Horror Book of the Week: The Ghost Illusion by Kat Martin

 

The Ghost Illusion by Kat Martin is on the Kindle bestsellers list of Horror Suspense and Suspense. 

The book was released on September 2023 and has received positive reviews so far with most of them being about the author writing a gripping, suspenseful novel with the perfect touch of the paranormal. 

Many readers too, have given similar reviews and complimented the author for her story-building techniques as well as writing a story that perfectly balanced the paranormal and romance setting in a horror novel. 

There were negative reviews that were mostly focused on the forced relationship between the main characters and the overly descriptive sentences used in the story. 

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Quick Review of THE GHOST ILLUSION based on sample

The first few chapters of the book, usually give the reader an idea of whether or not they would want to continue reading the book, or want to DNF it. In some cases, the sample chapters can make you want to put it in the TBR list. 

The Ghost Illusion tells the story of Eve St. Clair who is living in England after a divorce and then inheriting her Uncle’s house. However, she senses there is something sinister going on and contacts a paranormal investigation team. 

Now this is no ordinary, broke paranormal investigators who are usually made fun of in movies for being too over-the-top. 

The company is founded by a billionaire, Ransom King, Ran for short. 

Since Eve is described as beautiful and Ransom, a very handsome man, you know where the story is going to be headed. 

But where is the horror, you ask? 

There is a taste of horror in a few chapters but at the moment it is only loud voices and thundering footsteps. 

Ransom makes the trip all the way to England to see Eve and is immediately smitten by her. We have all the usual tropes: hands brushing against each other, sparks flying around, the damsel in distress fainting in the hero’s arms, etc. 

But Ransom has a painful past. He recently lost his wife and child in a car accident for which he holds himself responsible. 

So, by the time you read the end of the sample, you will understand that what you are actually reading is a romance novel where the author makes sure you know every color of every item in the setting. 

As a horror fan, you are going to be very disappointed to find that there is barely anything spooky happening. 

As a romance reader, you are going to groan inwardly, because you will find two perfectly good looking people getting together over an excuse of a haunting. If you are a fan of romance, you aren’t going to find anything new in this story. It’s always the damsel in distress and the tragic hero who find their happy ending regardless of what is going on around them. 

As a horror novel, THE GHOST ILLUSION is a tepid story of a haunting that is bound to serve only as a backdrop to a very cliched romance story. 

Would I want to continue reading the book? 

No, I would not. 

But for those who want to give it a shot anyway, GET THE BOOK