Published by Tor.com

Synopsis:

Jeremy Shipp brings you The Atrocities, a haunting gothic fantasy of a young ghost’s education

When Isabella died, her parents were determined to ensure her education wouldn’t suffer.

But Isabella’s parents had not informed her new governess of Isabella’s… condition, and when Ms Valdez arrives at the estate, having forced herself through a surreal nightmare maze of twisted human-like statues, she discovers that there is no girl to tutor.

Or is there…?

I was seduced by the cover of this book. SEDUCED.

Which is a shame because I didn’t enjoy the contents of the book half as much as I thought I would – the synopsis sounded perfect and I was raring to go but I was disappointed to find that the novella wasn’t what I was expecting.

At 104 pages, it was shorter than I expected (that’s entirely my fault for not doing my homework) and the story wasn’t as in depth and gothic as I was expecting. It was an odd blend of ‘woman in a dress sitting by the fireplace in the drawing room’ and ‘check out my 84″ smart TV’ which was quite jarring in a short book that didn’t have time to add the context.

The story is seen through the eyes of Ms Valdez, a woman hired to teach the spirit of a deceased little girl. I didn’t get the sense of any strong emotions from the governess, which detracted from the horror that was just waiting to be released in this book.

The premise of the book that I read in the synopsis was a great one and I think I would have loved this story if it had more atmosphere, depth of feeling from the characters and an ending that made sense. As it stands, this is book is awarded 3 stars because the sense of suspense created by the author made me want to finish it, even if it wasn’t everything I’d hoped it would be.

*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley*