Book Review - The Militia House: A Novel by John Milas

 

The Militia House: A Novel by John Milas is about Corporal Loyette and his squad finding a haunted house. In 2010, Alex Loyette was promoted to Corporal and team lead of his squad. He and his unit are working at a new base in Kajaki, Afghanistan and working to finish up their deployment to go to the next location.

Their duties are straightforward but essential to the new base. They unload and load cargo in and out of helicopters.  When there are no deliveries to be made, the unit finds themselves bored and with limited things to do, they are looking for any opportunity to occupy themselves. 

Before their allied British soldiers leave the base for their next assignment, they tell Loyette and his men about a rumor that is circulating the base. Not too far off from base is an old Soviet-era militia house that they claim is haunted. After spending their days being bored, Loyette and his unit don't need much convincing to make the trip outside of the base to explore the haunted barrack.

They decide to take a short excursion during the day when they are not assigned any duties. They thought it was all a joke about the place being haunted, until they enter the militia house and realize that something doesn’t feel right. In the days that follow, they try to forget the house but they have strange and unsettling dreams. Then weird things start to happen around their own base. They thought it was the stress from being in war but, maybe it’s something else that won’t let them go.

The book was an okay read and moved very slowly. It did have some spooky elements but nothing that might cause nightmares. The book was a bit hard to get into in the beginning as the author used a lot of military terminology and didn't really explain what they meant until much later. The pace also didn’t pick up towards the last quarter of the story.  There were quite a few pages where nothing really happened other than reading about their day to day. It was an interesting glimpse into military processes and procedures. The novel was a quick read but I found the ending disappointing. I wish the author told us why the militia house seemed to target Loyette and his men and what was haunting them. Along with the importance of the stick figures and porcupine needles. It was an okay read and I might be open to reading another book by the author if it's not very military focused.

Book Review - The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates

 

The Carrow House is the most haunted in the state and Remy is the tour guide for it. People are superstitious about the house but, Remy hasn't seen any proof of paranormal activity. A guest from her tour offers to host her and six other people in a two-week-long stay to document and research the paranormal activity at the house. Remy is excited about the opportunity because she always wanted to experience the sightings first hand.

On the first day there, the guests experience their first ghost encounter.  They are excited and can't wait to see more. However, a storm moves in and cuts off all contact with the outside world. Things quickly turn sinister when doors are opening on their own, ghostly apparitions are making more frequent appearances, and their seances go wrong. The spirit medium that is hired to assist with the seances, keeps night walking in a trance. When one of the guests dies under strange circumstances, they fear that the ghost of the original homeowner might be among them. However, the homeowner was a renowned serial killer. Will they be able to escape before it's too late?

I have read quite a few books by the author and I really enjoyed this novel. I thought it was equal amounts of spooky and creepy. I believe she borrowed elements from H.H. Holmes's story.  There were a few predictable moments as this book follows the same structure as her other haunted story novels. However, I still enjoyed reading the book and look forward to reading her other books.

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