Dark Inspiration by Russell James

This is as much about the prejudices of a small town as it is about the Ghost Story.  Yes, the bulk of the story is about Galaxy Farm but it was the little bits tossed in there about the locals reactions to out-of-towners moving in to the Old Hutchinson place that really stuck with me.  In particular when Laura starts working as a long term substitute teacher at the Local Elementary School, the staff reaction to her is downright chilling.  Yes, this is a tiny bit of the story and related in an almost throw away style but I found it probably more disturbing than the actual ghost story.

I was relieved this wasn't about the house itself being evil - I will admit to having a few reservations that this was going to be a "take" on Shirley Jackson's Hill House.  There are similarities but only because you have to explain where the hauntings come from, at least there is no flashback device used here - we find out the history of the house along with Doug when he sets out to investigate the history of the house after Laura starts having very specific dreams about twin girls and even hears something like child's laughter.

The tension builds slowly up to the climax and I found it sucked me right in and I kept having that "just one more chapter" feeling.  The author does a great job of almost normalising Doug's breakdown after he finds the hidden attic and starts to unlock it's secrets - of course an attic cannot be hidden, there is always going to be that roof space but someone did a good job of trying to hide the access to it.  Some bits did remind me of The Shining, especially Laura's reveal at the end of the book about what she found when she investigated Doug's Great American Novel.

This was so much better than I expected it to be, I think it took me a little bit by surprise.  The tale is narrated by both Laura and Doug and you get a great sense of each protagonist on the page and there is a matter-of-factness to the events at Galaxy Farm.  The ghost story itself is wound quite deftly in to their tale and although there are scenes that shock, they are not shocking (if that makes sense) and I was never left feeling that something was there just for effect (sadly something that proliferates in the genre).

Well plotted and full of suspense.  This book really gave me hope that the horror genre still has a lot to give.