Book Review : The Haunted Child by Dawn Merriman
Publication Day: 16th August 2024
Published by: Second Sky
A young mother is being framed for a crime she didn’t commit. And only I can free her.
I’m Rylan Flynn. I hunt for ghosts and restless spirits, and solve the mysteries that make them haunt the living.
The police found Andrea Evans with a bloody knife in her hands and her boyfriend dead at her feet. But she swears she’s innocent. And I can tell from the desperation in her eyes that she’s telling the truth.
I first met Andrea at Camp Lakewood when we were just kids. That summer was meant to be one to remember, with hikes in the forest and canoeing on the lake. Instead, it’s one I try to forget.
Because Camp Lakewood is the place I saw a ghost for the very first time—the ghost of a murdered girl.
My long-time crush Ford Pierce was also at camp that year. Today, he is the detective who arrested Andrea. Ford is certain she’s guilty and he warns me off. But if he’s wrong the real killer is still walking free.
As I begin to investigate, everything seems to lead me back to camp. How is Andrea’s case linked to the summer we shared, and to that other killing decades ago?
To free Andrea and reunite her with her child, I must return to Camp Lakewood. Even if that means coming face to face with the darkest and deadliest secrets of my past…
MY REVIEW
Oh Dawn has done it again, completely blown it out of the park. I love this series, like seriously love it.
What ended being such a happy ending, you are left chilled when you read that epilogue.
I loved going back into the past, to see the summer camp that Rylan went to with Mickey and to see the introduction of Marco, briefly, and other characters who float in and out of the series. Everyone has really known each other for a long time!!
I flew through this book sadly. Why sadly, well because it is always over so quickly. I settle down to read the book; before I know it, I have read the final page. March 2025 is when I have to wait! And that comment Keaton made about his mum and the thing in his room is causing Rylan a lot of problems, well things are getting exciting and will explode.
We also had a minor storyline floating through this book and it was such a fantastic link to the other books. What a beautiful and satisfying ending. So much peace in this book. In the end so much light.
And we also had an introduction to a haunted item. I am intrigued to see if there will be any more towards that. It was just a small tease.
Gah, I love this series. I know I have said this already but it is just fantastic. I just devour them way too quickly and I really want the next book now, and then the one after, the one after that and how about just all of them! Rylan is just badass, what she can do, is just awe-inspiring and every time it brings a tear to my eye. And it was no different to the final cross over here.
I want more!!
Until the next time xxx
Thank you so much for Noelle @ Second Sky Books for the tour invite, and for a copy of the book in return for my honest and unbiased review.
About Dawn Merriman
Dawn Merriman writes creepy small town murder mysteries from her small farm in northeast Indiana where she lives with her husband and teenage children. You can often find her with muck boots on her feet and a story in her head. She enjoys animals, auctions, snorkeling and archaeology.
Dawn Merriman grew up a small town farm girl, on a small time pig farm in Indiana. She spent her young adulthood sitting on her bedroom floor scribbling stories in notebooks. She won the “Northeast Indiana Young Writers” award as a sophomore in high school.
After battling severe depression, she wrote her debut novel “How Murder Saved My Life” as therapy, mixing her love of murder mysteries and farming with climbing out of the darkness of illness.
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