Review: The Ghost Files by Apryl Baker
Oh my God, this is one of the best books I've read this year (I know we're still halfway through). It kept me up all day that I was bound to my seat the moment I read the first page. It has a very intriguing plot, one that will engage the senses.
Author: Apryl Baker
Series: The Ghost Files #1
Publishing Date: August 13, 2013
Publisher: Limitless Publishing
Language: English
Genre: Horror, YA, Paranormal
ISBN: 1680580590
Edition: Kindle
Size: 275
Soon to be a major motion picture!
Cherry blossom lipstick: checkSmokey eyes: check
Skinny jeans: check
Dead kid in the mirror: check
For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway, this is her normal everyday routine. She’s been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too.
Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. That is until she see’s the ghost of her foster sister… Sally.
Everyone thinks Sally’s just another runaway, but Mattie knows the truth—she’s dead. Murdered. Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can’t do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young policeman, Officer Dan, and together they set out to discover the real truth behind Sally’s disappearance.
Only to find out she’s dealing with a much bigger problem, a serial killer, and she may be the next victim… Will Mattie be able to find out the truth before the killer finds her?
I didn't have a good relationship with The Ghost Files at first. That's not because of the narration. I'm referring to the very cover. The art is amazing. The problem was the lack of shimmer on the font-face. The design for the fonts looks so drab, it made me think that this novel is as corny as cheap ghost story books you find on any local bookstore. You can find hundreds of them from at least five publishing houses in my country. Long story short, don't judge this book based on the cover (ugly coloring and placement of fonts).
Mathilda Louise Hathaway is a 16-year old girl staying at her latest and coziest home so far. She's been taken into the foster home system at the ripe age of five since her mother tried to kill her with 8 stabs on the chest before slitting her own throat. After that fateful day, she awoke in the hospital seeing ghosts. For more than a decade, she'd tried ignoring ghosts as best she could until one of her foster sisters showed up to her with a bullet hole in her forehead.
Foster kids only have themselves as family. They'd always help each other out. Providing justice to one of her own is the least thing that Mattie could do even if they'd known each other only for a short amount of time. But how is she to exact justice with ghosts only to provide as her leads?
Children ghosts have been coming up to her seeking for help. They had one thing in common: a bullet hole in their heads. A serial killer might be on the loose and only Mattie could pull together the loose ends to finding out the truth. But first things first, she needs to face her gift that's slowly becoming a curse when ghosts could do serious harm to her.
I love how the author, Apryl Baker, made the mystery solvable without appearing too conspicuous. What I like about this book more? There are so many handsome guys surrounding the heroine! There's Jake Owens, a major hottie in school, the football captain who happens to be Mattie's boyfriend. There's the young cop, Officer Dan Richards who's more than willing to help her with the case. There's Mason James, an 18-year old Chemistry prodigy whom we are yet to know more in the upcoming books of the series. And another guy (I won't say his name for spoiler) who still looks hot even in the afterlife.
Many (especially women) might find trouble with Mattie's seeming lack of loyalty or attachment. To me, with her ripe age of 16, she's at that stage of attraction exploration most especially that she's the fighting kind, I mean she kicks ass because of her traumatizing background. To be easily attracted to a lot of guys (since she is attracted to them) is a form of defense mechanism albeit Mattie might not be aware of it. I don't know if the author deliberately designed Mattie that way because I find no qualm about this "flaw" of character as some girls especially with that kind of background tend to feel like Mattie.
Overall, Mattie is one fine lass even though some might raise their brows on her "looseness" when it comes to her feelings. What's better about her is not only does she know how to fight, she doesn't act on her feelings when it comes to guys. That's it, she's just exploring her emotions. As long as she keeps herself intact, I don't find anything wrong with her, not that I'd see her less the moment she acts on her feelings through physical contact. Mattie does act on her feelings though... by being careless that it wound her with lots of knife cuts, broken ankles and experience horror. But without this flaw, there won't be action in the plot.
Overall, The Ghost Files is one heck of a roller coaster experience with gore fest bonus.
Even I can appreciate a cute guy. How can a girl not? It's not the looking part that counts anyway. It's the touching. My theory is you can look at all the eye candy you want and still appreciate what you have at home.
We all have that inner fear of the dark, no matter how old we get. It's an ingrained instinct to fear the velvety blackness of the night, of things you can't quite see, but know deep down in your bones is there, waiting.
Greatt post
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