The Haunting of Trinity House by Travis Liebert

Something strange is happening at Trinity House, a former Catholic foster home for boys run by priests, and now a homeless shelter managed by nuns.

Magnus Conrad has spent years searching for evidence of the paranormal in order to explain his parents deaths when he was a small boy. When an old acquaintance calls him back to Trinity House, Magnus should remember the adage – be careful what you wish for.

This is the first book in a series, so while the story is resolved in a satisfactory manner, the book is also an introduction to Magnus and the storyline that will no doubt drive him through the series.

The author writes well and my interest was engaged throughout the book. The scenes depicting Trinity House as a foster home were particularly well done and engaging, and I wish there had been more of them within the book.

Magnus has the potential to be a great character. I loved the idea of his search for the paranormal but I found his inevitable confrontation with its existence disappointing. I’d hope it would provide a bigger emotional impact.

For a book with so many nuns, priests and ghosts, I was disappointed at the lack of a spiritual aspect to the story. The author’s paranormal world obviously deviates from Catholic theology, but there was little attempt made to explain its rules and the afterlife appears to be incredibly physical, with the living and the dead engaging in fisticuffs to work out their differences.

Magnus is portrayed as somewhat of a genius, schooled in world religions and devoting his adult life to researching the paranormal, so I was hoping that he’d throw some light on possible explanations for how certain things worked. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to use any kind of method in his reasonings and the couple of times he made pronouncements, they didn’t make sense to me.

Also, for supposed characters of faith, not one of them seemed to consider a moral code as they repeatedly violated it. I’m all for flawed characters, but it’s nice when they acknowledge their actions are contrary to their religion, law, basic human decency.

I award The Haunting of Trinity House…