Book Review: Ghost 19 by Simone St. James

 

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Plot :3.5⭐; Audio Narration 4.5⭐

Set in 1959, Ghost 19 by Simone St. James revolves around off-Broadway actress Ginette Cox whose “nerves” and “breakdown” and subsequent hospitalization prompt her doctors to advise her to take time off work and away from any kind of excitement. Not wanting to venture too far from New York City, she rents a house in Meritville, a NY suburb, at 19 Howard Ave, where she spends her time spying on her neighbors from her window, making up names and stories about them as she goes along.

Her initial impression of the house is that it feels “impersonal” and “wasn’t lived in”. But as the days progress, strange noises from the basement and other eerie occurrences including a strange man looking in her windows have Ginette on edge. Her doctor dismisses her fears and prescribes her pills to help her sleep and the police don’t take her complaints seriously. Narrated in the first person by Ginette, the narrative is shared in alternating chapters between “Then” which takes us through the initial few weeks of her stay in her rented home and “Now”, 19 days into her stay when she is hiding in her kitchen, with a knife in her hands for protection speaking to the Detective who has previously visited her home in response to a frantic phone call from her. Compounding her fear is the fact that the house does not let her venture out the front door, holding her back, thus limiting her human contact to those who personally enter her home, dependent on her local grocery delivery for food and and in constant fear for her life. Is she losing her mind or is she right in assuming that something is happening inside this house, for which there is no easy explanation?

Fast-paced and entertaining, I enjoyed this novella (approximately 3 hours in audiobook format) and thought Brittany Pressley did an exceptional job in voicing Ginette and conveying her state of mind as she finds herself trapped inside the house she has rented. Normally I’m wary of books with spooky vibes (I admit to being a bit of a scaredy cat) but I really enjoyed Simone St. James’ The Book of Cold Cases and therefore decided to give this one a try and I’m glad I did!