The Lingering by S.J.I. Holliday

43
Written by Norrie

Neither an exciting psychological thriller, nor a convincing ghost story…

lingeringThe Lingering by S.J.I. Holliday

Genres: Paranormal, Thriller, Horror
Published: 15th September, 2018
Goodreads
Series: N/A
Rating: 3

Married couple Jack and Ali Gardiner move to a self-sufficient spiritual commune in the English Fens, desperate for fresh start. The local village is known for the witches who once resided there and Rosalind House, where the commune has been established, is a former psychiatric home, with a disturbing history.
When Jack and Ali arrive, a chain of unexpected and unexplained events is set off, and it becomes clear that they are not all that they seem. As the residents become twitchy, and the villagers suspicious, events from the past come back to haunt them, and someone is seeking retribution…

 

Bunch of hippies living in an abandoned asylum, practicing all sorts of woo woo, without a steady source of income? Now, that’s scary. Ghosts? Not so much. Well, not these ghosts anyway.

When I’m reading a ghost story, I want to feel my heartbeat quicken, have those chills running down my spine, and all that jazz. I’m sad to report that The Lingering gave me none of the shivers I’ve been looking for. Sure, there were mysterious creaking floor boards, ominous water dripping, unpleasant bathroom incidents and strange sightings, but none of them were portrayed in a way that I would hold my breath or be worried in the slightest.

Ali and Jack were an odd couple. Even the way they got into the woo-woo community was quite out of the ordinary, so obviously the current residents had some reservations toward them. Jack’s outbursts and Ali’s aloofness did not help in smoothing out these matters either. They have secrets, they spend too much time in their room, and Ali is particularly resistant of the bubbly Angela’s attempts to make friends. No bueno.

The oddness with them didn’t end there though. Jack, a former police officer, just simply didn’t seem like a person the police would ever employ. Like, how did this dude ever passed all those evaluations and all? Ali, who used to be a nurse on the psychiatric ward was a proper nut job. I usually like those. Not Ali though. She just came across as those evil mastermind types who just do shit because, you know… EVIL!

Then shit got real weird in the second part. You know those forehead scrunching moments we all have sometimes, wondering if things are really going the way we think it is, but the main question is why on earth would we roll that way. But hey! It works for others. I’m just peculiar when it comes to ghosts. I like subtle shit, and creepiness that plays on my senses.ghosty

The Lingering is a short and entertaining paranormal story, but it somehow misses the tension that propels you toward the end because you just simply need to know what’s going to happen next.3

43 Comments

  1. Ohmygod that gif nearly gave me a heart attack 😥😂 I loved this one, so sorry you didn’t like it all that much! I see what you mean though, I just didn’t care about the things that bothered you 😄

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    1. Haha, sorry!! 😀
      Ya know, it happens to me as well sometimes. That i know some things are just weird or not so good, but i ignore them and still like the book.
      I think i was not in such a generous mood with this 😀

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  2. I can only come to one conclusion, I’m a big wuss. I don’t even believe in ghosts (oops spoiler alert for tomorrow’s post) and still I got the creeps! It was the right amount of atmospheric for me but I do have to say I’m not used to reading novels like this so it’s not hard to scare me. IMaybe I do feel you’re right about Jack, he was such a weak character ugh, I don’t like men like that ;-).

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  4. Bwahaha you are just too used to ghosts Norrie! I can’t readone of these stories but yes I get what you mean that was missing here. Some more subtelty and creepiness. A mood!

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  12. The gif totally made me jump!
    I do wonder about people moving to a former psychiatric hospital with a strange history to me that just screams they’ve never read a horror book! To bad it was just mediocre 🙂

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  13. Sorry this one was such a flop, Norrie! Hope your next thriller is a lot more… Thrilling? 😂
    It’s times like these I feel grateful for not being a horror or thriller fan because ANYTHING would spook me into oblivion, no matter how crappy hahaha (I’m still debating whether that’s a good thing though)

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    1. Fingers crossed, yea 😀
      I can get easily scared with horror movies. You know when shit just jumps out of the dark. I can’t stand those! 😀

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    1. Yea, actually it is quite a good halloween book! And i’m glad you liked it! You still get the thrill, without being overly scary, so defo it’s got its audience 🙂

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  16. I probably shouldn’t have … given the book … but I kept laughing through your review. 😂 Maybe I haven’t slept enough, lmao. But! I loved the gif (and reading the comments and seeing peeps getting freaked out); the cover I loved even more though. BE STILL MY BEATING, BLEEDING HEART IT’S GORGEOUS.

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  17. I’ve mostly, to date, seen the glowing, blown away type of reviews so it’s really good to get a ‘second opinion; for a change 🙂 I am quite particular about my ghosts and horror elements as well so I found this review quite interesting. Now, I have been keeping an eye on this book, thinking maybe I should read it too, and I will but maybe I can now go in with slightly lowered expectations which sometimes is a good thing!

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    1. It defo is! I can totes understand those people who liked it, they all seemed to prefer slightly less scary stuff, so it’s perfect for them. I prefer sheer terror in a subtle way, so yea, it was not like that… 😊

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  21. Ha! I love that spooky gif. 😀
    Great review. Your reviews are always so good and entertaining even if you’re not into the book. I feel like I have the hardest times reviewing things I’m not into.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Haha, thank you 😀
      I’m kind of the opposite… I’ve been postponing a few reviews of books i reaaaaaally loved, cuz i don’t think i can express myself properly cuz how i feel is kinda like afefhfhffkdjd 😀

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