Haunted: Purgatory
Haunted: Purgatory
By Lee Mountford
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):
This legit starts where the first book ends…there is a small gap of three weeks. That’s it! Like the last chapter in the first book Sarah reaches out to David to request his assistance. I’m looking forward to getting to know David a little bit better. The one thing that David wants more than anything is to get back into Parron Manor so the he can obtain proof that there is more to our existence than the reality we know during life. That is indeed the age old question after all. What happens to us after we die? He, of course, has his own motivation for wanting this information just as we all do. His team is, for the most part, great with a couple of exceptions…
Ann is annoying as hell. I have no doubt that she is full of shit when it comes to her psychic ability. She’s no medium. A true medium would struggle to even be near this house let alone sleep there. I’m right there with Jenn on this one. She makes me want to introduce her face to my fist. There are things that happen that it is made obvious she has no ability. But for whatever reason David thinks she does so the others indulge him. If the current events never happen I wonder if he would ever would have caught her in her lie. We will never know now though.
Jenn is a strong, practical character who seems to ground the others. Well everyone but Ann. She is very loyal to her friends, specifically David, whom she has known for many years. This is why when everyone else on the team backs out except David, Jenn also decides to continue on with the investigation. We don’t really get to know the other team members really well (Jamie, George, and Ralph). Ralph does seem like a good guy and someone that you would want to have your back, if nothing else because of his size (not that brawn is super helpful when dealing with the supernatural). They do all have their moment though.
David of course is still just as he was in the previous book(s). Mountford seems to be very consistant when it comes to characters and taking part in multiple books. This one of course is not a different story in that it’s essentially a continuation for the first book but I’m hoping that the next books continue to follow the team. That is of course if they all survive.
Sarah is still Sarah. When away from the house she seems okay but once again she is being influenced by the house and becomes a bit of an asshole again. I understand that she wants to help Chole but chasing away those that can help is not the way to do it. She seems to be the hardest on Father Luca Janosch. She is downright rude and shitty to him. It makes sense though because he is a threat to the house so why would it not play all of its cards to get rid of him. It’s also obvious that she has no idea what the fuck it takes to get the church to agree to a exorcism. And even when she is told the requirements she still does not seem to get it. Plus she is in denial about the effect the house has had on Chole and herself. It’s like she still done not believe what is going on 100%. It’s kind of obnoxious.
Last but not least is Father Luca Janosch. He seems to be a very good man. Not because he is a priest but because of the way he acts. No, he does not disclose everything to the team at first; but really, he some good reasons. Mostly that he is unsure of the extent of the houses influence on Sarah. And he is correct to be wary of this as we find out. Really you know based on her attitude and her sleepwalking. I do hope that we learn a bit more about Luca. If not in this book than in up and coming books. Like I said before though, this is very dependent on who survives this one and I feel like not everyone is going to. I hope Ann is in this group.
Closing thoughts:
In the end Ann was not one of the group to perish…too bad. Honestly out of all of the characters she got under my skin the most. The fact that David still believes in her “psychic” abilities astounds me. She has now proven without a doubt that she is about as sensitive as a doorknob. The revelation that Marcus is he father does not seem to bother Sarah. At least not in this particular book. It would be a lot to take in. I enjoy Father Luca. He sits well with me. We all know that the church is full of corruption just like government (power corrupts) but there are those that have the willpower to resist that corruption and this is Luca. It’s interesting to me that the church decides to take on the group, if nothing else I suppose to keep their mouths shut. Money talks after all.
There are connections to the other series that Lee has written. I think the “Hell” that is being talked about is that other dimension that the cult keeps trying to merge with our own reality. It’s interesting to think of the Christian Hell as another dimension. That actually makes sense to me. The fact that Marcus was attempting to ascend sounds an awful lot like “The Netherwell Horror”. We had a successful ascension in that story. One that was not asked for nor wanted. But we experienced it. All of this is connected so I’m wondering if we are going to run into the cult in this series. Should be interesting. I shall continue to snack Ghoulies.
