The Waiting by Hunter Shea

Cassandra falls sick on her wedding day, but new husband Brian and her mother, Alice, rally together to look after her and nurse her back to health. Unfortunately, a dark presence in their new house has other ideas.

The passages referring to illness and caring for a loved one are realistic, moving and emotional. Shea captures the love and anxiety of looking after a very ill family member. He writes sensitively about the physical and emotional stress that carers suffers from. He even gives us insight into Cassandra’s illness and suffering. This is perhaps not surprising, as much of Brian and Cassandra’s experience is based upon Mr and Mrs Shea’s real life health traumas.

The haunted house aspect to the story is suitably creepy and I loved that it was based on his own experiences. However, the ending, although masterfully written, was a little too Hollywood for me. If only the author had been able to write the nonfiction book based on his real life experiences as he wished.

I award The Waiting…