Absolute Horror Book Forum

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold.

I confess this is in no way a horror book - though I will try and make an issue of it being a "Ghost Story" without the ghost.

I read Lovely Bones and found the best book I'd ever read. Sebold's writing spoke to me and took me into the tale of an abused and murdered girl. This WAS definitely a "Ghost Story" since the ghost was telling the tale.

When Sebold released this novel I bought it straight away, though how her previous novel affected me I didn't get to reading it straight away, I knew there would be a correct time to read this novel - and that was a couple of weeks ago.

Right from the beginning line I was hooked - "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily."

From then on you get to see her life, not only from the dreadful incident forward, but into her thoughts of the past and how she arrived at the point of her mothers murder.

A major part of this is Sebold's art at bringing to life the memories of Clair Knightly's mother and father, who we find as we read through the tale, are both afflicted by mental illness and stress. It is this part of the novel which is the "Ghost Story". Even though her parents are dead, and there are no physical ghosts in the tale, the ghosts of her parents (through her memories) affect her and are a major and contributing part of the story.

The other reason I'm including it here is because I finished the book in just under two days. Now I plod through books and novels as I love to read every word and take in the very soul of the story into my soul. I think this is why I prefer films over series and I never touch reality shows (I want my money's worth). I got more than my money's worth with this one, Alice Sebold is now one of my favourite authoresses. She has the skill to take the everyday and weave it into an enthralling story, her characters are so realistic I find myself actually seeing myself within them.

There was one scary thing though. I'm a forty something and the plot of this novel will hit close to home for quite a few of us and older, I believe (and how many of them will actually own up to having an affinity to this story?).

9/10

Come join me - We ALL Float Down Here.

PENNYWISE Stephen

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