The Good Sister's by Helen Phifer is a horror novel that really stretches reality. It is terribly unrealistic not because it is about demons and ghosts but because the characters constantly do things that no one would ever do.

After her bitter divorce alcoholic Kate buys an old convent with money left to her by a friend. it should be a dream come true for her and a fresh start but things are not what they seem. Many years before the sisters opened their doors to a women in need and unwittingly unleashed evil upon themselves and the house.

The Good Sisters is a book split in two half's. Partially about Kate the current owner and partly about Sister Agnes. If only this book had stuff with the original story of the convent and the nuns fighting evil. The chapters set in the past were much better and far more creepier.

The problem is that Kate is so unlikeable. She is selfish, self destructive and wants to blame anyone but herself for her problems. When things start to go bump in the night she switches between thinking everything is fine to thinking there is great evil lurking around. She is bitter and mean and makes the worse choices. One night in a booze fuelled mood the demon convinces Kate to kill herself. She slits her wrist and ends up in hospital. She is seeing all sorts of spooky stuff as is her builder turned boyfriend Ollie. But when her ex shows up with her two kids she allows them to stay in the house over night and lets them sleep upstairs on their own whilst she cuddles up to the boyfriend downstairs.

Anouther issue for me was the spookiness. When I read a horror novel I want to be scared shitless. This had moments of creepiness but it wasn't enough for me. The narrative told us it was scary, it didn't show us. I don't want to know the someone is being watched is that someone doesn't feel something is up on their own. Fear has to come from the protagonist.

This was the first book by Ms Phifer I’ve read, and it was really scary.  I found the book a bit slow, but will try the next one, maybe its just me.

For obvious reason will I not review this book. The book didn't work for me, too much that annoyed me, unfortunately.

This book is just really bad. The characters aren't developed, the dialogue is badly written, and the whole thing reminded me of a particularly bad Lifetime movie. For a horror story, "The Good Sisters" never manages to build up any kind of suspense and the finale is just ridiculous.

I was expecting to be scared shitless, but I was hugely disappointed. There were some parts that were a little bit scarier, but nothing special at all. I wish, that there were more spooky incidents....
Overall the story dragged to much and could have been much shorter, however the ending was too rushed, at least for my taste.
The main character was unlikable, boring and made so many ludicrous decisions, that in the end I didn't care what will happen to her. The side characters were better developed, but also not that interesting.
The other thing that bothered me was a love story. There were no development, they fell in love in few days. In other words too instalove... Actually, it wasn't necessary at all in this book.

Not a fan.

This novel is a genuinely scary read, I actually started reading alone in my room and quickly decided that I wanted to read in company! lol
I found this gripping & without spoilers, I love an ending that reads right up until the very last page.
I enjoyed the way the writing flicked between past and present, I felt this added tension and depth to the plot.
This is novel is perfectly times for its Halloween release & I hope it scares readers as much as it did me.
I would hugely recommend to fellow book lovers that enjoy being scared. Huge credit to the author, not many novels scare me to easily.