Book Review - "The Ghoul Next Door"

“The Ghoul Next Door” by Victoria Laurie

Don’t worry, this book is only about a bunch of ghosts. Well, maybe you should worry a bit, ghosts connote happy spirits. The ghosts in this book are not them.

Psychic medium M.J., her psychic boyfriend Heath, and her childhood friend and partner in ghoul-hunting Gil (the team), are all targets for one evil entity. So evil, in fact, the murders go back about thirty years. And the three of them need to find out how one is related to others.

M.J.’s ex-boyfriend Steven is now engaged. And his fiancée Courtney has a brother Luke, who’s in trouble. It seems he’s being haunted and intermittently possessed by an evil entity that relishes the taste and smell of blood. And it all starts and ends with one house on Stoughton Street.

Luke thinks he’s going crazy when furniture is rearranged at his rental on Stoughton. Then he sees shadows. He can’t sleep or eat, so Courtney intervenes. Steven talks M.J. and her entourage into helping Luke. The team sets cameras up and watches Luke while he’s sleeping. Nothing happens until he suddenly gets up, stares into the cameras like one possessed, and quickly leaves the house before they can get to him. A woman ends up being murdered a few doors down and Luke is accused and arrested for crime.

M.J., Heath, and Gil won’t give up. They know (hope—they go back and forth in their thoughts here) Luke is innocent and set out to prove it. But their tools of the trade—bubble vests, magnets, and stakes—may be not enough to protect the evil from invading their minds while trying to stop it from taking over and killing again.

What a fun book! It’s witty and a quick read. If you haven’t picked up Laurie’s work yet, I suggest you do!

Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “The Other Side: Melinda’s Story”