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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Hell of a Ride, July 8, 2007
This review is from: The Haunting of Cambria (Hardcover)
Richard Taylor's novel, "The Haunting of Cambria" intrigues, amuses and entertains ... then ends with a depth charge in the subconscious that stays with you long after the reading is done.
Walking a tightrope between whimsy and disturbing darkness, Taylor is a master storyteller who lets his wounded, sympathetic characters guide you into the dark places where a truly horrifying evil lurks.
Starting off in L.A., the book quickly moves to Cambria, an idyllic village on California's central coast. Theo Parker and his new bride Lily are an immensely likable couple who trade quips and repartee like 1930s urbanites. Their dialogue is one of the great joys of the book and would be enough to make it worth reading ... but that's just the beginning.
I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to reveal that Taylor kills Lily off early on. This devastates Theo who undergoes a lengthy hospitalization, then hibernates at Monroe House: a deteriorating wreck of a place that Lily and Theo had hoped to turn into a quaint bed-and-breakfast inn. Grief-stricken and wracked with guilt for causing the accident that took his beautiful Lily's life, Theo is nursed back to health by Eleanor Glacy, the no-nonsense property manager who has been appointed by the court to watch over the place.
Eleanor's fearlessness and pragmatism serve as an anchor when it becomes apparent that an unspeakably unwholesome presence is also an inhabitant of Monroe House. Is it Lily? Eleanor's repressed sexuality? The psychic remnants of a long-forgotten murder?
As Taylor reminds us, every ghost story is a mystery and "The Haunting of Cambria" is a terrific one. Loaded with character, humor, sensuality and horror, this book is one hell-of-a ride. It's a one-sitting kind of book that keeps pulling you back to read "just one more chapter".
Highly recommended.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved the book!, June 30, 2007
This review is from: The Haunting of Cambria (Hardcover)
Just finished reading my copy of Haunting Of Cambria & I have it say it is one of the best, well written stories I have read in a very long time! Its one of those books that you read & hate to have it end! Good work Mr. Taylor...very good work indeed!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sheer terror!, July 13, 2007
This review is from: The Haunting of Cambria (Hardcover)
Theo Parker's wife, Lily, dies on the same day they sign the escrow paper for Monroe House. Parker never even saw the SUV cross over the lines, into his lane, and hit his vehicle. His coma lasts six weeks. Parker blames himself for Lily's death. Lily's grandmother, Lillith DeMay, blames him too; and she is determined to keep Parker from getting his hands on any of Lily's assets.
Eleanor Glacy (her last name is misspelled on the dust jacket's blurb) is hired by the court-appointed conservator to manage the Monroe House property, a bed-and-breakfast. Parker and Eleanor experience odd happenings. It actually seems as though a ghost is trying to take Eleanor's virginity. Believing there to be safety in numbers, the two share a bedroom. But that does not stop whatever is in the house. Using Lily's image, it entices parker out of the room and attacks Eleanor. At times the entity can even take corporeal form to do harm.
A lawyer, a professor of the paranormal, and even a physic enter the picture in hope of figuring out what is going on. But what if the answer is too horrible to even image?
***** Be warned, readers, that there are graphic scenes within this story. But few horror stories do not contain them, right? Okay, so you are warned. I found the story to be engrossing, in some sort of twisted way. As the progresses the author slowly reveals what is really going on, how the evil can take solid form, and (most chillingly) exactly what is happening to those within the bed-and-breakfast. If you read this on a late stormy night, you are inviting some frightening dreams. (You will have to trust me on that one.) Fantastic! *****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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