Customer Reviews

Mean Spirits

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For most Americans, the Mayflower and its Pilgrims exemplify the beginning of the great American Dream. Victims of social and religious persecution, they were among the notable first to come to the New World and prosper from all it had to offer. In his novel "Mean Spirits", author Roger Chiocchi presents an opposite view. He introduces us to Charles Pennfield, a Pilgrim for whom the Mayflower was the beginning of an American nightmare; a nightmare that would span four centuries and plague multiple generations of the Pennfield family.

Set in New York City and New England during the mid 1990s, "Mean Spirits" focuses on the lives of two modern Pennfields: Jonathan and Christopher. Jonathan is the chief executive of an airline company in New York City and Christopher is a university professor in a quiet New England town. Both brothers begin to experience an increasing frequency of inexplicable hauntings and supernatural events. As the severity of these hauntings intensify, they are brought together in a quest to understand why this is happening to them.

From the beginning, the two brothers' personalities are in stark contrast of one another. Jonathan is growing unhappy with his life of privilege and is beginning to discover that his priorities are not set on what is truly important in this world. He is disinterested in maintaining his family ties and sees them as a burden to his freedom.

Christopher Pennfield, however, is quickly recognized as a preservationist of the Pennfield family name. He possesses a great pride in his family lineage that fuels his arrogance and sense of superiority. He regards the Pennfields as a virtuous clan and is committed to making the world aware of their accomplishments and contributions.

To aid in their search for answers, the brothers enlist the help of a New Jersey ghost hunter by the name of Ed Swann. Swann, a retired contractor, is interested in the scientific explanation and legitimization of hauntings and ghostly encounters. Through his scientific approach he begins to meticulously uncover the secrets behind the Pennfield's supernatural burden.

During his investigation, Swann also discovers that he has a weak psychic connection with a passed member of the Pennfield family. This spirit is an interesting addition to his search and proves to be helpful in uncovering important information that otherwise would have been overlooked.

Throughout the course of the story, the contradiction of ideologies between the two brothers creates an ongoing tension and rivalry. Although they are brought together in their desires to end the hauntings, at times their polarity proves to impede their search. Christopher's dedication to the family name, in particular, is a major hurdle. His desire to suppress anything that might tarnish the family name is complicated by the realization that the reason for these hauntings is directly related to the deeds of their ancestors. The process of investigating the hauntings leads both brothers to ultimately question their identities and forces them to face the truths of their origins.

Probably the most interesting aspect of "Mean Spirits" is that it covers a time period of almost four hundred years. While it seems that such a timeline might be cumbersome and difficult to follow, Chiocchi carefully reveals the story of the Pennfields in small fragments that prove to be effective in maintaining suspense and interest throughout the novel.

Also interesting is Chiocchi's method of melding a fictional tale with factual events and authentic ghost hunting procedures. In doing this, he successfully gives the overall story an air of authenticity and realism that probably could not have been achieved otherwise.

Energetic and quickly paced, "Mean Spirits" proves to be a fascinating and haunting narrative that cleverly follows the legacy of a single American family. Those who appreciate tales of ghosts and the supernatural will find "Mean Spirits" to be an entertaining and enjoyable story.

As a native Newporter, I found the book to be tremendously accurate and insightful with both its present day and historical details of Newport and New England in general. The author weaves a suspenseful, exciting ghost story crossing between the present and past. This is the type of book you simply can't put down!

Mean Spirits really pulls you in! With a hell of a start and an even better finish it's gripping and you just can't set it down! The characters are enticing; someone to hate and someone to love with every flip of the page! Spookernatural! A heck of a read!

As someone else has said, I seriously wonder where the editor was on this book. Between grammatical errors which kept me wanting to reach for a pen and use of tedious cliched set ups, reading this book got tiresome very rapidly.

In addition, knowing via the characters personalities what was going to happen to whom, when and why almost from the first page made it hard on the reader to stay involved in the story. I really like a little ambiguity in who is good and who is bad - after all that's life - but this did not give it to me. I kept hoping for the "bad character" to be killed off quickly simply to end my annoyance.

This was recommended to me as someone who has also purchased A Winter's Haunting by Dan Simmons. Though, A Winter's Haunting is probably the weakest of any of his books that I have read it was still better than this.

This story grabs your attention and never lets go. It's intriguing, well-written and engaging. It's novel, too, as it traces a curse from the days of the Mayflower into the 21st Century. Whether you're a ghost story fan or you're just looking for escape, you'll really enjoy Mean Spirits!

While the story line is interesting enough (See also John Carpenter's 1980 film THE FOG if you like this), where was Mr. Chiocchi's editor? Errors in grammar as well as the story itself became tedious. The writing style could have used some polish as well.

In short I enjoyed the book very much... I am not a very fast reader as I distract easily, but I read this book in about 3 days (evenings)... Very difficult to put it down... I liked the time sequences... It reminded me a little bit of Pulp Fiction how it 'jumped' around from time period to time period...

The descriptions are fantastic... I could see the settings in my head... Very appealing to my senses... If a movie was put out based on your book, I would NOT see it as I would not want Hollywood to ruin the author's discriptions and my images...

I too noticed some grammatical errors in this manuscript that should not have been there. But that's not the big issue. The points of view in this story kept changing, as well as the flashbacks (too many) and just as soon as you would try to understand one angle you'd be faced with a new one and then at the end you're supposed to be able to fit it all together. The editing was just not as good as it should have been. This also makes me think of another high profile family in the U.S. that has supposedly been "cursed" with evil through the years. Did anyone else draw parallels to that? Jonathan had the greater strength and resolve of the two brothers, but it was amazing how submissive he was when he and brother Chris were engaged in serious conversation. To me Chris had no depth to him, just another spoon fed rich kid intent on keeping his family name intact no matter the consequences.

Mean Spirits is a great, unique and compelling ghost story. I just don't understand what the reviewer from North Carolina was thinking. This book was original, fresh, unique to its genre and sent a tantalizing chill through my spine. The scene where the ghost hunter, Ed Swann, solves an almost century old murder mystery through his ghost hunting techniques and an apparition is truly breakthough. Read it.

Although I have been purchasing books from Amazon for seven years this is the first time I have felt compelled to write a review. Why ? Because "Mean Spirits" is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. This book is full of suspense and keeps you enticed from beginning to end. I found myself wanting to get to the end of the book so that I can get to the bottom of what it all meant yet I was dreading the ending of the book because I had such a good time reading it. I actually did not want to put the book down and even got mad whenever my reading was interruped. Yes, there are the occasionally misspelling of words and I wondered why but this book is so masterful that I promise you will pay little attention to those words.