Anika O’Brien’s husband, Rory, has been missing for two weeks leaving her and her son alone in their Mayfair house. When a ransom note is delivered to the police, Anika sees no other option than to pay it and hope for Rory’s return. While the police continue to try and track down what has happened, she waits anxiously only for the sound of a sobbing woman to start in the house. As the haunting continues, the news comes in that her husband’s body had been found. But as Anika struggles to come to terms with the loss and the uncovered facts that her husband had been involved in mob business, the police suspect she is still in danger. As Anika tries to understand what might be happening, the haunting reaches it’s peak as her husband’s associates decide to make their move against Anika.

A short story interweaving crime and horror in a short, punchy tale. The plot moves quickly as it cuts quickly from scene to scene filling in the important details while still giving a little bit of the background. Most of the exposition is neatly told as part of the story instead of being explained to any reader and it still finds time to give little hints and details of Anika’s life without missing too much. I was slightly disappointed with the ending it both came suddenly and there was a lack of setup from what had been mentioned in the rest of the story, with a certain amount of misdirection thrown in as well. Of the main characters, only Anika is really fleshed out, whereas the police are given enough to have them support the story without really contributing to it. Even here, some further background to give hints of where the plot had come from would be helpful.

Looking at the book, the formatting of it is slightly disappointing. The chapter headings were indistinct from the rest of the text, which makes it feel like one long piece instead and some of the italics and text colours have gone awry. Otherwise, the spelling and grammar are fine. As for the author, Surprisingly there is very little about them in the book or their other works.

Overall, it’s a good read, with some suitably spooky moments, but overall it falls short of really giving a good scare.