The Taken

Mass market novel in the SK/McCammon mold that manages to rise above the mediocre by taking some chances with the usual horror plot tropes. Not Shakespeare by any means but buoyed up by above average prose and well drawn characters. A nice entertaining read with a bittersweet finish.

In looking for something on the spooky side of the horror genre, I kept seeing some of Sarah Pinborough's books and decided to try The Taken. What an enjoyable read. This is a creepy ghost story involving a rather evil child. There is nothing really new here in that Sarah creates a claustrophobic little town with a secret being besieged by ghosts. However, she does give the ghost story a little twist.
I'll be reading more of Sarah Pinborough as I read through some of her previous books.

Pinborough's language deftly unsettles, disturbs, and evokes fear. She us a master at making your skin prickle in a few short paragraphs.

In a small village in Somerset, England, thirty years ago, ten-year-old Melanie Parr met a horrible fate during a storm. She was a very bad, evil child. Now she is back and she wants revenge on those she holds responsible...

At first, I was enjoying this book, it was creepy with good atmosphere. The young girl Melanie was horrible. But I really disliked how things turned out at the end.

A disappointing read.

In a small English farming village, Alex watches and a storm rages and her life falls apart around her. Inside the unrelenting storm, strange children are appearing and mysterious deaths are occurring. Slowly Alex unwinds the mystery of the last time such a storm came to town, 30 years ago.

This is a really good "ghost" story. It is creepy and compelling. I really liked many of the characters, flawed as they were. This is a great winter's read. Curl up with something warm to drink and enjoy.

Really creepy little ghost story novel. Transcends cliche for much of its length.....ending a bit rushed, but overall solid and entertaining. Good summer read.

This book was okay, but not as good as I had hoped it would be. It wasn't really bad, but I just had trouble with staying interested in it.