Lee Mountford

This is how you write horror!!!
I feel like a lot of horror authors today lost the very essence of what makes a story scary and bone-chillingly full of terror. Mr. Mountford managed to capture a lot of that in this book.
The Webb family is a grotesque and vile horde of flesh-eating maniacs, driven by an otherworldly entity they call Grandpa. In the latter portion of this book, where it tells of where "Grandpa" came from, I can describe this as having some slight elements of cosmic horror, show more maybe?
All I know is that this was pretty gut-wrenching.
Lee Mountford's writing style is definitely not in the vein of a Stephen King or the like, but I felt some semblances of maybe Brian Keene in this, which is definitely a good thing! Don't go into reading this book looking for beautiful prose, you won't find it. What you will find is an accessible style that strikes you directly in the jaw with a closed fist... or a baseball bat.
I saw a post on Goodreads from the Castle Terror group featuring this book as the feature read. Not only did I quickly jump online to order this book, but the other books in this Extreme Horror Series as well. If the other books in this series grabs me like this one did, then Mr. Mountford, you got yourself a new fan!!! show less

DANNI MORGAN THOUGHT SHE KNEW FEAR, BUT SHE IS ABOUT TO FIND OUT WHAT IT IS TO BE TRULY AFRAID.
Danni had escaped her abusive father and left behind everything that reminded her of her loving mother, now Danni has to return to the house one more time. She has returned to bury the body of the man that tormented her for so very long. Her past is tinted with the awful memories of what she had to endure while growing up. The things that were done to her, were inhumane to say the least. Her once show more loving father seemingly had turned into a monster after her mother committed suicide in the farm’s mill. He had abused Dani in every way possible or imaginable.... some were "unimaginable"! To say that she was not interested in going back to that awful place would have been the understatement of the entire century.

Her husband had other plans. He thought that if she went back to the farm, one more time and faced her fears, that she would be able to overcome them and leave everything behind once and for all. He had the questionable, less than brilliant idea of staying in that awful nightmare of a house because he was sure that that would help Danni. As soon as the family settles in, weird and scary things start to happen. Alex, the son, swears that he saw a scary old lady with a black smile. The poor child couldn’t even begin to imagine what was about to unfold. The daughter, Leah, then decided that she wanted to take a shower. She quicky changes her mind after seeing a man, standing by the bathroom door, looking at her and giving her a predatory smile.

Guess what? Dear old Jon... I started calling him "the utterly stupid husband", believes that the kids just have an "overactive imagination" and they just need more time to get use to the spooky old house. The "utterly stupid husband" will come to regret ever suggesting going to that "hell hole" of a house. As the story goes on, we learn what truly happen while Danni was growing up. We can also see the true evil that lurks inside that house. The evil that took her mother's life and immediately went after her father and never let him go. If you are thinking about reading this, I have to warn you that the things that were done to Dani are sick by any sane persons understanding and completely unbelievable.

I hated the "utterly stupid husband". Everything that happened to him was SOOO deserved. He was unwilling to see anything for what it was...only as being either "black or white". According to him, everything has a totally "reasonable" explanation. I wanted to shake him until he understood that there are things that science simply CAN NOT explain. Things that we cannot, and I don’t think we ever will be able to comprehend...we just have to accept them, try and avoid them, and move on. I couldn't imagine why he was so willing to put his family in so much danger just to teach them a lesson and to prove a point. The man deserved to meet the evil that lived in that house head on!

And the ending...? I know that it’s a horror story, dah...that’s why I read it, but I totally hated the way it ended. Those two children had had enough, especially the son, He didn't need anything else. That's all I'm going to say about that...only it wasn't the ending that I thought or hoped, would happen.

The story was well written and had the right "number of spooks" that I wanted, but it also had the ability to make me really angry. I believe if you read it, you will completely understand. show less

OMG! Was this written just for me, the "Ghost Story Junkie:? Quiet possibly....and I hope this author is planning a 50 or so book series here. It certainly clicked all the reasons that I love ghost stories. It begins with "Britain's most Haunted House"...Perron Manor...in the present time. The history of this mansion goes way back to its very construction. There were periods of dormancy followed by absolutely horrific events. The last tragedy recorded there was when Chloe was only six years show more old, and was staying there as her parents helped her Uncle and his partner, Marcus. Chloe and Sarah weren't worried after all "....the past can't hurt you"...right? The fact that her family was the ONLY survivor has completely slipped her mind. So Chloe and her sister Sarah move in along with Chloe's husband and small child. ". . . Back to Devil's House . . . " Now the fun truly begins. The parts that dealt with the house itself and its sordid, bloody history were in a word, "captivating"... to say the least. "This house is special. It is, I believe, alive.". If only they knew...but they are by this time beyond any reasonable resemblance of clear thought or reasonable actions. The best thing they could have done was throw a match in a big puddle of gasoline and RUN. I'm not going to say much more about the outcome but let's just say the reader might want to start checking windows and doors and make sure you have plenty of light. I don't scare easily but part of this were almost heart stopping. show less

This was a spooky ride into a lunatic asylum!

A backstory:

Sarah Pearson along with Father Luca Janosch is being sent by the Bishop Turnbull to an abandoned asylum that is rumored to be haunted, though the Church fears that something else lurks in the deep dark places of the asylum and they want Sarah and Father Janosch to check it out as it is somehow tied into Sarah's past with Perron Manor.

Though when Sarah and Father Janosch get to the asylum they are met by a man name "Jake" who lets it show more be known that he is there to protect them which they don't understand the why of it, but they decide to let him come along.

Before they enter the place though a security guard (Trevor) intercepts them letting them know that he watches out for the place and he will go along with them inside. Sarah and Father Janosch are wary of Trevor as they don't understand why he is guarding a place that is abandoned, but they shrug it off and let him go with them as well.

Once they are all inside though things change for the worse as Trevor is not what they thought and the deeper they go, the more Sarah starts having "feelings" of things not being right as her psychic abilities are kicking into overdrive! The asylum comes alive with the ghosts from the past along with something evil and ancient that is stalking Sarah!

What is stalking Sarah? What is haunting the asylum? Does everyone make it out alive? No spoilers here as you will need to read the book!

Thoughts:

This was a great installment in the Haunted series! Though this book took a little time to get going as there was a background buildup to the asylum, but once the characters, Sarah and Father Janosch start exploring the asylum is when the story goes deep into the haunted realm of hell! I was careening through the story from the 30% mark onward flipping through the pages as when things started happening I had a hard time putting the book down!

From the 50% mark forward I had a hard time going to sleep as so much was happening with the characters that my insomnia stayed fueled for a couple or so nights!

This series has been rocking along since the first book with ghosts/demons and this book is no exception as it keeps the fast pace moving at breath taking speed! Looking forward to the next installment to this excellent horror series! Giving this one five Asylum Apparition stars! show less