13 Doors - G J Phelps

 

                    BOOK DESCRIPTION

Thirteen doors, thirteen hauntings. News reporter Joe Baxter has a plan.

His idea is simple – to use his newsroom contacts across England to find thirteen haunted places to stay, and then record his experiences in a book. From an abandoned cinema to a dank pub cellar, from a World War Two airfield to a lonely, landlocked cruise liner, Joe is prepared to spend long nights in the cold and dark, but has no idea what he is about to unleash.

For, as he endures increasingly dangerous vigils, meeting a succession of gruesome, tragic and terrifying spectres, a terrible truth begins to emerge.

Something – or someone – is reaching out to Joe, awakening long-buried memories of his father’s death, a dark family secret and his teenage brush with madness. And then there is Wilko, the imaginary friend who haunted his childhood. After decades of silence, Wilko has found his voice again…

                             MY THOUGHTS

 I've been a reader of creepy tales for as long as I can remember but I can't recall the last time a book made me feel quite as unsettled as 13 Tales has (and, trust me, I'm not complaining). 

 Joe is a reporter who sets out with a plan to visit 13 haunted sights and spend a night at each then writing a book to record his experiences. The way the book is set out the 13 visits are interspersed with chapters that cover Joe's early life and it soon becomes apparent that the 2 timelines may be linked.

 I think what has made this book feel creepier is that with each of the haunting sights visited you are never quite sure what is going to happen, when are the jump scares going to come, will it be subtle or ghastly. All through 13 Doors I felt I was looking over my shoulder. Yeah, this book creeped me out a bit . . .     AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!

5/5*

Thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for inviting me onto this blog tour and please have a look at the posts by the other bloggers (below)