Title: Shattered
Author: C.S. Kane
Genre: Dark Fiction, Horror, Novella
Age Group: Adult
Rating: 3,5 stars
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Stacey’s fiance Liam has just landed a new job in the city, and the young couple is forced to move into a low-budget flat in a seedy neighborhood. It’s not the the dream house they imagined, but it’s well within their price range and a short distance from Stacey’s graduate school.
Soon after they move in, however, Stacey begins to experience terrible nightmares, vivid hallucinations, cold spells, and frequent panic attacks. As she spirals deeper and deeper into what appears to be a physical and mental breakdown, putting her university career and relationship in jeopardy, she befriends the reclusive old woman next door who tells her chilling stories of the house’s former occupants.
Is Stacey going mad or is the dark history of 24 Claremont Street something that can’t and won’t be be ignored?
By now when you mentioned DarkFuse, I expect quality, and in that regard, Shattered certainly doesn’t fail. The book starts out with Liam and Stacey moving into their new appartment. Soon after they move, Stacey starts to have terrible nightmares and hallucinations. The longer she spends in the appartment, the more she suspects something terrible happened there. But what?
The reclusive old woman next door may be the only one capable of providing some answers.
The author had a rich vocabulary, endaring writing style, and a great way to portray characters. The story itself, however, wasn’t very original. Haunted appartment, couple moves in, one of them gets cold spells, hallucinations, and sees things that aren’t really there? Yeah, I’ve been there and done that about a dozen times. I was expecting some original twist thrown in here or there, but it never came. The background story as to how the appartment turned out haunted was intriguing, but it wasn’t all that original either.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book. The writing was superb, the characters were great and relatable, and I had some goosebumps while reading.
A nice read for fans of the dark fiction / horror genre, and a cool spin on the haunted house story, but not as original or refreshing as I would’ve liked.
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