Hi everyone,
Today Ellen is taking part in the blog tour for The Lingering by S. J. I. Holliday and I’ll be sharing her review with you all!
About the author:
S.J.I. (Susi) Holliday is a pharmaceutical statistician by day and a crime and horror fan by night. Her short stories have been published in many places and she was shortlisted for the inaugural CWA Margery Allingham prize with her story ‘Home from Home’, which was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in spring 2017. She is the bestselling author of the creepy and claustrophobic Banktoun trilogy (Black Wood, Willow Walk and The Damselfly) featuring the much-loved Sergeant Davie Gray, and has dabbled in festive crime with the critically acclaimed The Deaths of December. Her latest psychological thriller is modern gothic with more than a hint of the supernatural, which she loved writing due to her fascination and fear of ghosts. She is proud to be one of The Slice Girls has been described by David Mark as ‘Dark as a smoker’s lung.’ She divides her time between Edinburgh and London and you will find her at crime-fiction events in the UK and abroad.
About the book:
Married couple Jack and Ali Gardiner move to a self-sufficient commune in the English Fens, desperate for fresh start. The local village is known for the witches who once resided there and Rosalind House, where the commune has been established, is a former psychiatric home, with a disturbing history. When Jack and Ali arrive, a chain of unexpected and unexplained events is set off, and it becomes clear that they are not all that they seem. As the residents become twitchy, and the villagers suspicious, events from the past come back to haunt them, and someone is seeking retribution… At once an unnerving locked-room mystery, a chilling thriller and a dark and superbly wrought ghost story, The Lingering is an exceptionally plotted, terrifying and tantalisingly twisted novel by one of the most exciting authors in the genre.
The Lingering by S. J. I. Holliday
Ellen’s Review:
If you’re looking for a modern Gothic thriller you can’t go far wrong with The Lingering by SJI Holliday! I was immediately drawn in by the cover which is so atmospheric, I’ll give you a moment to check it out again….…gorgeous isn’t it!? I can totally see myself arriving at Rosalind House (then getting straight back in my car and leaving again), such an imposing building which exudes, and contains, so much character.
Jack and Ali Gardner sell up and move to a commune that inhabits Rosalind House – former asylum and source of rumours in the local village. Whispers of witchcraft, ghosts and historic abuse of patients are rife and I think a lot of people would enter that environment with a sense of trepidation. I did wonder why Jack (a former policeman) and Ali (a psychiatric nurse) would move to such a place. I was immediately suspicious of their actions and obviously the spirits of the house are too as ghostly activity steps up a notch or is it all the figment of someone’s imagination? Is this a case of them finding the house at the right time or the other way around? With each page turned the tension grows and grows.
The Lingering is such a perfect book to read at this time of year as the nights are drawing in and the moon is high. You will definitely be more aware of the slightest creaks and groans your house makes as you’re reading. I’d maybe keep the lights on a bit longer at bedtime if I were you, you definitely didn’t just see what you thought you saw from the corner of your eye…Oh, and you’ll never get a bath again once you’re done. Showers all the way!
Check out the tour:
