Diary of a Haunting by M. Verano

Diary of a Haunting by M. Verano
Pub: 8/25/2015
Pg: 288
ARC Received through Edelweiss

When the reader first cracks open the spine of this book, they are given an introduction from the author/professor in this book, M. Verano. The purpose of the introduction is to give validity to the "true story" the reader will embark on, but it also gives an eerie start to this story.

Paige and her family move to Idaho after a really messy divorce in the spotlight. The story is given in diary entries from Paige's perspective. Initially all that is wrong with her new home is that it's in Idaho, away from civilization. Soon Paige starts experiencing a ridiculous amount of flies in her house, unexplainable issues with her phone, and her brother begins to act differently. All along her mother acknowledges the situation and weird goings on but to her these are friendly spirits.

An outcast, Chloe, befriends Paige. Chloe is this "emo" dark girl who is into the supernatural. She being fascinated by the supernatural asks to sleepover one night because it is said that Paige's house used to be a hospital and the basement was the morgue. The girls begin to investigate and stumble on a boy in the basement, Ralph. Apparently he lives down there and is pretty much alive, so it seems. His mother owns the house and he rents the basement, while Paige's mother rents the whole house.

It will be up to Paige to figure out what is going on in her new home, and save her family from becoming a victim to an occult group from the past. But what do you do when you become the thing that bumps in the night?

I'm not sure if I liked this book completely. It definitely had a creepy atmosphere, intense emotions from the main character and unexplained happenings throughout the story. What I did like most and makes all the small issues and shortcomings seem not so bad is the way we are given an unreliable narrator. This haunting is happening to the main character's family home and sometimes that can cloud reality and perceptions. THe reader is left questioning what is real and what is perceived as reality by the narrator. Also, the reader is given a limited view of what is truly taking place. This technique gives an eerie tone to the whole story, especially by the end.

3 stars. Thanks Edelweiss.