The Fade

The Fade is a part-mystery, part-horror novel. When Haley is moved to a small town, she doesn’t know that the moldy basement would be the least of her problems. Because of her NDE, she is able to sense the restless spirits in the house she now lives in, who want to use her to seek justice for themselves. Wary at first, and then wanting to put the spirits to rest, she takes on the cold cases but as the communications between the spirits and her start getting more intense, with possession and creepy drawings coming to play, we start to sense that she is becoming an unreliable narrator. The mystery aspect of the book blends well into the horror part, but I felt it also overwhelmed the latter; certainly the atmosphere set up is more of the former than the latter. The horror part is not really scary, and it doesn’t really feel like a thriller, which is what I came into this book for. Also, the investigation stalls somewhere mid-way through the book, as an unnecessary romance sub-plot gains prominence, and then there is the whole red herring scenario. Also when a twist comes in the second half, I got so confused I had to go and read over nearly a third of the book to see what had actually happened – it leaves all the answers for the end, so the impact feels lessened somehow. Overall, it works as a mystery but it’s not spooky.