"A creepily compelling ghost story in which the discovery of a death mask connects the disturbing past of a toll house to its modern-day owner."
With a tragic historic tale at its heart, and a modern-day single mum struggling to deal with its spectral resonance, Carly Reagon’s The Toll House debut tingles with historic and psychological intrigue. It’s a gripping ghost story that unfolds with chilling pace through narratives told in two timelines.
In the present, single mum Kelda has moved into a new home with her young son, Dylan. In estate agent speak, the toll house is a house with history, which we discover through episodes that take us back to 1863, when a woman dies while giving birth to a stillborn baby.
In the present, Kelda finds a death mask embedded into her cottage, while Dylan becomes deeply disturbed. He reports seeing a woman in his bedroom, he finds bones in the garden, he denies having drawn spidery streaks of red lipstick on his bedroom walls, and denies being responsible for the little white pebbles Kendra finds around the house. Then there’s the mystery around the man Kendra’s started seeing, and fractured family relations to deal with, too.
Melding modern-life with mysteries from the past, this is a readable romp of suspenseful supernatural fiction.
| Primary Genre | Horror and Supernatural Fiction |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
The past isn't always dead and buried.
A house with history. That's how the estate agent described the old toll house on the edge of the town. For Kelda it's the perfect rural home for her young son Dylan after a difficult few years.
But when Kelda finds a death mask concealed behind one of the walls, everything changes. Inexplicable things happen in the house, Kelda cannot shake the feeling of being watched and Dylan is plagued by nightmares, convinced he can see figures in his room. As Dylan's behaviour becomes increasingly challenging, Kelda seeks answers in the house's mysterious past. But she's running out of time.
Because something has awoken.
And now it won't rest . . .
The Toll House features in the following genres: Horror and Supernatural Fiction, Books of the Month, Thriller and Suspense, Fiction, Recommendations
The Toll House is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Toll House was written by Carly Reagon and published by Sphere an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group
The Toll House has 341 pages
£8.99
