3 out of 4 stars
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Psychic Shadows by Eric Smith is a book in the horror genre. The novella is described as an Irish Ghost story.
The story is set in Dublin in 2014. Laura O’Kelly has volunteered to act as a medium for the séance meeting at the Psychic Center. The séance meeting is conducted in remembrance of Matthew O’Donovan and his family, who bequeathed his home to a spiritual society to convert it into the Psychic Center, where psychic practitioners from across the world can congregate. Matthew O’Donovan’s ghost communicates with the members present at the meeting through Laura, and narrates to them how he and his family were murdered. Laura is unnerved by her experience as a median, but doesn’t make much of it. Even when she starts foreseeing mundane things which are about to happen and wins the Home lottery, she doesn’t feel anything unusual. Glad on winning the lottery, Laura, with her daughter Jamie Lee and boyfriend, Mark, immediately move into their new residence. They are greeted with the sight of a black cat that seems to be guarding the house. This is the first ominous sign of the night of horror which is about to unfold. Will the three of them make it out safely next morning?
There is nothing new or spectacular about the storyline. It recycles the cliché story of a haunted house with a few twists in the tale. The story is description heavy which is expected and it is pretty effective in heightening the senses of the reader. Much of the novella reads out like a play or a drama which again, is a good trick to excite the imagination of the reader. The writing style of the author makes the story play out like a film in the reader’s mind, thus making it more alive somehow.
The author has tried to focus a lot on the character’s psychology to make it seem that the fear is emanating from the protagonist’s perception. This wins a brownie point for the author because the author does not resort to blood or evil creatures to make the book scary. Another plus point is crisp and articulate writing style which makes use of symbolism to create certain depth in the story.
The negative part is that, despite the recycling, the story fails to come across as something fresh from the oven. Also, the plot twists aren’t unraveled smoothly and left the reader feeling confused. It was a quick read, but I was dissatisfied with the story and felt that perhaps a little more detail would have done justice to the tale. I rate it 3 out of 4 stars.
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Psychic Shadows
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