A Box of Darkness, a Review by Susan

👻👻👻👻👻

A Box Full of Darkness
Simone St. James
344 Pages
Berkeley Publishing
Goodreads/Amazon/Bookshop.org

Simone St. James is an author I keep returning to, even though I have not always liked all of her books equally.  She also writes in a genre I usually do not read. I do enjoy suspense novels but I do not normally read ghost stories.  A Box of Darkness, her most recent novel, is one of her best in recent history.  This novel will appeal to those who like “subtle” paranormal, meaning ghosts that are woven into the fabric of the story rather than the kind dragging chains around.  She builds up suspense throughout the novel and also weaves characters that the readers care about.  She also created a very appropriately setting of Fell, New York which harkens back to The Sun Down Motel.  Spooky suspense novels with ghosts absolutely require just the right settings and Ms. St. James does that here.

She also weaves in a “lesser” character from The Broken Girls.  I love it when a writer can riff on her own past novels.  The main characters, though, are a family of three siblings who had grown up in this house in Fell, New York.  The siblings, all with bad memories of childhood, come together at the house after many years because their little brother, Ben, appears to be haunting the ghost.  The three siblings, all with difficulties stemming from childhood, try to figure out what is going on when Ben, who they believe to be their little brother, appears to have grown up differently from them and may not be who they thought he was.  I will leave it at that, not to ruin the history.  Ms. St. James develops the characters well as well as the relationship between them.  The characters are very distinct from one another but still feel connected as siblings from a bad childhood, even though they are estranged.  I find it is relatively rare that a suspense novel can weave together story, character and setting as this one does.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to Ms. St. James’ next novel. She has certainly not run out of steam yet!

Thanks to NetGalley and to Berkeley Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel.  All of the opinions expressed herein are my own.