Some houses breathe…Elle is thrilled to spend a month minding the beautiful Gillespie property. More than an hour’s drive from town and surrounded by forests, the aging mansion is ideal for someone seeking solitude.But things start to go very wrong, very quickly.Elle discovers a crumbling graveyard nestled in the woods. It contains a generation of the house’s residents, all with an identical … the house’s residents, all with an identical year of death.
Scratching in the walls… slamming doors… whispers in the night… a locked room…
As Elle explores deeper into the house, she begins to unravel the property’s dark history. At its centre is Jonathan Gillespie, a tyrannical cult leader and the house’s original owner.
And as Elle soon learns – just because he’s dead, doesn’t mean he’s gone.
Includes a bonus short story, Crawlspace, which inspired Gillespie House.
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Spooky and haunting.
A small backstory:
Elle gets the opportunity to house-sit the Gillespie property, but as wonderful as the outside and inside seems to be, Elle is eager to learn why some rooms in the mansion are closed off. The owners are going to be gone for a whole month and Elle has the chance to explore the mansion. If needed, Elle has been provided a phone number to reach them just in case.
As Elle starts to settle into the place she starts hearing scratching within the walls along with whispers. The more she explores the more she is curious of why one door is locked up tight. When she decides on her own to break into the room is when things start getting strange. The house wakes up and sometimes the past wants to intrude on the present as Elle soon realizes that the cult leader, Jonathan Gillespie might be haunting the mansion and he is coming for her!
Thoughts:
This was a creepy and atmospheric haunting as I made my way through the storyline. This could have been a five star read except though it had lots of atmosphere and had some creepy vibes, I was never totally spooked out of my skin like some of the ghost books I have read by Darcy Coates.
I didn’t have no breath hitching that I have had in the past when reading her books. This is still a great ghost story and it has lots of spook moments but nothing that kept me awake all night reading afraid to go to sleep. Giving this book four “Creepy and Crazy Cult Leader” stars!
I love how Darcy writes. Her stories are very scary without being gory. Always has strong female characters. Enjoy all of her books.
This story gave me a lot of mixed feelings. On one hand, I enjoyed the atmosphere the author created, and the way they made the house come alive for the reader the same way it did for Elle. And I loved the way we got to see some of the past and the history of the Gillespie family through her dreams.
But on the other hand, some of the idiotic things Elle did over the course of the story made her a hard character to like. In fact, I have never been more convinced that a character had no sense of self-preservation than I was with her. Between creeping around in the dark with nothing but a candlestick for protection to trying to open a mausoleum (for what purpose I ask) I continually found myself shaking my head at her actions.
Then there was the part where she intentionally broke down the door to a locked room (and honestly, there wasn’t an easier way to get in there? Look for the key perhaps? Or see about taking the door off the hinges) for no other reason than she “thought” she heard a noise in there. Yup. In a room that was locked, in a house that she had been staying in for days, all of the sudden it become too great and she literally used a crowbar to break into a room. And then despite realizing what it was and the reason for it being locked, she proceeded to violate their trust and privacy even more by snooping through the things that had been left in there.
I feel like some of these issues could have been overlooked had the ending not felt so rushed and sort of anti-climatic. I definitely felt like there was something crucial missing from the final sequence, but I can’t identify what exactly it was. It also seemed kind of weird that the Gillespie’s would just allow Elle to continue living in the home, but I definitely understand why they no longer wanted to.
In the end, I believe that people who enjoy paranormal stories that are on the shorter side will definitely enjoy this one.
This is the first time I’ve read a book from this author, so it took me a little while to get into it. Once the main character discovered a cemetery though, it had my full attention. Having said that, this book didn’t ‘wow’ me. I didn’t think much of the main character and some of her actions, and the plot fell flat for me (there was no explanation for what she finds in the mausoleum).
The ending was not what I was expecting, and as I looked for more, read the short story ‘Crawlspace’ that accompanied it. This became the inspiration behind the novel and I think I prefer that better.
The author does maintain a good atmosphere, which is what kept me going.
Don’t bother trying to read this book. It’s awful.
Another Excellent book by this Author. I highly recommend it!!!!
The Haunting of Gillespie House
by Darcy Coates
This was a pretty good haunted house book with an interesting backstory and unique characters. A gal is house sitting a mansion but the dead make themselves known. Good suspense and good ending!
Good narrator too!
I want to start off by saying that I won this book in a goodreads giveaway. In return for my honest thoughts and review. I have never read anything by Darcy Coates and after reading this story. I will be auto buying any of her books. They way she tells a story and keeps you guessing. When I first started reading this book it was at night. And why did I have nightmares about a creepy house. I highly recommend this author books. This book is also a short read. But didn’t disappoint me. This book is creepy and nail biting on what is going to happen next.
About Book-
Elle is house sitting for the Gillespie while they are away on a couple trip. When Elle starts hearing and going around the house. She uncovers the mystery of the house and when and how the house was built and how long its been passed down. and the things hidden and secrets kept. Again amazing story.
Don’t read alone. It’s very difficult to read with your eyes closed…ha ha. Seriously though this story had all the good stuff that a “scary” story should have. Just like with a good scary movie, I found myself telling Elle, “I wouldn’t do that” and such.
It’s obvious Darcy Coates is a terrific storyteller my reasons behind not being able to give a 5th star are: 1) misspelled/incorrect word usage (not owing to different spellings between countries), 2) clothingmysteriously disappearing/changed, she goes from wearing a dressing gown to having bare arms just a few paragraphs later. Also from wearing pajamas to suddenly wearing jeans.
Overall I would encourage people who enjoy suspenseful books to give it a read.
Quick read but very haunting. I really love Darcy’s writing style. This is the 3rd book of hers I have read and they are not disappointing. I kind of thought there was only so many ways to write about haunted houses but Darcy does a great job keeping them separated. The stories are all different and catch your interest right off the bat.
Crawlspace: Bonus Short Story at the end.
Wow what a read, for being so short it was good!
If you love a good ghost story, you will love this book. It makes you sit up and take notice from the start of the story. Could not put it down and had to find out what would happen next. The main living character, Elle, was interesting and well thought out. She did not just let events go unnoticed, she sought out the truth and made things happen. Truly enjoyed this story, love a good ghost story. This book grabs you by the throat and holds you until the story is finished. It leaves you wanting to get to know more about Elle and the adventures she has ahead of her. Read this book through my prime membership and really enjoyed it.
3½ stars. This is the first book I read by Darcy Coates. It was very creepy. A good, solid, haunted house story. If it were a movie, It would be rated PG or PG-13. I enjoyed it.