Generally I loved reading the book. Unusual style, nice language, elements of folklore are intertwined with modern life reality. I liked the uniqueness of the story. It was like a gulp of fresh air compared to what majority of mystery genre authors are writing nowadays. Only the ending was rushed and quite primitive. Also some parts could be developed to being deeper, more atmospheric and informative. The author is new but I see big potential to write real bestsellers.

/This book was slow paced psychological haunting until it wasn’t. 3/4 of the way through it picked up speed and started twisting the story in ways I couldn’t quite have expected and the a very memorable shock ending.

Thank you Netgalley, Cameron Publicity & Marketing Ltd and NP Cunniffe for the eARC of The WeeJee Man.

Rick Rooney a writer who is suffering a writers block retreats back to his home village to hopefully inspire himself into another book. after walking to the local pub to have some tea. He's recognised and gets persuaded into playing an ouija board, or as the local kids say Weejee. Rick wanted to speak to his parents but what comes through spooks the locals and sets about a series of creepy events !

I loved the premise of this book, the mixture of Irish folklore in a creepy little village always works well! The pacing of The Weejee man felt medium and was well paced, spreading the creepiness of the atmosphere from the first couple of pages right the way to the end. I really enjoyed the different dialogue in this book, including emails between the publishers which give great foreshadowing throughout the book. It has a James Herbert vibe which I love.

I really bonded with Rick and his own backstory, when things unravel near the end, I felt for him. If you love folklore, great creepy atmospheric books, this is a great read!

3.75 rounded to 4 for Amazon, Netgalley

“The Weejee Man” by NP Cunniffe is available now in hardcover and on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.

Something about this had a retro-horror feel@that I can’t quite put my finger on. Parts of it felt very James Herbert or Christopher Pike, but mixed in with the recent renaissance in folk-horror of the past few years. The whole thing bears an eerie, other-worldly vibe. Worth grabbing if by you like ghost stories or folk horror. And, if you’re following me, you probably do.

Forced by his publisher to deliver a fresh manuscript by the end of the year, author Rick Rooney retreats to a secluded cottage in the West of Ireland in search of inspiration.

After a night of dabbling with a spirit board at the local pub, strange events begin to unfold at the cottage, while a menacing figure lurks in the trees outside. When Rick digs deeper into the area’s dark history, he makes a chilling discovery about a local family, a devastating fire, and a centuries-old curse. Has Rick disturbed an ancient evil, and who, or what, is stalking him now?

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The Weejee Man by NP Cunliffe

3.5/5

I picked up this book as I'm deadly afraid of the idea of using a oujia board and contacting an evil spirit. That being said, I had hoped that more of the story would centre around this rather than it being more of a device to set up the story.

There's lots to enjoy in this story and it's certainly well written. It just wasn't quite as spooky as I'd hoped. Admittedly I am difficult to spook though.

In The Weejee Man we join author Rick Rooney who attempts to take himself 'away from distractions' to try and get over his writer's block. He finds himself using a spirit board in a local pub and then some very odd occurrences follow.
Rick looks into the area's history and finds out about a curse, fairies and ghosts and he realises how dangerous a situation he is in.

We read this story through Rick's diary notes, emails from the publisher and letters which added something to the atmosphere.

I really enjoyed this. I liked the writing style, the pace, the plot turns. Would recommend.

Nothing scares me but the first 70% of this book made me nervous. Good plot, interesting characters and the twists and turns were great. For me, Ricks ending felt like a disservice. I was so invested in his story and his experience, it was a lil disappointing to wrap it all up in a page or two, but that isn’t a deal-breaker and the overall ending of the book was fab. It was a good read and I would recommend to any fans of the supernatural.

The premise of this book really grabbed me as I have been reading more and more horror lately. However, this book failed to capture my imagination at all. An author, suffering writer's block, comes back to Ireland to his home village to try and restart his career. He is a strange individual, with a cranky persona and a girlfriend called Rachel to whom he is neither pleasant nor agreeable. The story meanders along with us having no idea why he is in his home village, why he is doing a ditigal detox and honestly I wasn't really interested in finding out. Rick (the writer) has his first night having a pint in the Village pub and 3 locals then practically bully him into partaking in a session with a ouija board??! It was too random.

There was so many descriptive paragraphs about the village, the smells, the lake, I began to skim read over these paragraphs just to get to the storyline again. I am Irish, and I am aware of the old beliefs of fairies, etc. but this really wasn't enough to keep me invested in the story. Too rambling, not enough actual story or back story, too slow and vague about what was actually going on, I gave up at 55%.

Twisted and scary. Set in rural Ireland a struggling author uses a Ouija board and summons an evil spirit.
Good story. Worth reading.

Unfortunately, I think I'm in the minority here as I didn't really enjoy the book. Whilst the premise was promising, and I generally like the use of emails and other media to make the story more immersive and realistic, I found it very difficult to 'get into' the book, stay interested or invested. I found the writing style a bit odd and unrealistic for emails, and the 'notes to editor' felt really distracting as the majority of the book is Rick's thoughts/experience in first person. I also felt it was quite reductive to repeatedly discuss different spellings/pronunciation of ouija, and it got annoying fast. It was a quick read and set up a good unreliable/questioning atmosphere. I think this was one of those books that just wasn't for me. Thank you to netgalley for the arc.

