Welcome to Litsy!

A collection of short ghost stories all written by the author. Like many collections, it's a mixed bag - some of the stories are really quite effective with the ambience & creeping sense of menace, whereas others either wander off into too much extraneous detail or frustratingly fizzle out just as they're getting good. Given James's background, it shouldn't come as a surprise that so many of the stories are based around religion & the Church.

I really enjoyed this book. It covers the lives of three women, Alison from the 1500s who is accused of witchcraft, Clem a woman from this century whose daughter has been badly burned and Erin Clem's daughter. This book covers some of the graphic history of witchcraft in the Orkney Islands as well as the power of modern-day cults and ancient curses 🖤
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This penultimate (for now) book in the series examines the dark side of....Morris dancing. Yes the traditionally twee pastime involving dressing in a costume, with bells, & banging wooden sticks together! I might have been more incredulous had I not read a book earlier this year (or last year) about the old practice of wassailing & its more sinister side.

Stephen King's classic vampire novel and one of my favorites. I love the characters, Matt is my favorite 🧛🏻‍♂️
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This is the mythical retelling of the Queen of the Gods, Hera. I really wanted to like it, and the beginning and very end were good but the middle drug. It felt like the longest book, but it was actually under 400 pages.
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This is a comparatively short read for a crime thriller at under 300 pages but it packs a punch. I was simultaneously sympathetic to Madeleine & suspicious that she might not be being completely truthful. It was fairly fast-paced due to the length but I thought that the ending was a little weak. 4🌟

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5966872614
Read 8th-9th Dec 2024

This was an interesting novella about a group of people who meet in the local graveyard to smoke and stumble on a cover-up.
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I absolutely loved this book. It's a dark fairy tale about two boys that go to Wickwood, a private boarding school that is right next to a forest. Andrew has been writing fairy tales and Thomas drawing them for years together, except now they have started coming alive 🖤
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This is the fourth of the books set in the Jolvix world that I've read, & it's probably my second least favourite. The story line is good but I disliked the main character. Granted she has issues to do with both her childhood & the death of her first love, but she is absolutely horrible to ex-colleague & friend Ted at times. I found myself a bit irritated with her to be honest. 3.5 🌟

TWs: death, discussion of suicide, drug use/alcoholism.

A book by a former head of the FBI‘s Behavioral Sciences Unit, Gregory M. Cooper, which details the founding & work of the Cold Case Foundation which he started in 2013. The Foundation takes on cases which have gone unsolved for many years & applies the latest techniques & the combined experience of more than 150 former police officers & FBI agents who donate their time to help solve the cases & give the families some closure.