling read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review..

I've just finished this chilling atmospheric read set around the old house called The Elders.

Nell has returned to her home town with her other half and her step daughter for a family party. They plan to combine the party with a holiday for 12 year old Maude who has been having problems at school. They make a last minute booking at The Elders which has recently become a holiday letting. The house is at the base of a cliff face and has a dark and secretive past.

As the story continues there is something that doesn't feel right about the old house. What are the noises they keep hearing, the peculiar smell in the kitchen and why do objects keep disappearing? What happened in the house years ago?

This is a spooky read with strong supernatural undertones. A mysterious old shoe hidden behind a bedroom panel and old witch marks found in another meant I was definitely reading with the light on!

A lot of the story is about the relationship between Nell and her step daughter as well as some old acquaintances of Nell's from the village. I loved this part of the story and really felt for Nell and Maude who were struggling so much to make their relationship work.

Overall I enjoyed this slow burn read and found the last part gripped me as the tension built inside the creepy house. I would recommend this to people who enjoy slow to build creepy stories about family relationships.

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<p><em>Nell Galilee, her husband and twelve year old step-daughter Maude rent a holiday cottage by the sea, needing time and space away from home after Maude became involved in some troubling events. Nell grew up in this small, wind-blown town and has mixed feelings about returning, and it isn't long before she is recognised by a neighbour, seemingly desperate to befriend her. The cottage too has been empty for some time, and from the start Nell feels uncomfortable there. Something isn't quite right about this place. Maude, furious about being brought here against her will and her father's attention falling so often elsewhere, soon finds herself beguiled by the house's strange atmosphere. There are peculiar marks in the roof beams above her bedroom, and in another room, a hiding place, concealing a strange, unnerving object.</em><em> As the house gradually reveals its secrets, Nell becomes increasingly uneasy - and Maude spellbound. But these women - and the women that surround them - are harbouring their own secrets too, and soon events will come to a terrible head.</em></p>
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<p>I have literally just finished reading this book and I honestly cannot say enough good things about it. There are so many things going on so you won’t get bored but not enough things to confuse you. As the book mainly focuses on Maude and Nell it was very important for me to like them or find a way to connect to them, I liked both but I especially liked Maude and I thought she had really good character development and I found her easy to relate to.</p>
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<p>&nbsp;I felt like it had a really good pace, I like how the suspense and mystery was built without letting the story drag. The story was so gripping, the characters are really deep and I absolutely love a good ghost story.</p>
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<p>If you are reading this when I have posted this then please read this book but try to read it in October as it is a ghost story so it is really fitting for Halloween. But I am sure that whenever you read it you will love it as much as I did.</p>
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<p>Thank you to the publishers, Readers First and Net Galley for the book.</p>
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Nell Galilee returns home to the small, seaside town of her childhood in the company of her husband Chris and stepdaughter Maude. This is a town that holds unsettling memories for Nell, but fortunately their stay here will be brief, as they are only here to attend a family celebration. Their home for this short holiday is a quirky holiday cottage called Elder House, in the tucked away Bishops Yard, but something about this house feels wrong to Nell as soon as she sets foot in the place. She can't quite put her finger on what it is, although she seems to be the only one of the three that finds the house unnerving.

Things are tense between the three from the start. Maude is under a black cloud from recent episodes that are vaguely hinted at, but we know from the beginning that she is finding it difficult to adjust to being an older sibling now her mother and stepfather have had a new baby, and her relationship with Nell seems strained. Nell longs for the close bond they used to share, Chris seems at a loss with how to broker peace between the two females in his life, and the atmosphere between them is amplified by the weird vibes that Elder House gives off - and the odd happenings that have them jumping at shadows.

When Nell makes an eerie discovery behind a hidden panel in the wall, they begin to learn something of the secrets that tell of Elder Cottage's traumatic history, and Maude becomes consumed by the magic that thrums in very fabric of the house. The residents of the past seem to have been trying to protect themselves from something dark, but what could it be? Events start to spin out of control when Chris is called away, leaving Nell and Maude alone. They are both harbouring secrets that cannot be contained, as are the women who live around them in Bishops Yard. This house demands a sacrifice, but who will pay the price?

Where to start? This is so much more than your average spooky tale, and Amanda Mason does such a wonderful job of incorporating a myriad of deep themes into the telling of it, which I am going to try to hint at without giving away any spoilers about the plot, because you really need to discover its secrets for yourself.

This is a novel rooted in folklore, hitting just the right spot to tickle the primitive part of your brain that feeds your darkest nightmares, but by exploring exactly how and why people use superstition to deal with their everyday fears Mason is able to interwork both historical and contemporary themes around mental health, desire, secrets, betrayal, obsession, motherhood, and rather interestingly the need to protect, which makes this a very modern ghost story. She starts with a haunted house, always a brilliant beginning, and then proceeds to let her imagination run riot with very mortal emotional threads of anxiety, the need to be loved, jealousy and aching need, that feed the supernatural elements of the tale superbly.

For a claustrophobic story there are quite a few characters in these pages from in and around Bishops Yard, which I did find surprising at first, but each and every one has a part to play in how the story, and its closely guarded secrets, unfurl and they are used very effectively to layer the themes examined. It is the relationships between the different generations of women here that conjures up literary magic, almost like weaving a spell among a coven of witches, and as the story moves back and forth between them all the plot thickens like pitch - and is just as black at heart!

I love the idea that the ordinary objects people use to make them feel secure, or as totems for good luck or deep yearning, become imbued with a kind of mystic power that can stand the test of time, and Mason carries this idea right through the story, contrasting how such items can become a form of protection and a source of dark magic. It's really rather clever.

This is one of those creepy tales that grabs you at the first page and holds you spellbound until every little twist and turn has played out. It's a highly entertaining mix of classic horror and bang up-to-date spine-chiller that begs to be consumed in one delectable sitting, making it a perfect Halloween read - daytime reading recommended!