Haunted
Haunted
By Amy Cross
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely)
Another nice format. It's told in first person by chapter. Going back and forth between present day with Alex Roberts and 1997 with Sheriff Michael Blaine. I read some of the reviews before reading and one reviewer describes this book as gory. This book is not gory. Not comparatively anyway. I'd say that there are some uncomfortable descriptive moments such as the description of Mo's body and what was done to her but it's not gory. I guess if you have a serious aversion to violence against children this one may be a bit much for you.
Alex Roberts/Blaine
This is one of our main characters. I think that it's a good thing that she has come back to face her demons, it's healthy. Really the only thing that isn't is the town that is around her. I'm guessing that eventually they are going to eat crow but until that point I'm sure that they are going to piss me off badly. I will say that I think she is being stupid by not talking with her husband about what she is feeling and I definitely think that she should be telling him what that crazy bitch Diane said to her. It almost feels like the town is afraid that a secret will be revealed. Maybe they are the guilty ones? Trying to intimidate Alex to the point where they run her out of town to hide their dirt. They are in panic mode. Terrified shitless that they are going to be outed. I feel it. It's coming. Hopefully Alex is going to learn the truth about her dad and stop hating him because I will say one thing the prologue tells me that he saved his family. That Alex loved him and did not want to leave him behind when they fled. It does not scream guilt to me. It's heartbreaking that her “memories” of her father are based on lies. She talks about hating him and saying that he was a monster. It's horrible be we as readers know the truth. Oh and the lack of belief in “ghosts” is obnoxious. I mean for crying out loud, she's been seeing the same ghost since she was a little girl. She's been seeing Mo. It takes her way too long to come to terms with this. It also, in my opinion, takes her too long to finally look into what happened with her father. I would not just take peoples word for it. I would be doing some research.
Sheriff Michael Blaine
The Sheriff seems to be out of the political corruption loop in this town. I wonder how many coverups they have been involved in? Things just are not what they seem. There are so many things that happen surrounding the investigation that screams cover-up and patsy that it had become obvious to me already, in the first quarter of the book, that the town is hiding something. Something that they are terrified is going to spill out because Alex is back. I am dead certain that the Sheriff is not involved with whatever it is. The dude is obviously in the dark. Tom knows though. I'm sure the obnoxious Mayor is also involved. The other horrific tragedy in this story is that lies that are perpetrated against a good man who has dedicated his life to protecting his community. They completely destroy his memory, cause damage to his wife, who ends up in a mental health facility and his daughter, who idolized her father as a child and now believes he was a monster. She has no other sources of information about her father other than what she has been told by her hometown. The lie of it has destroyed her memories of her father and the good man that he was. It's fucking criminal.
Mo Garvey (our ghost)
I feel sorry for this kid. She did not deserve what happened to her. She was completely innocent. Taken advantage of as her disability made her more nieve and trusting. The way she dies is not an easy thing to contemplate. She was brutally assaulted and killed. There is no way she made any kind of enemy, considering her condition, she didn't have the capacity to make enemies. She was an eternal child in her mind. She was never going to grow up to be a corrupt adult. There is something that she desperately wants something and Alex needs to figure out the towns secrets with a quickness. Makes you wonder how many more skeletons are in this town’s closet. Mo wants her revenge and honestly I can't blame her.
Deputy Harry Bischoff
This is a good man and a good cop. An excellent judge of character. If it were not for Harry believing in Sheriff Blaine then Alex would not have had her eyes open to her father’s innocence. He has great instincts which serve him well. While his department closes the case he continues to investigate for 20 years and by the time Alex comes to visit him he has a pretty good grasp on what likely happened. While he does not have every piece he is pretty damn close. Brilliant.
Mayor Lenny Johnson
There is something right off about this guy that screams guilt. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's my suspicious, true crime mind that sees his introduction to us as more of a show than genuine. Yeah this guy needs to be dealt with. He is allowing a child killer to just go on like nothing happened. Not just a child killer but child rapist as well. This goes way past “good ‘ol boy’s club” BS...it's covering up and putting every one in the community in danger. This dude needs a new necklace...made from rope!
Brad Roberts
This is Alex's husband. This dude tries so hard to be supportive. To understand what his wife went through and what she is going through but she is so fucking closed off it's infuriating. I feel for him. Only just though, because he has the same issue as Alex...lack of belief. Grrr.
Tom (retired coroner) and Diane Milford
Let's start with Diane Milford. This woman is a bitch. She comes off a bit flakey when we are first introduced to her but then the way she treats Alex makes me wish she was her father’s daughter (at least the person the town thinks he is). I'd shove my wine glass so far up her ass that her throat would become a decanter. And as it turns out I would be doing the community a service as she was the partner of Neil Bloom. In fact, she is more sick than Bloom. This woman is a child molester which is an interesting twist because female child molesters are not typically sadistic. Why people think that it's okay to hold the children of people who do bad things responsible for their parents actions confounds me. It's one of the biggest dick moves that one can ever make. Children are not responsible for their parents behavior. It's the other way around people. Sounds like the town needs to get over itself. Bad things happen everywhere. Small towns are the perfect setting for getting away with murder. I'm just going to say it...Dr. Milford should be ashamed of himself. The whole lot of them should be but for some reason they are cool being friends with the true child murderer.
Neil Bloom
This is the sick fuck that rapes and kills mentally disabled little girls. This is the man that they think is worth protecting while they destroy a good man. I have a feeling that this dude is going to die and the sheriff is going to take the blame for that too and all the other people who died in the course of this story.
Closing thoughts:
Part of me saw the twist coming and another part of me was surprised. It's obvious that there is a corruption problem in this town. Interestingly enough most of the corrupt don't make it out of this one which puts a smile on my face. Mo is not really that monster in this one. It's the adults that assaulted and victimized her. The adults that helped to cover the crime up. To allow the guilty parties to get away with it. Honestly I'm in agreement with her. They needed to be taken out. I don't necessarily agree with the Sheriff simply because he is trying to set things right. He feels guilt for going along with the dickhead mayor to allow a murderer to go free. One (two) that obviously has a compulsion to see children as playthings.
A unique story. I would definitely say that if you did not do well with violence and abuse of any kind toward children then this is not the one for you. What was done to Mo and what could have been done to Alex is horrific. It's pretty descriptive so just a warning.
