Daniel Easterman (1949–2022)

I'd seen a rave review about Aycliffe and found a few books, not the one that was raved about. At first The Vanishment hit all the right gothic notes: location, feeling of gloomy and sordid history and then a disappearance. Then somewhere along the way, I realized that the narrator was unreliable. This distanced me a bit from the goings on. His reactions seemed off. Then towards the end, it was a bit too Christie with the tumbling last-minute, oh, by the way, here's some more info you didn't get yet. I got a bit tangled in the plot, too. Disappointed. First half was great. The rest...it works, I guess, but seems contrived and hurried. As I've got two others, I'm game to give at least one a try and see. I was sure sucked in at the beginning. Maybe with a different one, I'll stay through to the end.… (more)

The story in itself is interesting and I love that the book is written in a diary form. But it's never scary, never even chilly to read or not even a tiny bit suspenseful. It's just a ghost story that lacks the horror, which is unfortunate since I really hoped to read something that would chill my blood. But alas, perhaps next horror book will do that. Also, I was a bit disappointed with the ending; "that's it? Is this how it going to end?" Perhaps I just wanted a more horrific ending...lol

Thank you Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
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Oh boy, you pretty much get it all here. There are your innocent arcane studies into the occult. We also got some folks pinin' for their tragically lost loved ones. Some super old necromancer takes you under his wing and shows you a lotta creepy friends and tosses you that casting of the runes Matrix book you can't seem to return to the library. Some weird things happen and you kinda go along with it all. When they start puttin' the Woodoo-Voodoo stuff on all the people that are trying to get you back on the righteous path, you know something more bad's goin' down. The only way you are going to peel this one is by getting the exorcist and the bad man in the room together and then get the hell away and see what shakes out. Better hide for the rest of your life when it's all over too.

Five star cosmic Eastern vampire tale. All good, no bad. Read it straight through.… (more)