The Patience of a Dead Man (The Patience of a Dead Man, #1)

by Michael Clark

[zooloo1983]

Woah there. I have finished this book in the blazing sunshine and I have chills! The ending is so blinking unsettling I actually can’t wait for the next one to find out what happens next!

The story is told through journals, first-person experiences, dreams, third persons and from the view of the entity. The story starts off seemingly slow, as we have to build up the life of Tim and how he becomes the owner of this amazing dream house. Shame it doesn’t last too long, now when I say slow, we are talking 15% before it all goes fricking mental! And when I say mental I mean you have to read this in the sunshine and even then I was still looking over my shoulder at my house and *gulp* the cellar.

From the opening pages, I am so full of dread, you know that we are going to have a haunted house but what you don’t know at that time, is the story behind the haunting. You don’t know how much malice there is from the entity, and you don’t know the story behind it all.

We are teased the different information and the years between Tim’s experiences and the journals. Part of me would love to be in that house and experience it for what it is. Footsteps, water puddles, candles lit up in the turrets, seeing the ghosts that Tim does…BUT and it’s a big BUT I think I might stay away from that farmhouse.

One of the scariest bits for me is when Tim’s girls stay with him and he shares the bedroom with them, I was holding my breath as I was reading! It was so intense as you just did not know what was going to happen and if everyone would make it there it unscathed. I am not even going to lie, I was holding my breath and I was panicking. This was truly terrifying and I wanted to hide behind a cushion and close the book. (Still bloody loved it!)

I freaking loved this book, my favourite genre ever is horror and ghosties and this is just what I needed. It has everything that goes bump in the night, literally, the sightings, the discovery of why and then we end. Well that ending, if ever there was a time to run from the house, well it’s now! I wouldn’t take a trip there! But then a part of me really wants to visit!

Michael has written a story which will suck you in and I defy you not to get creeped out. He ramps up the tension from the get-go, and it’s too late by then to walk away. This book is perfect for anyone who loves this genre, or just wants to be scared. This is most definitely the sort of book I would love to see on the big screen. Set in the 70s, a time before the mobile phone, all add to the isolation of this property. It’s in the middle of nowhere, 23 acres of land, isolation defo adds to the tension. No neighbours nearby to hear you scream, or help when you see something coming at you, that should be dead, wielding a blood-soaked hatchett. Just a normal day no? As I say perfect, no mobile phones to call for help nor to take instant photos. Cut off from the world with only a landline, which at times hinders you especially when you are in hiding watching an “anniversary” play out and “she” does not take too kindly to being interrupted. I am not telling you who, what or why because that was the fun learning all of this while watching Tim and Holly experience it, reading Annette’s journals and being “helped” by someone, is that someone good or bad?

We are left with foreboding and more questions at the end…If anything it’s just made me want book 2!