The Sceptic

[3.6] i love the creepy atmosphere of the books in this universe. i explicitly choose to read them at night to complete the spooky ambience and give myself as decent of a fright from the comfort of my bed - without wetting the sheets, of course. that would be highly inconvenient. i would even say the hair-raising scenes are my main drive.

similar to Blue and Levi's second excursion (which, unfortunately, was not one i wrote home about), the characters make some less-than-intelligent decisions that take away from the authenticity of their plight. even trivial things like asking a spirit if they have something to say by knocking once for yes, twice for no. the spirit seemed to have understood, yet they didn't continue this line of questioning besides repeating “we're ready to hear what you have to say.” i thought they established the need to frame yes or no questions for the sake of communication? such a small detail, but they add up. granted, it was much more tolerable than The Quiet House, but let this be a warning.

the relationship development does take a secondary role to the paranormal action, which admittedly could've been cut down to pack a more potent punch, but i enjoyed the main characters as individuals and their pleasant, low-angst relationship. as always, Joel Leslie put an energetic and entertaining spin on this world and its inhabitants to make the reading experience even better.

Thank you to GRR and the publisher for providing a complimentary audio copy of this book. This is my honest review.