Wish You Weren’t Here (The Rooks, #1)

The Rook family run a little business: ghost hunting. And things have picked up recently. Something’s wrong. It’s been getting noticeably worse since, ooh, 2016?

Bad spirits are abroad, and right now they're particularly around Coldbay Island, which isn’t even abroad, it’s only 20 miles from Skegness. The Rooks’ ‘quick call out’ to the island picks loose a thread that begins to unravel the whole place, and the world beyond.

Is this the apocalypse? This might be the apocalypse. Who knew it would kick off in an off-season seaside resort off the Lincolnshire coast? I’ll tell you who knew - Linda. She’s been feeling increasingly uneasy about the whole of the East Midlands since the 90s.

• ISBN13: 9781788423793
• Publish Date: 14 October 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Prelude Books
• Imprint: Farrago
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Wish You Weren't Here is the first book in an urban fantasy mash-up series by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch. Released 7th Oct 2021 by Farrago, it's 240 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a completely bonkers full-bore action UF comedy which reminds me of the comedy/horror aspects of Buffy and Supernatural, but not derivative at all and with its own British self-deprecating humour. The ensemble crew of ghost hunters are fundamentally a family with the rich comedic possibilities that entails, alongside each having their own particular talents (clairvoyant, telekinetic, possessed by ancient mostly benignly cooperative demon, accountant, etc). The world building is by turns complex and comedic including an apocalyptic fight in an abandoned Tesco store on a possessed island.

The humour relies heavily on sight gags and slapstick, but happily, the author's up to the task of writing quite cinematically, so it never drags or bogs down. The entire book is a potty, very trippy, out of control end-of-the-world extravaganza. The author even manages some sly foreshadowed twists which she ties up into a satisfying denouement and resolution.

I've been a fast fan of her Darkwood series, and this is both a departure with different settings and themes, but also resonant with the same bouncy repartee and humour as her other series (but alas, no Trevor the spider to liven things up here).

This book includes positive representation of LGBTQIA+ relationships, family/sibling relationships, British (and Polish) pluck and esprit de corps and I frankly loved it to bits. I'm waiting on tenterhooks for more. It's weird and funny and wonderful. It might require readers to be in a particular mood for fantasy humour, but otherwise is very well written, immersive, and engaging.

Four and a half stars. More, please.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.