A. inherits a house just outside of Point Bless, Virginis from a distant relative who has recently defenestrated himself committing suicide. He is now crazy rich and in possession of a huge mansion complete with a maze and a ghost.
A. starts having terrible nightmares. They write to Aunt Liza for advice and she tells them to destroy the bed. It's acting like a conduit. Instead, they search for what could be affecting the bed in the house. They find a sphere that when touched produces a large zap of electricity and the images of the dreams in his head again.
The butler is missing, but there is a note for him. This starts a whole chain of events. The letter is written cryptically. Further correspondence they find is written in code. There is a lot about ciphers in this book. While I am sure it's really interesting for a lot of people, it just slowed down the story for me and I found myself skipping over those bits.
The action in the story generally happens at a good pace. I found it easy to get sucked into the book. It's told as a series of journal entries, letters, notes, and audio and video recordings. The format sort of reminds me of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Other parts of the book reminded me of Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Allan Poe. There was still a lot of originality to the story as well.
Overall I give this book 4 stars. The writing is good and absorbing. The format is unique. The plot is quickly paced. If you like this sort of thing, check it out. My local library had a copy. When I saw the cover and read the blurb, I couldn't resist.
