It’s been a while since I’ve read a Darcy Coates book (which is surprising since she’s generally one of my favorite authors). Previously I’ve reviewed The Haunting of Ashburn House, The Haunting of Blackwood House, and The House Next Door. Today I finished The Carrow Haunt.

Remy works at the Carrow house, a historic mansion that has a reputation for being the most haunted in the state. She’s a tour guide for their ghost tours, and although she’s well-versed in the building’s haunted history, she’s never actually experienced anything paranormal there for herself. One day, a mysterious guest named Mark with a boatload of money offers to pay Remy to spend two weeks investigating the hauntings with a crew he’s put together, acting as their history consultant. Cautious but intrigued, she decides it could be a good opportunity to gain some personal insight into the haunting to reference for her tours, so she decides to join Mark, a medium, a tech whiz, and several others for their stay in the Carrow house. One by one, they start dying off.

Darcy Coates is always great with atmosphere and creative plotlines, but this one was honestly harder to follow because of just how twisty it was. It’s not so much a book to listen to an audio of while you’re getting chores done, and definitely would be better suited for classic paperback reading with a flashlight in the middle of the night when you can really immerse yourself in the story.

I liked the angle of the remote location where the group finds themselves trapped by a storm without contact to the outside world. One thing I always love about Coates is her ability to take classic horror tropes and really make them her own.

This one did feel quick, however, and there was a lot of detail packed into a short chunk of time spent reading it. If you like a slow burn ghost story, this might not be it for you, but if you want something very fast-paced and to the point then this would be great.

I ultimately prefer her other books that I’ve read, but that is just my own opinion since I have seen this one recommended more often in my reading groups on social media. Either way, I always love reading her work!