ARC Review: The Torment Of Rachel Ames by Jeff Gunhus

Title: The Torment Of Rachel Ames
Author: Jeff Gunhus
Publication: November 10th 2015 by Seven Guns Press
Genre: Adult ~ Thriller ~ Suspense
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: 4/5

   

Suffering from writer’s block, novelist Rachel Ames escapes to a lake cabin to calm her mind and regain a sense of herself. The location is perfect. Isolated. Beautiful. Inspiring. It even comes with a good-looking landlord who shows an interest in her. But she can’t shake the sense that something terrible has followed her to the lake, something just beyond her consciousness, something out on the edge where the sounds of a raging fire and sirens linger whenever she slows down to listen. Determined to make the cabin work, she tries to settle in and give her new life a chance. But when strange things begin to happen around her, she wonders if she’s made a terrible mistake. As the darkness that’s followed her manifests itself in inexplicable ways, her concept of reality is stretched thin and she realizes nothing at the lake is what it seems. As she fights to survive with her sanity intact, she understands too late that the location she’s chosen for herself is far from perfect.

My first thought after finishing The Torment Of Rachel Ames was: Chills. This book gave me chills. And although it wasn't my usual genre, I actually enjoyed it a lot. So if you're on the fence about it, I'd say give it a shot because it's a really good read.

This book is about author Rachel Ames who's struggling with writer's block and rents a lake cabin to work on her next book. Everything seems perfect at first—beautiful location, perfect for writing and a handsome and funny landlord. Then strange and horrible things start happening... 

This story was a bit of a mindfuck, to be honest. I kept guessing of what was actually going on, much like Rachel in the book. Along with her I really wanted to find out what exactly was going on with this cabin. There was even a bit of Stephen King thrown in there, which I really liked.

I really found myself liking the writing style of Jeff Gunhus. That's always a good thing. The book was on the shorter side with 112 pages so it was a really quick read for me but even so it doesn't mean that there isn't enough  of the storyline or character developement in it. 

I also gotta say I was pretty surprised by the turn the book took towards the end. I had a lot of theories, of course but I hadn't seen it coming at all. And that's what I want with books like this, be surprised and The Tormant of Rachel Ames definitely succeeded in that! 

About the Author:

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Jeff Gunhus is the author thriller and horror novels for adults and the middle grade/YA series, The Templar Chronicles. The first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His books for adults have reached the Top 100 on Amazon and have been Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalists.

After his experience with his son, he is passionate about helping parents reach young reluctant readers and is active in child literacy issues. As a father of five, he leads an active lifestyle in Maryland with his wife Nicole by trying to constantly keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of the City Dock Cafe in Annapolis working on his next novel.