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On a recent trip to Wal-Mart, I picked up Ghost Moon by Heather Graham, read a word or two on the back, then laughed and tossed it into my buggy. No need to read the back cover—everything by Heather Graham is good. And Ghost Moon is no exception.
Over the years, in the small coastal town of Key West, Florida, Cutter Merlin became a recluse, obsessed with finding his daughter’s killer, even though the rest of the world had deemed her death an accident. But it didn’t stop the population from whispering about the darkness surrounding Merlin House. Something strange was going on there. Some thought it was haunted, or cursed, by evil, but others looked for a more logical explanation.
After no one has seen nor heard from Cutter in a few days, Officer Liam Beckett heads to Merlin House, only to discover Cutter dead in his study, clutching a book that’s meant to defend against evil and a valuable reliquary. He also appears to have died of fright. The ME rules it cardiac arrest. It’s an open and shut case—that is, until another body turns up at Merlin House.
Kelsey Donovan hasn’t been back to Merlin House in years. After her mother’s accident, her father spirited her away to California, never to return to the foreboding house, where her father was certain that Kelsey would be next to die if they stayed. But a killer, who moves unseen through Merlin House, has been patient all these years, and he awaits Kelsey’s return to claim what he desires.
I love a creepy ghost story—and Heather Graham always delivers! What makes Ghost Moon even more deliciously chilling than usual is the fact that you won’t know if it’s a ghost or a person playing havoc with the characters’ lives until the unsettling end.
Though Kelsey has made a life for herself as an animation artist, she doesn’t return to Key West with a superior attitude. I thought that she was nuts to stay in the house, but I understood her reasons, and it also helped that she locked her bedroom door in addition to the exterior doors and windows. She’s a brave but cautious heroine, and I liked that about her.
Liam is a yummy man in uniform. He, too, is brave (anyone who checks out a dark and rambling house all by himself has to be), but he also possesses a lot of common sense. Though he believes in ghosts, he doesn’t rule out rational explanations—in fact, that’s where he looks first. A strong and confident hero gets to me every time—and Liam is one of the best.
Ghost Moon mixes romance with sinister and scalp-tingling scenes that’ll make you get up and check your doors and windows several times while you’re reading. Want a disquieting scare? This it is!
Although it’s the last book in the Bone Island Trilogy, Ghost Moon can stand on its own as a separate read. However, I’d be crazy not to go back and pick up the first two books in the trilogy. I foresee another trip to Wal-Mart in my future.
