Naomi's Room

Stay out of Naomi's room, better yet stay out of the whole house. Pretty good ghost-haunted house creeper that will keep you entertained to the very end. You're not going to find Casper here because those beyond the pall have their own fun and games for us that are left behind. As in all good ghost stories the revenants are bad news. This is no rattle the silverware and move the furniture around type of haunting, these are ghosties that can reach out and grab you and cut your arm off.

Our poor narrator doesn't have a chance and the whimperings about exorcisms go by the wayside as the body count gets out of hand and everyone forgets about that particular palliative. It wouldn't have worked anyway because things on the other side are not show more as easily dealt with as you may think. Leave it to say that the existence of an afterlife here is not a comforting thought. Better off dead. show less

I'm just going to come right out and say it. This book scared the living shit out of me! I really didn't think it was going to be that scary or affect me as much as it did. I started reading Naomi's Room yesterday night around 8pm. I put it down at 9:30pm after reading 60 pages because I was just too terrified to continue in the dark. This is truly horror at its absolute best.

My favorite type of horror stories are not those gross out gory ones that try to outdo a crapload of other novels to see which one is the grossest, but rather the ones with the simplistic plot of a haunted house. There's nothing scarier for me than the thought of an old, creepy haunted house. If you add in an atmospheric and gloomy premise as well as a story show more that's fast paced as all get out, then you pretty much have a book that's a total win with me. Naomi's Room did all of this and more. It started out with the creepy and didn't let up until the brief end. Things went bump in the night most of the time and the times that things weren't going bump in the night, they were just shocking the hell out of you. I didn't see anything that happened in this book coming! Just one shock after another until I literally had to pick my jaw up off the ground.

So, if you're in the mood for a creepy, scary, Halloween read, look no further than Naomi's Room. One thing though: Not for the faint of heart at all. There is some gore in here even though there isn't much graphic detail in it, but it is bizarre, shocking, and absolutely terrifying. If you're one of those people who's not really into horror but want to get a brief taste of it to see if you can continue, DON'T read Naomi's Room. Instead read another creepy read that is highly recommended (not just by me, but countless others) called Come Closer. But if you already have a few horror books under your belt and absolutely know with every fiber of your being that it's the genre for you, pick up Naomi's Room and scare yourself silly. show less

Some passages in this book feel more tell than show, no doubt because it’s written in first person, making the recollections of the protagonist’s investigation into the background of the hauntings occasionally a little tedious, but the spooky happenings were more immediate, speeding by, and kept me riveted so that I finished this book in a single day. The supernatural occurrences are unsettling as they should be, though not frightening. Still, the picture of child murder and the lonely cry of the restless dead is well portrayed, making Naomi a painfully real character. Surely a must-read for those with a liking for ghost stories, though some elements spoilt the story for me. Alas, I’m unable to say more without spoilers, and when show more reading a horror novel (which this is undoubtedly is), it’s hard to be selective regarding scenes of torment. What disturbs one reader another person will shrug off. What seems ‘acceptable’ is a matter of semantics. I thought this would be an excellent film. show less

Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe is the best 'ghost story' I've read in a long time.

Four year old Naomi goes missing from a toy store on Christmas Eve when shopping with her father and is later found murdered.

A photographer watching the house during the case captures Naomi's image on his camera and Naomi's father is disturbed by strange sounds in the house. Investigating the history of the family home, he also discovers some horrific secrets.

Naomi's Room is a classic ghost story, however I was thrilled when it took an unexpected turn. I believe this change took courage from the author but I want to be clear that it's not a twist (e.g. the narrator is not a ghost or anything).

The plot was so refreshing that it took this novel from a show more solid three stars to an easy four stars for me. I highly recommend Naomi's Room for those who enjoy a quick and easy ghost story with a touch of horror. show less

Charles Hillenbrand and his young daughter Naomi are in London, last minute shopping in the Christmas rush and excitement. All of a sudden Naomi has disappeared. After an exhaustive search, it is apparent that something is very wrong. It's not long until her tortured and mutilated body is found. Charles and wife Laura are completely devastated.

Photographers inundate the hillenbrand's every move. Charles and his wife Laura, distraught at Naomi's death, await the police investigation anxious for their daughter's killer to be found and dealt with. While they are waiting, Charles is accosted by a press photographer named Lewis. Lewis has taken numerous photographs of the Hillenbrand's and the house they live in and he shows them to show more Charles. Uncanny as it seems, within these pictures are Naomi, two little girls wearing Victorian dress , a woman in gray, and a man. In the meantime, the inspector in charge of the case is found dead under mysterious circumstances, and his body found in the very church where articles of Naomi's clothing were found.

Charles is now determined to solve the mystery of the little girls with Naomi in the pictures and possibly to find the perpetrator of his own daughter's death. Lewis develops more pictures that show the ghosts have been the constant companions of the Hillenbrands, apparently since they've bought the house in which they now live. Who are they? Why are they haunting Charles and Laura? Soon Charles begins to suspect the malevolent presence he feels whispering to him is the former owner of the home; a Doctor Liddley. Driven and increasingly fearful, Charles seeks to find out who Liddley was and why he, the woman, and the two little girls have attached themselves to the house and to Hillenbrand himself and what it is that Liddley is trying to tell him.

Be warned. Because this is a story about the murder of children and because the book is dark and violent, this story is not for everyone. Aycliffe expertly uses foreshadowing to lead the reader to turn just one more page, building piece upon piece, ghost upon ghost. I just knew this wasn't going end well, but I had to find out just what happened to Charles and his family and why.


Be warned again. Aycliffe does detail the horror of Naomi's death, how long it took and what happened to her, in clear prose. I don't read a lot of ghost/story horror and only did so because of a reading challenge from the Watauga Public Library. This books fits "a book that scared you" category. Upon starting the book, I finished it in less than 24 hours. I was intrigued by the the author's writing style and particularly the rich vocabulary. I admit that I had to google a word or tow for the meaning.

If there is ever a movie made from this book, I don't think I want to see it. show less

This book is hard for me to rate and review. Also the cover is really stupid and a bad misrepresentation of what this book is about. Naomi is a sweet little girl who disappears and is found murdered. Why is there a scantily-clad woman on the cover?

On the one hand, it was really well written and hard to put down. I could've easily read it in one sitting but didn't have time so forced myself to stop at the end of a chapter before time-specific deadlines. (i.e. finish current chapter by 9:30am because I need to make breakfast for the 94-yo)

If you like books of this genre and are easily sucked into the story and like to be scared and on the edge of your seat, this book is a must-read.

However, I'm a skeptic about all things supernatural. show more The Exorcist (which was poorly written in my opinion) didn't scare me or even unsettle me, and neither did this one. I'm pretty mad at it because I want to be hiding under my protective duvet after reading such a book.

But yah, if you're a huge fan of this genre, make sure this book is top of your stack!!!!! show less

A genuinely frigtening horror - Aycliffe has a way of really getting under your skin. I bought a lovely boxed set special years ago and it came with a talking cassette (yes, that long ago) and I really couldn't listen to it in the room by myself; I found it absolutely terrifying. It's a short book recounting the story of a man whose daughter disappeared years ago during a shopping trip. It has a real air of ghost stories of old - it needs reading by candlelight on a Winter's evening. Go on. I dare you!