I took a diversion from my usual reads to read this Irish horror novel. It was quite entertaining and I read in in two sittings (only because it was 1am and I had work to get up for). The story of an Author returning to his hometown to get a break from life and to try and find his writing mojo again. He goes to the pub and ends up playing with an Ouija board and things went downhill pretty fast from there. I've already told my friend about this because it is right up her street. Two issues though - he was reeling in a '2 to 3 metre pike' - they're not that big, I think this is meant to be feet. I googled and the record for the largest pike currently stands at 150cm, I spent too long wondering about that and secondly, the emails from Pierce were irritating af. He wrote his emails using literal dialogue, no-one does that. His last email was stupid too. Amending Pierce's 'voice' would make for much better reading. Those two things aside (the emails have got to be edited) I finished it feeling contented that it was well worth my time. Great read.

Loved this book!!!!!! I was so sad when it ended and i also have lots of questions about the ending. The author was very good at keeping the pieces separated it wasn't until the chapter before the unvailing that i was putting the pieces together. Or the story was that good that my brain was so in the moment that it didn't put the pieces together.

I'll be looking out for more of this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

NP Cunniffe has written a good atmospheric ghost story, which gradually builds to a satisfying conclusion.

I received a free copy for Netgalley to review, below is the blurb:

"Forced by his publisher to deliver a fresh manuscript by the end of the year, author Rick Rooney retreats to a secluded cottage in the West of Ireland in search of inspiration.
After a night of dabbling with a spirit board at the local pub, strange events begin to unfold at the cottage, while a menacing figure lurks in the trees outside.
When Rick digs deeper into the area’s dark history, he makes a chilling discovery about a local family, a devastating fire, and a centuries-old curse. Has Rick disturbed an ancient evil, and who, or what, is stalking him now?"

The book switches between the narrative of Rick the author and found materials such as emails and letters. I really liked this format and quite enjoyed the book on the whole. It book was definitely a slow burn type book but very atmospheric and I loved the folklore element of the book.

Absolutely breath taking it keeps you on edge from beginning to end its creepy it's magnificent. My first book by him virginal definitely be getting more the atmosphere he sets is truly amazing I've never read another author who drags you in so quick

Read this in under 24 hours
A great little spooky read
I love anything to do with ouija boards as they fascinate me. So this book was ideal, perfect amount of horror, creepiness and lots of tension building.
I loved how it was from the MC POV throughout and liked how the author incorporated the emails so it was as if we were reading what Ricks publisher was reading.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

A quick and fairly spooky little novella, the mystery kept me intrigued enough to read through to the end but overall it was a little lacking in depth and underwhelming. A fun read for a cosy night in in the autumn and winter months but I don't think it will stick with me. I think I would have preferred it to be longer and more developed.

Spooky little romp through rural Ireland!
The Weejee Man has everything you want in a ghost story: A tortured, unreliable narrator, a curse, a ouija board, dark myths, and a certain character you love to hate...

I enjoyed unravelling the mystery of this one. The dual narrative structure of Rick's perspective and the letter format feeding us the myths piece by piece worked so well. The structure of the book is definitely one of my favourite aspects. There are a lot of layers to this book, despite its length. I never found the outcome easy to predict; the story kept me guessing at every turn.

There are a couple of tense scenes in this one that had me on edge. Cunniffe really knows how to ramp up the suspense and create menacing villains with incredible stage presence, as well as tease the reader with little hints and clues to the deeper plot aspects that give you those "oh, of course..." moments when eveything finally ties together.

Highly recommend this book if you're a fan of the paranormal, or just good, quality penmanship!

The Weejee Man by NP Cunniffe is one of these books that are great for Halloween or sitting in the dark reading your kindle! But no good if you have the paperback! lol.
It's a creepy horror and folklore story which is set in the Irish Countryside where fairies and ghouls live, there is a mysterious death and a scary burn't ghost,..........However, there is so much going on in this book that will keep you interested once you start to read it. Hence why its a great read for night time reading!
But, make sure your wardrobes/cupboard doors are closed - you never know what is hiding in them. Dark Shadows are getting bigger around your room...........A Scary but well written book that I really enjoyed.

Big thank you to Netgalley and Cameron Publicity & Marketing Ltd for my ARC.

I do love a book that keeps you guessing and hits you with unexpected twists. This was very much the case with The Weejee Man.

It's thriller/horror/folklore and mystery all rolled into one. The protagonist is an author up against a deadline that he cannot be bothered to meet. He heads back to his hometown in Ireland to write in solitude and then things begin to unravel after he gets embroiled in an Ouija session in the local pub..

There are fairies, Ouija boards, mysterious deaths, intruders and a scary burnt ghost. Honestly a veritable smorgasbord of ghouls, genres and subjects and in no when messy when reading it.

We feel for and relate to the main character throughout - and with the clever use of emails from the publisher combined with the whole experience of the main character being relayed through his journals - it unfolds before us very fluidly. Therefore, it's kind of a found footage book.

Really enjoyable, fast paced and as I said, some great twistts and reveals at the end. Nicely played, NP Cunnife!