Where The Dead Walk by John Bowen

Where The Dead Walk has one of the best, unexpected and original endings I have experienced in quite a while. Principal characters Kate and Henry work as hosts on a paranormal tv show in a constant battle to keep viewers’ loyalty and stay on the air. But things really to ramp up when they’re hired to investigate a house that’s hiding more than just ghosts.

Similar to The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring, it took me a few chapters to get into the plot, but eventually I was hooked. The major characters were written exceptionally well, and as the story delves deeper into the lore surrounding the house, Kates past and other characters hidden motivations, the suspense builds spectacularly and I couldn’t put the book down.

I simply had to know why this modern house was haunted, what was going on with its owner, and how it links to Kate’s forgotten past. The only fault I could pick with the story was that the secondary characters were a tad underdeveloped, especially the fellow members of the TV crew, who you learn nothing about other than they work on the show.

“To say he was growing to really dislike the man was a bit like saying slugs weren’t big fans of salt.”

― John Bowen, Where the Dead Walk

Bowen skillfully builds the menace with the slow burn nature of the story. Where the Dead Walk contains the perfect amount of twists and turns for a paranormal mystery/thriller. Throwing in just enough mysticism, occult practices and unexplained deaths to keep you invested in the developing plot, but not too much that you get confused or the story becomes entirely unbelievable.