Ghosts in the House

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Narrative of the Weird
Review: 'Ghosts in the House' by Shirley Jones is a true account of one family's chilling encounter with the supernatural world that leaves the reader with the feeling that something else may be in the room with them, watching.

Beginning in the late 80's with the purchase of a house they could fix up the way they liked, Ms. Jones begins to recount her family's collision with the paranormal. Soon afterward the reader is taken on a nightmarish journey through their eight-year torment. An ordeal that leaves behind family tensions, broken friendships and almost drives her son and brother insane.

The conversationalist style with which her story is written is refreshingly different than the usual tone of other novels in this genre and gives it a credibility and sincerity that would have been almost impossible otherwise.

- Steve Doss, editor
Narratives of the Weird

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: For what you pay for the book it takes about an hour and 1/2 to read. Could have been more.

Rating:
Summary: A Strange Tale from the Heartland
Review: This is probably the most bizarre first - person account of someone's brush with the supernatural that I've read in several years.

Ms. Jones writes about moving into an old, ramshackle house in St. Louis's Old Historic Area (she also gives the address), which she and her husband begin trying to renovate. Things begin to go wrong from the start, when the family pet appears to die from fright and no other animal will stay in the house.

Things get worse. They begin to notice all manner of poltergeist activity and even see ghostly manifestations. At one point in her story, Ms. Jones even describes how one of the ghosts prevents her from bleeding to death in her sleep!

They also begin to find the remains of numerous dead animals all over the property, as well as what appears to have been some kind of animal sacrifice in an attic crawl space. The neighbors then start telling them about the dark history of the house, yet never in enough detail to truly explain what's going on.

Eventually, her family's mental health begins to break down under the dark influence of the house and they decide they have to get out before a real tragedy strikes.

And that's just some of what's in this creepy little memoir.

Now, to be fair to anyone reading this, I have to point out the book's problems, some of which are the fault of Publish America. PA appears not to have editors or proofreaders, because the book contains a lot of typos and grammatical errors that even the most green editor would catch and correct before the book went to press.

It is also obvious that Ms. Jones isn't a professional writer, so the mistakes she makes, along with the nonexistent editing and proofing provided by the publisher are often glaring and annoying. I have to wonder why PA would go to the expense of publishing a book while leaving these errors, when it could seriously impair the book's reception by the public?

Still, I can sometimes overlook questionable grammar if the content of what I'm reading really interests me and I was certainly able to do this with Ms. Jone's disturbing story. There are no slick or dramatic tricks in her writing, which is a plus in some ways. After reading this, I feel as if I know her and I know how she must sound in person. Her story reads as if she were sitting at her kitchen table and was telling a friend or neighbor about her encounter with the supernatural.

And I really couldn't ask for more than that.