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Finished two lines on #FallReadingBingo board.

+41 points #BlackCatCrew #HauntedShelf

This was an OK read. It doesn't really have the sense of menace that some of the earlier books had, & you have to suspend your disbelief for something stuff, such as that a hospital would let a member of staff just give their kid a copy of a patient sign-in sheet. I suppose it was the 90s but even so! (continued)

This is an interesting & informative read on the subject of where the prevailing image of the archetypical witch came from. The author argues that the modern portrayal of witches owes more to the Greek & Roman eras than it does to the Medieval.

There is also a discussion of the lasting change in their representation from the Greek idea of witches as attractive & seductive (for example Hecate & Circe) to the Roman portrayals as (continued)

Short Review:

This was quite a good cosy mystery with a well-worked out plot. I found it difficult to warm to Midge as a main character at first, but then I pictured her as being played by a middle-aged Miriam Margolyes & that helped. I do think that she was a little bit too timid though, & her characterisation focused too much on her weight at times. I'd definitely read another 'Midge Mystery' though. 4🌟

Sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty is about to start the Long Walk - an annual competition between 100 boys where the one to walk the longest distance wins his wildest dreams. The boys have to maintain a pace of 4 miles per hour, day & night, no stopping for toilet breaks, eating, or sleeping, & soldiers monitor them continuously. 3 warnings & you are out - permanently.

Year 6 are on a coach bound for an activity trip to Crater Lake & are almost there when a strange, bloodstained man tries to stop the coach before collapsing. The teachers take the students the rest of the way on foot whilst the coach driver rings for an ambulance, but when they reach Crater Lake something is wrong at the activity centre.

For the past eight years, Brynn Donovan's father has been in prison convicted of killing her mother. Brynn & brother Max initially lived with their aunt but recently Brynn has been living her own life as a tattoo artist. On the way home from work one evening, Brynn's estranged father kidnaps her & says that what he said back then was true: there is something under the earth that is coming to get them & once he has secured Max too (continued)

Halley is looking for a place to lay low from a political scandal that has put a target on her back. A job on the 'Elysian Fields', a spaceship where hundreds of bodies lies cryogenically frozen awaiting reanimation should the technology become available, seems like a godsend. Apart from the caretaker, Karl, there's not a soul aboard - well not one who is awake anyway.......

Jack & Ali move to a self-sufficient commune in the English Fens. They are desperate for a fresh start & hope that the quiet & communal living will help. The commune is situated in 'Rosalind House' a former psychiatric facility (or as they used to be known, an insane asylum) with a chequered history & one of the commune residents, Angela, is trying to prove the existence of ghost activity there.

A collection of twenty-one short stories of haunting horror - perfect for the spooky season! There's probably something for everyone here, but be warned that there is an extensive list of trigger warnings at the start. This is not for the faint-hearted.

Usually I find that short story collections vary widely in quality, but this one was really good with some very eerie stories indeed.