Disturbed

I read an advanced reading copy thanks to NetGalley and Black Rose Writing.

This is the story of Jonah, a young man with mental illness who moves into a house in a small town in northeast Pennsylvania. He soon becomes friends with an autistic man who lives across the street and with a woman who has MS.

Jonah quickly discovers that his new home is haunted by the previous owner, and his struggles against her malevolence are hampered by both his mental illness and the opinion of others around him that the haunting may be a symptom of this mental illness.

The story itself was okay; Jonah’s experience with the evil spirit are pretty standard within the haunted house trope, including bad smells, inanimate objects moving on their own and unexplained sounds. The final confrontation with the evil spirit is slightly unusual in form, but still adheres to standard horror trope elements.

What was more enjoyable about this book was the affectionate description of the setting-northeast Pennsylvania and the coal-mining regions. Although the author is describing an area that has suffered greatly from the misconduct of the mining companies, and the move away from coal as a source of energy, there is not a sense of depression in the description of the area. Instead, the reader learns and comes to appreciate, along with Jonah, the eccentricities, idioms, food and other elements of this area.

The history of the Molly Maguire movement that impacted the mining industry of the area is outlined in a readable yet thorough way, and plays an important role in the story itself.

And last, but not least, I really enjoyed the way the author incorporated the mental and physical disabilities of the main characters into the novel. Especially for Jonah, it was interesting to see how the hallucinations that were symptoms of his mental illness interacted with the malevolent spirit haunting his house.

I really enjoy Sharon Mccrumb’s Appalachian Ballad series, and this book reminded me a bit of those novels. According to the author’s note, this is Swope’s first novel. I hope to see further novels from him, with slightly more sophistication and less reliance on standard tropes, and have a new favorite reading series to look forward to in my future.

A classic hunted house story with a modern twist. It combines actual historical references tied into the modern day. A good story that keeps you enthralled.

If you tear down a haunted house, do the malevolent spirits that inhabit it die? And how can you get rid of a malevolent spirit anyway?
This book will not give you a convenient easy answer.
A seriously mentally ill young man moves to a new town to start a new life. His condition is now under control with the medication he is taking and he is under the care of competent professionals. He acquires a house, makes friends with a neighbour and finds a job that brings him into contact with a congenial bunch of people. Things are looking up, right?
That's without counting on the evil spirit that inhabits the house and intends to use him to carry out some revenge. And who seems to collude with the voices inside his head. This combination sends him back over the edge and he is only saved by the woman he loves at a very high cost. And just when we think that the burning down of the house did away with the spirit, it seems to be pointing its nose...
This was a fun read and it kept my attention. However, the repeated descriptions of the even spirit were a bit overdone. I don't mind evil, but it has to be a bit more realistic.

Ther are some stories that I like about haunted houses and ghosts, Then there are some that I love. Jonah, has a few issues that he cannot quite control. One of them being the haunted house he lives in owwwhile living in PA. The story seems to add truth to some story telling. The author is authentic with his writing and alllows the reader an inlet to his story. You feel like you are actually there. He is very very descriptive and seems knowledgeable in what he writes about. I love the paranormal and books about such catch my eyes much like this one. There ar a couple places in the story that drag on a little too long but that is not something you can’t get past.

I give this one a 4.5 out of 5


Thank you to netgalley and the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Disturbed follows Jonah as he moves into his new home in Clayburn, Pennsylvania. It starts with his beginning as a baby in his mummys tummy and the picking of his name from the bible story. It then moves on a few years to another couple viewing the house Jonah eventually buys, being scared off by a ghostly presence. Jonah meets and makes a new friend in Oliver, who lives across the street from him. He is autistic and then there is Katie, who has MS. Eventually the ghostly presence makes its presence known to Jonah, sliding into his thoughts through his mental illness and sets him on a personal destruction course. With the help of his new friends, can he turn his life around and rid himself of the ghost for good?

The novel swings between story telling and giving a comprehensive run down on the now defunct coal mining industry, as if its now a history book. When the history part starts it lets the story down because of the way its written. I felt it would have been better if, for example, on the groups trip to the fairground, Katie and Oliver should have explained the place and its history in speech to Jonah as they travelled in the car. Again, its the same with visiting the old jailhouse; let the guide tell you about it as he shows the people around.

I had similar problems when reading about the pills going missing from Jonah's medications; it felt wrong in how it was told to the reader. The information is important but how its told felt uncomfortable to read in the middle of a breakdown. When describing people or places, too much information was imparted; for example the tavern Jonah visits, the trip to the fairground or giving everyone's approximate age and hair colour as Jonah meets them.

So whilst the story is enjoyable and malevolent, I think it needs some polishing to make it more readable and less of a history lesson at times or overly descriptive when it doesn't need to be. The history of the area and Molly Maguire's was interesting and well researched before the novel started, but then seemed to be repeated as the novel unfolded. The research into the autism, MS and mental illnesses the three main characters suffer are well written, but again in other aspects too much detail was imparted as facts not story.

The endings were unexpected, with wrap ups 10 & 15 years later and I had to laugh at the way the characters were portrayed. Up to that point, plausible, then plain silly.

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

Slow to get going but once you get through the first part it is extremely immersive and very well depicted backgrounds. A very interesting read.