The Killing Room

From Amazon:

Once You Enter:

Old houses have their secrets. The Young residence--a beautiful Maine mansion overlooking the Atlantic--is no exception. But the secrets here are different. They can kill. . .

The Only Way Out

Carolyn Cartwright, private detective and ex-FBI agent, has been hired by Howard Young to investigate a string of gruesome family deaths. The crimes are horrific, brutal, and senseless. And the time has come for the killing to begin again. . .

Is To Die

One by one, members of the Young family are chosen to die. Old and young, weak and strong, no one is safe from a killer with a limitless thirst for revenge. And the only way for Carolyn to uncover the shocking truth is to enter the room no one has ever left alive--and make show more herself the next target.

My Thoughts:

For nine years and three hundred and sixty-four days, the Young Mansion in Maine is an ordinary home. The room that remains locked always is quiet except on the first day of a new decade. A sacrifice of a family member must be made so every ten years a lottery is held and the selected one is left inside the room. This has been going on since 1930. If you like ghostly tales then will thoroughly enjoy the locked room mystery inside a haunted house tale reminiscent of early Stephen King and Dean Koontz. There is a steady growing tension as the answers to the cause percolates, but the solution seems to never boil to the surface. The characters are a real mixture...some you will feel sorry for...some you will feel all their greed and fear...and then there are those that you will just hate. The Killing Room is more than a haunted room, though; it is about a past that has not been reconciled. It is about the battle between the value of money vs. love. Above all, and most importantly, it is about a family that the reader sees, hears, and feels the pain of as they continue to fall apart after each death, yet somehow, under the direst of circumstances, even the most conflicting of personalities come together for a greater cause. show less

I enjoyed this book, up until about 3/4 of the way through. The last quarter of the book really frustrated me. I felt the author took cheap and easy plot turns, bringing in paranormal elements that were not necessary although recently popular (i.e., zombies).

The characters were fairly well-developed, and I appreciated the way their backstory was woven into the plotline. There was not too much information dump, and when it was given in large chunks it was provided as part of the storyline. Overall, it worked.

I believe the author's greatest gift is in building suspense and giving an edge of psychological suspense - at times I wondered, is this real or is it the character's imagination? There were a couple of times near the start of the show more book that I looked over my shoulder when reading it at night. That, to me, is significant in the telling of a good ghost story. When overdone, you are laughing at the attempt and when underdone you are just not scared. This author managed to find the perfect balance, without going into scaring you so much you stop reading! Excellent storytelling.

If this had continued, I would have rated this book much higher than three stars. However, the main characters took too long to realize the impact of the Young family on the ghost. There was also some inconsistencies in characterization. For example, the old uncle consistently withheld information - but although the main characters realized this, they never questioned (until the very end) why he would do this. Also, with a background from the FBI, it seems our heroine would have cast an early suspicion on the Young family also being involved - and this should have grown with the increasing realization the family was keeping secrets. I was frustrated, and it seemed this was only serving as a plot device - I don't mind plot devices, but they must remain consistent with characterization already established.

Finally - the turning of David into a zombie at the end. There was no reason for him to return, and again I felt frustrated this was only a plot device. Once they realized he was a zombie, I felt it was almost a satire. However, there was no satire up to this point - so again I was left frustrated.

The strong beginning of this book, and the ability of the author to tell a good ghost story, kept this book at a solid three stars. It would have been five stars, if the above issues had been resolved to this reader's satisfaction.

My review: Save your money for the paperback, and minus the zombie, hope for a movie version. show less

Carol said: "The Killing Room is more than a haunted room, though; it is about a past that has not been reconciled. It is about the battle between the value of money vs. love. Above all, and most importantly, it is about a family that the reader sees, hears, and feels the pain of as they continue to fall apart after each death, yet somehow, under the direst of circumstances, even the most conflicting of personalities come together for a greater cause.

So I borrowed it and read it. It only took me a day, which I was glad because its just a creepy story about a vengeful baby ghost. They end the killing by "reuniting the baby with its mother". The benevolent Uncle Howie turns out to be a creep, which did not surprise me.

Every 10 years there is a lottery held in the Young family mansion on the coast of Maine. Every 10 years the name of one of the Young family, 16 or older, is drawn to spend the night in "the room". Every 10 years, someone is selected to die. It is required and none of the rules of the lottery can be breached. It has been tried and even more died.

It is again time for the lottery and Carolyn is hired to try to find a way to break the family curse. Will she be able to do it in time.

This is an enjoyable ghost story. Most of my complaints are related to the editing. Parts were repeated almost verbatim. Words were out of sequence or used improperly. At times it was enough to be irritating. This is a common problem with Kindle books but I am show more generally able to read through the errors. At times, this was difficult in this book. Nevertheless, I try not to rate a book because of this. The story was good, even though a few parts were poorly written. show less

This is the first ghost story I've ever read, and as of now, the only. Taking my inexperience into consideration; I think it's pretty good. There were some spelling/grammatical errors, and I have questions about the plot; but overall, good.

Talk about creepy. Wow! But, it was so good also.

Talk about creepy. Wow! But, it was so good also.