Review--The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James

 

A woman of limited means and even less experience must confront a vengeful spirit in this haunting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Broken Girls and The Sun Down Motel.

1920s England. Sarah Piper's lonely, threadbare existence changes when her temporary agency sends her to assist an obsessed ghost hunter. Alistair Gellis--rich, handsome, and scarred by World War I--has been summoned to investigate the spirit of the nineteen-year-old maid Maddy Clare, who is said to haunt the barn where she committed suicide.

Maddy hated men in life, and she will not speak to them in death. But Sarah is unprepared to confront an angry ghost--real or imagined--on her own. She's even less prepared for the arrival of Alistair's associate, rough, unsettling Matthew Ryder, also a veteran of the trenches, whose scars go deeper than Sarah can reach.

Soon, Sarah is caught up in a desperate struggle. For Maddy's ghost is no hoax--she's real, she's angry, and she has powers that defy all reason. Now, Sarah and Matthew must discover who Maddy was, where she came from, and what is driving her desire for vengeance--before she destroys them all....

 

The Haunting of Maddy Clare is my second book by Simone St. James and won't be my last! I continue to enjoy each of these mysteries St. James writes with a nice blend of paranormal elements, usually in the form of ghosts based on the two I read, plus a nice historical fiction setting. They are seemingly quick and easy reads with a nice mystery to boot!

Sarah is a young woman in need of a job, so when the temp agency she works for sends her to be an assistant for Alistair, she thinks it will be just an easy job of secretarial duties. But Alistair informs her he's in a very different line of work...one that involves ghost hunting! Alistair is trying to write a book that involves ghosts and hauntings. He currently wants to research a haunted barn that has the ghost of a young woman named Maddy who apparently killed herself there a few years ago. His main problem is that Maddy doesn't like any men coming into her barn.

Sarah never really seemed to think much of ghosts one way or another and in need of the money the job provides, she agrees. But Sarah's first encounter in the barn and hearing Maddy speak is enough to leave her shaken. And then in walks Alistair's usual assistant, Matthew. Matthew comes off as a grouchy grump and not at all pleased to find his friend has replaced him so quickly after he had to take a short trip. But since Sarah is pretty much needed on this job and since she doesn't want to leave, they both stay to assist Alistair.

Naturally, we get the grumpy/sunshine vibes from Matthew and Sarah. While I wouldn't necessarily say Sarah is Little Miss Sunshine, Matthew does give off plenty of Grumpy Gus vibes and then suddenly the two can't keep their hands off of each other! It was slightly predictable, but then when Matthew claims the first time will be the last time, you know there will be continual relationship drama between the two.

Meanwhile there is a bit of a mystery going on surrounding Maddy. Maddy's spirit doesn't quite remember the details of her death and soon Sarah finds herself trying to solve an old mystery and it leads to some dark and seedy secrets.

This was definitely an interesting read for sure! I felt that the pacing was done just right, dropping little hints of spookiness and building into the mystery surrounding Maddy which ends up having more than a few loose-ends as well. It was all woven together to form a pretty startling picture but one with satisfying results!

I guess my only complaint is that I wished there would have been more ghostly encounters with Maddy. I love a good scare (with books!) and while there were some creepy moments, I couldn't help but want more. Another little nuisance was that in the beginning we seemed to have a switch between using the characters' last names as their identifiers and then switch to first and then a little back and forth as to what is the proper way of addressing one another. There were just too many names going around for a little bit that I almost lost track of who was who! But once we got it clear as to how they would be addressing one another it was smooth sailing. 

I did enjoy what we were given though, I just think a few more jump scares would've gone a long way! The mystery elements were done perfectly! I really enjoyed how things turned out in this one and love how St. James weaves ghosts into her mysteries (at least with the two I've read and from what I have in my TBR can see the continuing pattern as well!)! They are fun and spooky mysteries and I can't wait to read more!

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars