John Tinsley’s life was shattered as a child when he lost his mother in a tragic car accident—but that was only the beginning. From that moment, a dark entity marked him, one intent on destroying everything and everyone he loves. Haunted by visions, hunted by shadows, and carrying the scars of his childhood, John must now confront the darkness as an adult, facing a malevolent force that has followed him into every stage of his life.
Overall, this was a fantastic offering with a lot to like about it. The engrossing storyline, bringing up a great throughline of this guy being brought up with this cursed past that allows him to be possessed and targeted by demonic forces to the point of requiring supernatural help to finally clear everything up, might start out a bit formulaic and conventional in this type of setup, but there are a lot of enjoyable elements brought up here. With the multilayered story told in different periods where he is introduced to the potential strains of grief possible in his life, to the more recent parts involving how he’s put those behind him to become a functioning adult with his wife in a successful ghost-hunting crew, which enables him to be succeptable for the supernatural attacks.
This setup is quite impressive and effectively comes together rather well to move past the contrived starting point where the evolution from exploring childhood grief and trauma that ties into the story of being charged by the demonic attacks and requiring his wife, as well as the troubled priest they meet, to help him. This twisted, multi-pronged setup that reveals the demonic force as a figure that’s been following him the whole time goes rather nicely with the details involved in the paranormal explorations they undertake, which offer up an intriguing difference between these sections of the story. With the paranormal investigations featuring the kind of traditional ghost encounters and supernatural manipulation of the world around them, these scenes work incredibly well for what they are, as it all builds the intense atmosphere with familiar elements.
Even with the familiar presence of these elements, the book is incredibly well-accomplished and manages to become quite chilling at places. As the familiar structure becomes more obvious, it never feels that overt due to a skilled, breezy writing style that keeps the action going along rather nicely featuring a mix between the chilling, supernatural encounters in their investigations and the different interactions of the group trying to figure out how to deal with the burgeoning belief that something has been attached to him and must be dealt with. There’s a lot to like about these elements and the point-of-view switches involving the main character switching focus depending on the chapter to help fill in the story and make everything more relatable, all making the book a great read that has plenty to like about it.
4.5/5
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