The Tower by Anne-Marie Ormsby
Sometimes the dead come back. And sometimes all they want is to hurt you.
When residents on an east London housing estate start dying in gruesome ways, housing manager Ada begins to worry that her past is coming back to haunt her.
Once a powerful medium, able to talk to the dead with amazing ease, she became more comfortable with the afterlife than real life, and with that openness she attracted something dark from the other side. Terrified by the experience she swore she would never communicate with the dead again.
Ten years later at the scene of an apparent suicide, her long closed-down connection to the dead is reopened, and she begins to receive information she shouldn’t know about the victims’ final moments.
Stalked in her dreams and in waking life by an angry male presence, Ada begins to relive the dark days when something from the other side wanted her to end her life.
But as the bodies stack up and the visions intensify, Ada realises that in order to stop more people from dying she has to let the dead back in to find out the truth of what is driving her residents to violent acts – and face up to her own ghosts.
About the Author
On a warm day in July 1978, a mother was admitted to hospital, awaiting the arrival of her new baby. She was reading Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie and the midwives thought it a gruesome choice for an expectant mother. A story of a long forgotten murder and repressed memories. As it turned out her new baby, Anne-Marie would grow up and find herself drawn to all things macabre, and would one day herself turn out a story of murder and memories lost.
Anne Marie grew up on the Essex coast with her parents and six siblings in a house that was full of books and movies and set the scene for her lifelong love of both.
She began writing short stories when she was still at primary school after reading the book The October Country by Ray Bradbury. He was and still is her favourite author and the reason she decided at age 9 that she too would be a writer someday.
In her teens she continued to write short stories and branched out into poetry, publishing a few in her late teens. In her early twenties she began committing herself to writing a novel and wrote one by the age of 20 that she then put away, fearing it was too weird for publication.
She wrote Purgatory Hotel over several years, but again kept it aside after several rejections from publishers. Luckily for her, she found a home for her twisted tale with Crooked Cat Books.
Her favourite authors include Ray Bradbury, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King, Denis Lehane and Douglas Coupland. She also takes great inspiration from music and movies, her favourite artists being Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Johnny Cash, Interpol, David Lynch and David Fincher.
After 11 happy years in London she recently moved to Margate where she currently lives with her family.
My Review
5 stars
At one time Ada was a huge medium with an exceptional connection to the other side until some from the dark came for her. It has been ten years since she last used her abilities. Now she manages an apartment tower and one of her residents has died from suicide, at least it looks that way. But Ada is haunted by the ghost and tries to block out what she is being told.
Then more people start dying. Ada knows that she is going to have to open herself up to the other side and is afraid to. Soon she has phantom stalker, Michael that is pure evil and determined to kill Ada and anyone else he can get.
This is a dark story that I absolutely loved. Ada has her flaws which made me like her so much more. I understand why she turned her back on her gift and how hard it was to go back to using it. I just wanted things to work out for her, she really needed the break.
There are some very dark topics of suicide and abuse that really added to the story and stuck with my after I finished the book. This story is well written, sucked me in from the beginning, and left me wanting more from this world. If you like dark thrillers with a twist of paranormal added in you will love this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.
I would like to thank Rachel’s Random Resources for the opportunity to read and share this book.
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