Book Review: City of Ghosts by J.H. Moncrieff

It frightens the life out of me but I absolutely love anything from the horror genre. That’s why I couldn’t resist the opportunity to review City of Ghosts.

City of Ghosts by J.H. Moncrieff centres around Jackson Stone, an American tourist in China who breaks away from his group to spend the night in the abandoned city of Hensu. When residents were forced to flee Hensu, not everybody got out alive and Jackson is determined to get the paranormal recording which will turn him into a best-selling author. But he gains so much more when he meets soft-spoken Chinese woman Yuèhai.

I read this book in two days – I couldn’t put it down – so you know it was a good one. For me, it had everything I wanted in a horror story. It was fast-paced, intriguing and chilling and Moncrieff has a way of writing which has the reader feeling tense throughout the story. What I really liked was that it wasn’t just about Jackson and his experiences with Yuèhai. Yuèhai’s story was a fascinating story in itself and would have made for a novel in its own right. She wasn’t the most likeable character, but she did bring tears to my eyes in the end.

In fact, most of the characters in this book weren’t particularly likeable – but that doesn’t mean they weren’t interesting. Especially those you would call the ‘main characters’: Jackson, Kate, Harold and Yuèhai – very different people formed as three-dimensional characters, thanks to the skill of Moncreiff. Kate, a medium was probably my favourite character (always a bonus to have a strong female character), but it was Harold, the tour guide, who intrigued me the most. It was obvious from the start there was something shifty about him and his character brought a lot of mystery to the story.

This is my first book by J.H. Moncrieff and I am hooked! I really can’t wait to see what comes next in this series ( I hear it centres around Kate, which I am thrilled about!).

A copy of this book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.