If you’re an adult and remember back to times of your youth where memories are fond and filled with joy and laughter, you also have those memories where urban legends hide. Stories of the hook left in the car door, boogey man under beds, or even a (possibly) haunted, abandoned house on your block. You and your friends come up with all sorts of tales about that house that no one has lived in for years, but sometimes…just sometimes…you notice strange things about it. Maybe seen a faint light in the window, even when you all know no one lives there anymore. Or a shadow in the yard, watching. Waiting.

It’s no different for Claire, a high school teenager who is obsessed with the haunted house in her town, The Montgomery Estate. She is the self-proclaimed expert on the house, knowing about the murders of the family that lived there. She has investigated, theorized, and pontificated over this place, keeping an eye on it always from the outside, never having been in it. That is, until, the well-known paranormal investigators–The Specters–she admires comes to town to record the estate. Claire’s friend, Lizzie, isn’t as enthused about the property but supports her friend in her interest. Claire makes the mistake of meeting her “heroes”, only for the leader, Bryce, to be a top-notch jerk who disappoints Claire. She wanted to help them, provide information ahead of their investigation into the haunted residence she learned quite a bit about, but was forcefully shunned. To get back at them for hurting her friend, Lizzie comes up with a very teenaged plan: prank them.

While the prank starts off harmless enough, the fun really begins when the team’s equipment fail, and one of team members is dispatched by an angry spirit. The team is picked off one by one, leaving Claire and Lizzie to fight for their lives, nearly losing it all until they discover a way to survive. Making their way through the halls, and walls, of the home and coming across obstacles that threaten to make them permanent residences, the girls bravely plan and hold onto hope. But not before stumbling across a secret that has lived in the home, becoming a way out.

Samantha Alis’s The Montgomery Estate is a YA/horror mystery, but this was a very fun and bloody read. It delivers on the horror, giving us ghosts that are unforgiving and incredibly violent, showing very little mercy for any and all who come into their space. The ghosts are definitely malevolent in this story, and are unrelenting, not caring if you plead for your life and promise to never disturb them again. Entering was the first, and possibly final, mistake. There’s murder, intrigue, mystery, and enduring friendship. If you loved Goosebumps as a kid and graduated to Fear Street in your teens, then The Montgomery Estate is right up your alley. And who says as adults we can’t get a little YA reading in? It may be for the youth, but it definitely packs a punch even an almost middle-aged woman and fan of horror can fully appreciate! I would highly recommend this and it’s a very enjoyable read for anyone who likes a little gore.

The Montgomery Estate is available on Amazon.