A cynical young woman earns a living by faking psychic auras and performing hand jobs in the back of a storefront spiritual shop. Her life changes when Susan Burke, a wealthy and panicked housewife, seeks help for a haunting in her Victorian mansion, Carterhook Manor. The narrator visits the home and encounters Susan’s sullen stepson, Miles, along with mysterious bloodstains on the walls. What begins as a scam to exploit a rich woman’s paranoia evolves into a trap where the narrator cannot distinguish between supernatural occurrences and calculated human malice.
Readers who enjoy psychological subversions and unreliable narrators find this story satisfying for its sharp humor and abrupt tonal shifts. It appeals to those who prefer thrillers that mock the tropes of victorian ghost stories while stripping away moral clarity. People who finish this novella walk away with an unsettling realization of how easily people manipulate one another through feigned vulnerability. It is a quick study in social engineering and the way trauma is weaponized to maintain control in a power struggle between three dishonest characters.
- Published
- 2014
- Language
- EN
