The Spirit Engineer by A J West

The Spirit Engineer by A.J. West
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 299

Publisher - Duckworth

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism in the form of seances that attempt to contact the spirits of loved ones lost at sea.

William is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sat around the circle something happens that places doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen’s parlour tricks gone too far?

This early 20th century gothic set in Northern Ireland contains all the mystery and intrigue one might expect from a Sarah Waters novel. Deftly plotted with echoes of The Woman in Black, readers will be thrilled to discover West’s chilling prose.

Based on the true story of William Jackson Crawford and famed medium Kathleen Goligher, and with a cast of characters that include Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, The Spirit Engineer conjures a haunting tale that will keep readers guessing until the very end.



My Review

William Jackson Crawford, married to Elizabeth and father to three children. Elizabeth still grieves her brother who died on the Titanic and is very spiritual. William is a scientist, one thing leads to another and William gets exposed to the medium Kathleen Golighter. In a twist of events William becomes The Spirit Engineer trying to debunk the seances and spiritual happenings. Everything is seemingly going well, fame, fortune and paid to debunk William finds himself going from scathing sceptic to questioning is the phenomenon real?

Well, I can't say there is many likeable characters, William is actually someone who many a time I wanted to slap and would use the phrase insufferable. The book has death and even a wee shock or two along the way, well I was shocked.

I don't know anything about the real life people featured in the book so I don't know how accurate events/characters are in the book nor their likeness. Was I interested? yes absolutely but I really struggled to like the characters.

The book opens with a dark scene and then takes us back, I completely forgot about that and did immerse in the book, not knowing where it would go. Short chapters and I did enjoy the seances and ghost/haunty parts but I can't say I loved the book, 3/5. It was my first time reading this author, would I read them again, yeah sure.

View all my reviews

A Mother's Secret by Katie Flynn

A Mother's Secret by Katie Flynn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 4 days

Pages - 426

Publisher -

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

The brand new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author

Though she may feel lost, she will never give up on finding the truth…

1941: Libby’s life on the sprawling farm at Hollybank is a far cry from the bustling streets of London where she grew up, but after the tragic death of her parents she moved to Liverpool to be closer to her long-lost aunt and uncle.

When she discovers they are far from the decent people they claimed to be and have spun a web of lies about her late mother, Libby’s world is shaken. But she is determined to set the story straight and embarks on a journey to unravel the devastating secret her mother kept until her dying day.

Can Libby separate the truth from the lies, and forge a brighter future for herself?


My Review

Set in 1941, war is ongoing (themed throughout the book but not the main focus), it is a saga, small town and some good characters and some real shady potatoes! Libby and co are our main characters Libby has discovered some old diaries of her mums and finds out some things that shake her to her core. We find a lot of exploitation going on, people taking advantage of people, pretending to be something their aren't and out to get what they can for themselves with zero moral compass.

The story I believe features characters from previous books and act as standalones but I kinda felt a bit out the loop for some of this. Like the importance of the diaries, did we meet her mum before or Libby and would that have had a bigger impact on the finding of these and exposure of lies?

I really liked the girls from the farms and the newest addition to their group, an animal makes everything better and that which is good it takes to great. Relationships, families, skulduggery, criminality, it has a wee bit of everything set in the timeline of world war 2. I liked it but didn't love it and I do enjoy this authors works I just felt a bit like maybe I had missed out on important back story, maybe its just me. I do intend of getting the other books and may make more of an effort to read in order of release, 3/5.

View all my reviews